Gleicher Manufacturing provides industrial laminating services for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) seeking multi-layer material constructions built to exact design specifications. With decades of converting experience, Gleicher combines adhesives, foams, films, and specialty materials into finished assemblies prepared for integration into your production line. We can also combine laminating with die cutting and/or laser cutting, allowing laminated materials to be cut, formed, and assembled within a single facility.
What is industrial laminating?
Industrial laminating is the combining of two or more layers of material to produce a custom material with properties a single material cannot provide.. Industrial laminating deals with engineered materials such as adhesive tapes, foams, films, foils, and barrier layers.
Laminating allows Gleicher to engineer a custom solution with commercially available industrial, electrical, medical, transportation and military materials. The result is a multi-layer assembly created for a specific use: thermal insulation, electrical conductivity, moisture resistance, vibration dampening, or structural bonding.
Laminating capabilities and processes
We provide industrial laminating services to support a range of application requirements.
Pressure-sensitive laminating applies adhesive films without the use of heat, protecting temperature-sensitive substrates. Adhesive transfer laminating applies adhesive transfer tapes to substrates that do not already have adhesive.
Multi-layer lamination combines two or more materials to create a single construction. This is commonly used for more complex gasket, shielding, thermal management, and viscoelastic material applications.
Wide web laminating processes material across our maximum web width, supporting higher-volume production requirements.
We also have the ability to add a release liner to adhesive-backed materials, improving handling and making assembly more efficient.
Once laminated together, the resulting product can be custom converted fora customer’s unique application.
After lamination, materials move to slitting and rewinding, die cutting, or perforating and scoring — whatever your application requires.
Materials for industrial laminating
As a 3M Preferred Converter, Gleicher has access to a wide range of 3M materials from multiple divisions. We work with adhesive transfer tapes, double-coated tapes, 3M VHB tapes for structural bonding, polyester, polyimide, and polycarbonate films, open- and closed-cell foams, nonwoven materials, foils, paper and tissue substrates, as well as customer-supplied specialty materials.
We support lamination projects by working with your team to review material combinations and process requirements, helping to align the adhesive system, substrates, and construction with your application.
Industries and applications for laminating
Our industrial laminating service supports a range of manufacturing sectors including:
- Electronics: Multi-layer vibration dampening, EMI shielding composites, thermal interface materials, display stack-ups, and flexible circuit construction
- Transportation: NVH also referred to as noise, vibration, harshness, damping composites, interior trim attachment systems, and sensor mounting assemblies
- Aerospace: Multi-layer insulation blankets, surface protection laminates, and structural bonding tapes
- Medical devices: Biocompatible adhesive laminates processed in our [clean room facility](/capabilities/clean-room-die-cutting) for, diagnostic, and wearable applications
- General industrial: Gasket constructions, anti-slip composites, protective film laminates, and assembly-ready tape products
Why choose Gleicher for industrial laminating
Gleicher is not a one-step laminator. We are a full-service converter, which means your lamination project does not have to end at combining layers together. We can support multiple steps in the converting process, including cutting, slitting, kitting, and packaging where required.
This allows you to receive finished components when needed, rather than materials that require additional processing.
As a 3M Preferred Converter we have access to the 3M labs, technical assistance, and the latest release of adhesive technologies months before they reach the manufacturing world. With decades of converting experience, we understand how adhesive systems and substrates perform in lamination applications.
We work with your team to review application requirements and support material selection, rather than simply processing what is supplied. Where required, we can build up multi layer laminate constructions to achieve a specific thickness, layering materials and adhesives to meet your design and performance requirements.
What sets us apart:
- Prototyping to production](/services/prototyping-manufacturing-): Test your laminate construction in small quantities before committing to full-scale runs
- Single-source converting: Laminating, [die cutting](/capabilities/custom-die-cutting-service), [laser cutting](/capabilities/laser-cutting-service), slitting with one supplier, one quality system, and one point of contact
- Multi-layer lamination- Layering multiple layers of adhesives up to half inch thickness
- Experience and knowledge? Over 75 years experience laminating and die cutting as well as knowledge of our suppliers, including 3M, products
Contact us to discuss your laminating project and find out how Gleicher can build the multi-layer construction your application needs.
Frequently asked questions about industrial laminating
What are the three types of lamination?
The three main types are pressure-sensitive lamination, thermal lamination, and wet lamination (coating). Pressure-sensitive lamination uses adhesive films applied without heat, while thermal lamination uses heat to activate an adhesive or bond layers.
Gleicher works with pressure-sensitive lamination for industrial converting applications.
What type of lamination is best?
That depends on your materials and what you need the finished product to do. Pressure-sensitive lamination works well for temperature-sensitive substrates and is the go-to method in adhesive converting.
What materials can be laminated together?
Most films, foams, tapes, foils, fabrics, and paper substrates can be laminated in various combinations. The trick is picking the right adhesive system for the materials involved. Some combinations need specific adhesive chemistries or surface treatments to get adequate bond strength.
How thick can a laminated construction be?
Laminated constructions range from a few thousandths of an inch for thin film laminates up to half an inch thick constructions. The practical limit comes down to the materials, the adhesive system, and whatever downstream converting operations you need. Where required, laminate constructions can also be built up to a specific target thickness by layering materials and adhesives to meet your application requirements.
What is the difference between laminating and coating?
Laminating combines two or more distinct layers of material together. Coating applies a liquid or film material directly onto a single substrate surface. Both add functionality to base materials, but laminating keeps the distinct properties of each layer intact in the finished construction.
