Dot Lamination Adhesive Add-On & Bonded Area

The formula

This is the expression the tool evaluates. Every term is named underneath, with the unit it must be supplied in.

How the result is derived

Step by step, from the values you type to the figure on screen.

1. The 10 inputs are read from the form on every keystroke: Dot Diameter, Cavity Depth, Dot Density, Transfer Efficiency, Adhesive Density, Adhesive Solids, Face Fabric GSM, Backing GSM, Working Width and Adhesive Cost.
2. Each value is checked against the accepted range in the input table below. A value outside its range stops the calculation rather than producing a misleading figure — the results blank out and a message appears.
3. The validated values are substituted into the expression above, which resolves Dry Adhesive Add-On together with every supporting figure in one pass — no value is carried over from a previous entry.
4. The supporting outputs — Area of One Dot, Volume of One Cavity, Bond Points per m2, Bonded Area, Adhesive Volume, Add-On in the Engraving, Add-On Transferred, Finished Laminate, Adhesive per 1000 m and Adhesive Cost — come from the same pass, so they always describe the same case as the headline figure.
5. Results are rounded for display only. The full-precision value is used throughout the chain, so reading a rounded intermediate figure back into the tool by hand can shift the last digit.

What each input means

Where to read each value on the floor, the unit it must be in, and the range the tool accepts.

What the tool returns

The headline figure and every supporting value it is built from.

Worked example

The tool loads with this case already solved — the Dry Adhesive Add-On shown above is its answer. Change one value and the difference from this baseline is the sensitivity of the result to that variable.

How to use it

1. Work through the input groups in order — Engraving and Adhesive & Substrates. The defaults are a realistic case, so you can change one value at a time and watch what moves.
2. There is no calculate button. Every figure recalculates as you type or drag, which is what makes this usable for a what-if sweep rather than a single answer.
3. Read Dry Adhesive Add-On in the dark results panel — that is the headline figure, expressed in g/m2.
4. Check the supporting rows underneath (Area of One Dot, Volume of One Cavity, Bond Points per m2, Bonded Area, Adhesive Volume, Add-On in the Engraving, Add-On Transferred, Finished Laminate, Adhesive per 1000 m and Adhesive Cost) before acting on the headline — they are where an implausible input usually shows itself first.
5. Reset to defaults returns every field to the reference case, which is the quickest way to check whether a surprising result came from the tool or from an input you had changed earlier.

Where this is used

• Process planning — establishing Dry Adhesive Add-On before a trial is booked, so machine time and material in Finishing, Coating, Lamination & Functional Performance are committed against a calculated figure rather than an estimate.
• Costing and quotation — Dry Adhesive Add-On is an input to the cost sheet, and quoting from a worked number rather than a remembered one is what keeps a margin intact.
• Troubleshooting — when the floor result drifts from plan, entering the measured values (starting with Dot Diameter) shows how much of the gap in Dry Adhesive Add-On each variable explains.
• Teaching and study — the accepted ranges bracket normal Finishing, Coating, Lamination & Functional Performance practice, so moving one variable at a time shows the shape of the relationship rather than a single answer.

Assumptions and limits

• The cavity is treated as a cylinder, which suits a flat-bottomed engraving and overstates a conical or tapered one by up to a third; where the roller specification quotes a volume in cubic centimetres per square metre, use that figure directly and treat this geometry as a cross-check rather than the other way round. Transfer efficiency is the loosest input in the calculation and the one that moves add-on most: it depends on adhesive viscosity at the nip, roller temperature, substrate absorbency and nip pressure, and a value taken from a supplier data sheet for a different fabric is a guess. Measure it once on the real construction by weighing before and after, and the whole model becomes reliable. Bonded area is computed as the plan area of the cavities and therefore describes the adhesive footprint at the moment of transfer; a hot melt that flows under the nip bonds more area than this and stiffens more with it, which is why the same engraving gives a softer laminate at a lower nip temperature. Nothing here predicts peel strength, which depends on adhesive chemistry, substrate surface and dwell as much as on quantity - the geometry tells you what you applied, not what it will hold.
• Every input is bounded to the range normal practice occupies (Dot Diameter 0.05 to 5 mm, Cavity Depth 0.02 to 3 mm and Dot Density 1 to 400 /cm2, and so on for the rest). Those bounds are guard rails against typing errors, not a claim that the formula fails one unit outside them.
• The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always give the same result. It carries no allowance for machine condition, operator skill, ambient conditions or lot-to-lot material variation unless an input above explicitly represents one.
• Nothing is sent anywhere. The maths runs in your browser, so the numbers you type never leave the page.

Questions people ask