Sustainable sealants and adhesives combine durability, reduced environmental impact, and formulations that comply with the most stringent global VOC (volatile organic compounds) requirements.
High Performance – Sustainable – Safe – Proven
Sika’s water-based technology platform delivers environmentally responsible high-performance solutions across joint sealing, fire protection, construction bonding, flooring, lamination, flocking, wood bonding and pretreatment systems. These products combine excellent physiological and environmental behaviour like benign labelling or alow CO2 footprint with technology-specific appealing technical features, such as simple application without pretreatments, aggressive tack, excellent UV stability, best-in class overpaint ability or long storage stability, making them ideal for modern, sustainable construction.
Formulated from various aqueous polymer dispersions such as acrylate, polyurethane, or vinyl acetate copolymers, Sika’s water-based sealants and adhesives cure through water evaporation to form a robust thermoplastic polymer network that can be further optimized through post crosslinking. Sika's water-based adhesives and sealants combine sustainability with high performance!
Engineered Water‑Based Solutions for Modern Construction and Manufacturing
Looking at the broad offer of average water-based caulks in the market today, it is not a surprise that their reputation has suffered. Sika pushes the capabilities of this established technology to new limits, offering a for water based products unprecedented performance, that can compete at eye-level with that of reactively curing products – also pricewise!
Sika’s water based joint sealants (Sikacryl®, SikaSeal®) cover a broad field, serving both indoor and outdoor applications, including economic painters caulks, and crack fillers, universal all-round sealants for general connections, and dedicated solutions for particular applications such as windows & door perimeter joints, façade joints, microbiological protected wet room sealants or even sealants that provide fire protection (EN, ASTM, UL, ETAG). Key advantages are:
- Movement capability up to 20–25%
- Excellent UV resistance, long‑term durability
- Compatibility with a wide range of substrates, low staining tendency
- Easy application, usually without pretreatment
- High end grades are ideal for weak or brittle substrates (plaster, foams…), because they possess very effective mechanisms to dissipate internal stresses
Tensile Test Sika Product vs. Commodity Caulk
Water-based construction adhesives are formulated for an excellent cost-performance ratio. Depending on the needs, they can have either a high initial grab or a low viscosity for easy spread ability. Especially on water absorbing substrates like concrete, grouts, wood or stone, they feature an almost unbeatably quick build-up of strength. In many applications, they can replace solvent based construction adhesives with better EHS properties. Key benefits are:
- Cost-effective
- Easy-to-apply
- Fast development of adhesion
- Low emission & benign labelling
- Low CO2 footprint
Water-based floor adhesives have replaced solvent-based adhesives in virtually all soft floor installation areas without compromising performance or durability. Through the change to water based floor adhesives, VOC emissions were reduced massively with positive impact on the indoor air quality. Sika is a technology and market leader in the field of water-based floor adhesives and pushes the performance and sustainability of water-based alternatives to new levels. Our widely renowned brands like Thomsit, Schönox, and Casco are convincing with long open times, high tack, lowest emissions and offer solutions for all common types of elastic floor coverings.
Providing our customers with sustainable alternatives to solvent-based or reactive adhesives in all areas of floor installations is our target.
With approved and innovative solutions, we facilitate faster and more effective production processes, and help them to enhance global projects with high performance as well as EHS-friendly products, that fit to their specific requirements. Our sprayable 1K and 2K water-based products (SikaTherm®, SikaSense®) can be applied for vacuum lamination, press lamination, leather lamination bonding and flocking applications. They provide not only the best-performing bonding solution on ABS, PVC, TPO, PP and natural fibers, they also excel in the toughest climatic test standards. Key benefits are:
- Sustainable and safe – label-free products are available (no monomeric Isocyanates)
- Excellent spray ability
- No additional costs for pre-treatment; even on PP
- Broad adhesion range
- High resistance (water, heat, abrasion, …)
Many adhesive and sealant systems depend on primers or activators to unlock their full bonding potential. While solvent-based pretreatments are still widely used, both in construction and automotive applications, the expectations are changing.
Sika is pushing the change towards a new generation of water-based liquid pretreatments—engineered to reduce VOC emissions and create a safer and cleaner working environment, thus minimizing exposure for both workers and the environment. The result? High-quality adhesion with lower environmental impact. Examples:
- Sika® Primer MR
- Sika® Aktivator-120 Hydro CF
- Sika® HydroPrep
