Honeycomb Core Glue vs Facing Glue: Order Them as Separate Grades

A honeycomb paperboard line does two gluing jobs. The first builds the core: paper strips bonded at the nodes, then expanded into cells. The second laminates liner onto one or both faces of that core. Xuegong supplies those jobs as separate grades under /products/honeycomb-line-glue. Do not treat them as one bag with two labels.

Core-strip glue is specified for core making at about 10–200 m/min. Facing and lamination glue is specified for face laminating at about 4–30 m/min. Those windows are the reason the grades are split. A recipe written for the slower facing step is not a core recipe, and a core grade is not a facing grade.

What to tell us before the first trial

Core making speed, and whether the core section is heated

Face laminating speed, and whether the press is cold or hot

Whether the facing step adds starch and filler, or only water

Paper for the strips and for the liners, including white-top or coated liner

How fast the board has to be dry enough to stack or cut

Core-strip glue

The core grade has to hold the node while the stack is expanded. Xuegong core-strip glue is built for about 10–200 m/min. The line can run cold or with heat. A slower start can run with no heat at all. Heat is there to raise speed, not because the glue only works hot. Dry speed is selectable: slow, fast, quick, or instant. Elastic or rigid glue film can be specified. The water figures later in this article do not apply to core-strip glue. Ask for the core mixing note with the order.

Facing glue, two routes

Facing glue also has cold-press and hot-press options, and the same dry-speed range. Before anyone weighs water, confirm which facing route the plant actually runs. The two routes are not interchangeable, and neither is the 1:2 concentrate method used for some corrugator powders.

Route A — water only, no extra starch or filler

Use the complete low-temperature facing powder. Charge 25 kg of powder with 30–40 kg of room-temperature water, about 1:1.2 to 1:1.6. Put the water in first, then the powder, and stir for about 30 minutes. Inside that water band, less water dries faster and raises viscosity; more water dries slower. The coat still has to lay evenly on the facing machine. One bag yields about 55–65 kg of glue. A quantified formula below 30 kg of water has not been confirmed. Do not drop the water under that floor on your own.

Route B — the plant adds starch and filler

Use the premium low-temperature facing powder. Charge 25 kg of powder with 40–60 kg of room-temperature water. First tank: water, then powder, stir about 20 minutes until there are no lumps. Second tank: a separate water charge, then the starch and filler, stir until there are no lumps. Pump the first tank into the second and stir again until smooth. Starch type, filler type, and the kilos of each have to be agreed before the trial. This is not the corrugator premium-concentrate 1:2 process.

Do not copy either facing method onto core-strip glue, paper-tube glue, or corrugator glue. Those products have their own water figures. Mixing the sheets is how a trial fails and then gets blamed on the paper.

Heat, press, and dry speed

Both grades can be used with a heater or without one. If the line is slow, skip the heat. If you need speed, heat clearly raises start-up speed. Cold press and hot press are both available. Pick the dry speed to match the stack time, not a generic “faster is better.” Instant dry on a line that cannot coat evenly just moves the defect from wet board to starved bond.

White liner and color-sensitive board

If the liner is white-top or the board must not yellow, look at /products/neutral-adhesive as well. That neutral starch grade was the first in China developed for honeycomb paper. It is the appearance grade. The line glue above is the production grade for core and facing. Say which one the board needs when you ask for samples.

A short order check

Core grade and facing grade listed as two lines, not one

Facing route marked water-only or starch-added

Core water note requested separately; facing water figures not reused

Cold or hot press, and whether heat is available on each section

Target speeds inside 10–200 m/min for core and 4–30 m/min for facing

How to specify the whole line is in “Honeycomb Board Adhesive: How to Specify the Line Glue.” Where the finished board goes — cartons, furniture, doors, displays — is in “Where Honeycomb Board Is Used, and Which Glue Fits.” Facing application is also in the video “Alkali-Free Honeycomb Board Facing Adhesive” at /cases#videos. For a sample or a line trial, send Xuegong the checklist above.