In the industrial manufacture of furniture and floorings, lacquering and decor foil lamination have been established finishing procedures for many years. Currently, the lamination of surfaces with transparent functional layers is becoming more and more important. The optimum result in these applications depends on a perfect interaction between specially developed adhesives and the process technology.

In the manufacture of superior furniture, for instance kitchen furniture with highly resistant surfaces or design floors, the products have to meet highest requirements with regard to quality, durability and appearance. Finished surfaces, especially high-gloss designs, are in great demand.The coating of wood-based materials with decor foils has been standard for many years and surfaces can be finished with visually expressive designs in multistep lacquering processes. However, the lamination with transparent foils has been a recent development in the furniture industry. This low-cost procedure is increasingly being used as an alternative finishing method.

In addition, it provides further benefi ts for the manufacturing process as well as design possibilities which open up new fields of application. For instance, design floors finished with transparent functional layers are increasingly used to set special highlights in different rooms. To manufacture highgloss surfaces, the substrates are laminated with transparent foils which are supplied off the reel.
Due to the wide variety of wood-based materials used in the production of furniture fronts and design floors, the creative possibilities are virtually unlimited. The decorative layer is directly visible through the transparent foil and therefore presents a great challenge for the adhesive used in the process. It is of utmost importance that the adhesive film does not impair the transparency of the foil or the flawless appearance of the surface. Ideally, the adhesive should support the visual features of the product. The powerful PUR hot melt adhesive Jowatherm-Reaktant^® 603.80 was developed by Jowat to meet the demanding requirements in laminating applications with thin, transparent foils.