Adhesive raw materials fall into 15 families, from base polymers and tackifier resins to curing agents, photoinitiators and natural binders, and each family fills one role in an adhesive formulation. Together these families make up the adhesive chemicals that industrial adhesives are formulated from.
The directory below gives each family its role, its function and the adhesive chemistries that use it. Tackifiers, waxes and oils serve the physically setting thermoplastic chemistries; curing agents, isocyanates, monomers and photoinitiators serve the chemically curing ones; adhesion promoters, fillers, antioxidants and functional additives serve both. Twelve published formulas, from EVA hot melt to cyanoacrylate, show the share of each family with its basis. Five interactions (phase compatibility, cure stoichiometry, cure initiation, rheology and stabilization) explain why changing one family moves the others, and the page closes with the producer ownership changes that matter when sourcing.
Sources and checks: identities and hazard classifications are read at ECHA and the issuing regulator, standards at the body that publishes them, and grade values at the data sheet named next to them; methodology and fact-checking explains each step.
What Are Adhesive Raw Materials?#
Adhesive raw materials are the polymers, resins, additives and carriers an adhesive is formulated from; the Springer Handbook of Adhesion Technology groups them as primary resins, solvents, fillers, plasticizers, reinforcements and various additives. The word "additives" carries two senses in the trade. In the broad sense it covers every ingredient of an adhesive; in the narrow industry sense it means the minor components, such as stabilizers, rheology modifiers, adhesion promoters, defoamers and biocides.
Hot melt adhesive raw materials show how tightly the families are balanced against each other. The complete formulas for hot melt adhesive raw materials, from base polymer to antioxidant, sit on the hot melt page. In DuPont patent EP1976953B1, the tackifying resin and the wax may each reach 50 wt % of the composition and the antioxidant about 2 wt % (ranges described in the patent, wt % of formulation).
The 15 Adhesive Raw Material Families and the Role Each Plays#
The 15 adhesive raw material families below are grouped by the role each plays in a formulation, and each row links the family hub that lists its member substances.
| Family | Role | What it does | Example members | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| base polymers for adhesives | base polymer (binder, backbone, elastomer) | cohesion, strength, flexibility; names the chemistry | EVA, block copolymers, polyolefins, acrylics, rubbers | every chemistry; ethylene copolymer about 40 to 85 wt % in the EVA hot melt of US20160230051A1 |
| thermoset adhesive resins | thermoset resin | crosslinks into a network with a curing agent | epoxy, phenolic, urea and melamine formaldehyde | epoxy adhesives; UF, MUF and PF wood binders |
| tackifier resins | tackifier | raises the Tg of the rubbery phase, lowers plateau modulus; wetting and tack | hydrocarbon, rosin, terpene resins | hot melt, PSA, solvent- and water-based rubber and acrylic adhesives |
| plasticizers for adhesives | plasticizer or oil | lowers viscosity, Tg and modulus | process oils, polybutene, benzoates, phthalate replacements | hot melt PSA, water-based PVAc (polyvinyl acetate) |
| waxes for hot melt adhesives | wax | lowers melt viscosity, controls open and set time | paraffin, microcrystalline, Fischer-Tropsch, polyethylene | hot melt |
| curing agents and hardeners | curing agent | reacts with the resin (epoxy) or initiates cure | amines, polyamides, anhydrides, latent cures | epoxy adhesives |
| isocyanates and polyols | isocyanate plus polyol | polyurethane-forming pair | MDI, TDI, HDI, prepolymers | polyurethane adhesives, EPI (emulsion polymer isocyanate) wood adhesives |
| monomers and oligomers | monomer or oligomer | polymerizes in place or builds base polymers | acrylates, methacrylates, cyanoacrylates | acrylic PSA polymers, anaerobic, cyanoacrylate and UV-curing adhesives |
| photoinitiators | photoinitiator | starts radical or cationic cure under UV or visible light | Type I, Type II and LED-cure photoinitiators | UV-curing adhesives |
| adhesion promoters and silane coupling agents | adhesion promoter | chemical bridge to the substrate | silane coupling agents | all chemistries; aminosilane 0.75 wt % in Example 1 of US 2012/0107626 A1 |
| fillers and rheology modifiers | filler or rheology modifier | cost, shrinkage, CTE, thixotropy, conductivity | carbonates, fumed silica, clays, thickeners | all chemistries; ground calcium carbonate 54 wt % in Example 1 of US 2012/0107626 A1 |
| solvents in adhesives | solvent or carrier | dissolves the polymer; sets application viscosity | toluene, acetone, esters, ketones, hydrocarbon replacements | solvent-based adhesives |
| antioxidants and light stabilizers | antioxidant or light stabilizer | protects against heat (in the pot) and light aging | hindered phenols, phosphites, HALS, UV absorbers | all chemistries; about 0.1 to 2 wt % in the EVA hot melt of US20160230051A1 |
| functional additives for adhesives | functional additive | crosslinker, catalyst, defoamer, wetting agent, preservative, toughener | crosslinkers, catalysts, defoamers, preservatives, tougheners | all chemistries; aziridine crosslinker 0.1 to 0.9 wt % on polymer in a solvent-based acrylic PSA study |
| natural adhesive binders | natural binder | water-borne films that set by water loss, gelation or gelatinization | starch, dextrin, casein, animal glue, soy protein | water-based adhesives, corrugating starch |
Families are roles, not chemical classes: each substance page has exactly one family hub as its parent, chosen by the job the substance does in an adhesive. Polyamide resins, for example, are base polymers of hot melts, while polyamide hardeners sit with the curing agents of epoxy adhesives.
