Homag Group says its new reacTec panel laminating technology began running since autumn at the Polish production facilities of Swedwood, manufacturing arm of furniture giant IKEA. reacTec will be shown at Ligna 2013.

Working with Henkel and Nordson, Homag says it developed an economical laminating technique combining the benefits of the urea method with those of hot melt gluing.

reacTec was engineered with the intent of transposing the benefits of hot melt gluing to a new technique while leaving aside its inherent drawbacks.

The resultant technology combines advantages of hot-melt glue with the strength and thermal resistance of urea, says Homag; products demonstrate optimum surface smoothness no matter how thin the coating material.

The reacTec method works by reactivating a new type of glue applied to the coating material using heat and pressure to laminate surfaces and edges.

Other benefits of reacTec, according to Homag: Temperature resistance and glue-joint hardness are similar to urea; there is no ingress of moisture, eliminating particleboard swelling; glue joints are free of formaldehyde and emissions; and the sytem permits mechanical loading and so eliminates the surface indentations experienced with hot-melt glue.

Homag says reacTec is insensitive to changing process parameters such as feed rate; and it has minimal space requirements allowing compact plant design compared to urea systems.

To apply glue, laminate and wrap in a single plant reacTec is compatible with an inline process. An offline version process coats and laminates separately, permitting production in different locations. Surface and edge lamination are performed by the completeLine with reacTec.