Where Each Raw Material Family Is Used: Thermoplastic and Reactive Adhesive Chemistries#
Tackifiers, waxes and oils belong to the physically setting thermoplastic chemistries such as hot melt, pressure-sensitive and solvent- or water-based rubber and acrylic adhesives, while reactive structural chemistries almost never use them. A hot melt sets by cooling and a pressure-sensitive adhesive bonds with no chemical change, so tack, melt viscosity and open time come from these three families rather than from a cure reaction.
Curing agents, isocyanates, monomers and photoinitiators belong to the chemically curing chemistries, such as epoxy, polyurethane, cyanoacrylate and UV-curing adhesives. Adhesion promoters, fillers and rheology modifiers, antioxidants and functional additives cut across all chemistries, from hot melt to two-part epoxy.
The table gives example shares of each family in published formulas, with the basis and the source of each value.
| Chemistry | Families in the formula | Example shares (basis) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| EVA hot melt | base polymer, tackifier, wax, antioxidant | ethylene copolymer (EVA in the examples) about 40 to 85 wt %; tackifier no greater than about 27 wt %; synthetic wax about 15 to 35 wt % (Fischer-Tropsch in Example 6); antioxidant about 0.1 to 2 wt % (wt % of formulation) | US20160230051A1, claims and description |
| Hot melt (patent scope) | tackifier, wax, antioxidant | tackifier up to 50 wt %; wax up to 50 wt %; antioxidant up to about 2 wt % (wt % of formulation) | EP1976953B1, described ranges |
| Metallocene polyolefin hot melt | base polymer, tackifier, wax, antioxidant | metallocene ethylene interpolymer 10 to 50 wt %; rosin tackifier 10 to 30 or hydrocarbon tackifier 10 to 40 wt %; paraffin 5 to 40 or Fischer-Tropsch wax 2 to 25 wt %; antioxidant 0.1 to 2 wt % | EP3541887B1, stated ranges |
| SIS hot melt PSA | base polymer, tackifier, oil, antioxidant | SIS 100, C5 or C5/C9 resin 120, naphthenic oil 20, antioxidant 2 parts: about 41, 50, 8 and 1 wt % (calculated from parts) | one example of US6605680B1 |
| Acrylic PSA | monomers, functional additive | soft monomer (butyl or 2-ethylhexyl acrylate) 70 to 90 wt % and hard monomer (methyl methacrylate) 10 to 30 wt % of monomers in emulsion PSAs; aziridine crosslinker 0.1 to 0.9 wt % on polymer in a solvent-based PSA | Di Lorenzo et al. 2024; Czech et al. 2022 (peer-reviewed) |
| Water-based PVAc | base polymer, plasticizer | dibenzoate plasticizer 10 % (homopolymer) or 5 % (VAE, vinyl acetate-ethylene) of wet adhesive | Adhesives and Sealants Industry article 89880 |
| EPI wood adhesive (two-component) | base polymer, isocyanate | MDI-based isocyanate hardener 15 wt %, named as the usual share | IVK Technical Briefing Note 5 (November 2024) |
| Solvent contact adhesive (polychloroprene) | base polymer, resin, functional additive, solvent | polychloroprene 100, p-tert-butylphenol formaldehyde resin 45, MgO 4.5 parts (parts by weight, blank formula) | Adhesives and Sealants Industry article 86842 |
| Two-part epoxy (polyamide cure) | thermoset resin, curing agent | liquid epoxy resin of EEW 190, 100 parts; Versamid 140 50 to 70 phr | Versamid 140 (BASF data sheet, May 2014) |
| UV-curing acrylate | oligomer, photoinitiator | urethane acrylate oligomer 39 to 75 wt %; photoinitiator package 5 to 9.5 wt % (wt % of formulation) | EP3395922A1 (withdrawn application), stated ranges |
| Cyanoacrylate | monomer, stabilizers, thickener, plasticizer | alkyl 2-cyanoacrylate balance; acidic stabilizer 1 to 1,000 ppm; radical stabilizer 0 to 10,000 ppm; thickener about 1 to 25 wt %; plasticizer below 50 % | US20130095262A2, patent ranges |
| Silyl-modified (two-component) | base polymer, plasticizer, filler, rheology modifier, adhesion promoter | STP (silyl-terminated polymer) 20.25, PPG 2000 polyether polyol 20, GCC (ground calcium carbonate) 54, fumed silica 2, vinyltrimethoxysilane 2, aminosilane 0.75, water 1 (parts per 100 of mixed Parts A and B, so wt %) | Example 1 of US 2012/0107626 A1 |
Read the shares as examples from one named source each, never as limits for the whole class of adhesives by chemistry they stand for. The contrast still holds across the rows: the SIS example spends about half its weight on tackifier, while the UV-curing example spends under a tenth on its cure package. How each chemistry bonds and cures is explained under types of adhesives by chemistry.
How Adhesive Raw Materials Interact in a Formulation#
Adhesive raw materials interact in five ways that set a formulation: phase compatibility, cure stoichiometry, cure initiation, rheology and stabilization. Each interaction ties two or more families together, as listed below.
- Phase compatibility: a tackifier raises the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the rubbery phase it dissolves in and lowers its plateau modulus.
- Cure stoichiometry: an amine hardener is dosed at phr = AHEW x 100 / EEW, where AHEW is the amine hydrogen equivalent weight and EEW the epoxy equivalent weight of the resin.
- Cure initiation: Type I photoinitiators cleave into two radicals, while Type II photoinitiators abstract hydrogen from a tertiary amine co-initiator.
- Rheology: low-dose thixotropes such as fumed silica, organoclay and castor wax build a network at rest that breaks under shear.
- Stabilization: primary hindered-phenol antioxidants and secondary phosphite antioxidants work synergistically in the hot melt pot and in polymer processing.
One family change moves the others. Diethylenetriamine (DETA), with an AHEW of 20.6 g/eq, needs 10.9 phr against a resin of EEW 190 (calculated stoichiometric value), and a resin of higher EEW needs less amine, because the formula divides by EEW. In a cyanoacrylate the monomer is the balance of the formula, so every ppm of stabilizer and every percent of thickener or plasticizer comes out of the monomer share.
How the Raw Materials Section Relates to Substances, Chemistries and Applications#
The raw materials section is the role layer of this site: each family hub sits between the A to Z substance index below it and the adhesive chemistries and industrial applications that use its members. The hubs follow the composition basis of the Springer handbook (resins, solvents, fillers, plasticizers and additives) split one step finer, by formulation role.
Below the hubs, the adhesive substances A to Z index gives every member its identity and its family. Every member substance, with its CAS number and function, is listed under adhesive substances A to Z.
Two further sections sit beside the raw materials: adhesion science explains why a formulation bonds to a surface, and the regulation section covers the hazard, food-contact and VOC rules that apply to its raw materials.
Sourcing Adhesive Raw Materials from Producers and Distributors#
Adhesive raw materials come from producers whose ownership changed in 2022: Eastman's adhesive resins passed to Synthomer on 1 April 2022, Hexion's epoxy business to Westlake in February 2022 and Kraton to DL Chemical in March 2022. Hexion kept its wood adhesives, so epoxy resins and UF or phenolic wood binders now come from different owners.
Adhesive raw material suppliers quote against a specification that names the chemistry, the family role and the grade values to match, such as softening point, viscosity or equivalent weight, each with its test method. Producers and distributors per family are listed among adhesive raw material suppliers.
Each request is passed straight to independent companies of that trade, and no company pays AdhesiveAdditives.com to be named or to receive requests; the editorial policy explains how.