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TPU Hot Melt Adhesive Film for Coated & Laminated Fabric
Solvent-free, heat-activated thermoplastic polyurethane bonding film – the adhesive layer behind your waterproof, breathable, elastic laminated fabric.
A TPU hot melt adhesive film is a heat-activated thermoplastic polyurethane bonding layer that remains non-tacky at room temperature, melts under heat and pressure, then solidifies into a flexible, elastic bond between your materials. At Tengyang, we manufacture this adhesive film -along with TPU, EVA, PA, PES, and PO hot melt adhesive films, webs, powders, and granules-for factories that laminate and coat fabrics with zero solvent-based glues. If you bond textiles, foam, leather, or film for a living, this page matches grade to substrate, temperature to process, and specification to purchase order.
TPU / EVA | PA / PES / PO
Full hot melt material system
0.03–0.25 mm
Typical thickness, custom to spec
Low / Med / High
Activation temperature grades
Solvent-free
No VOC, no glue seepage
OEM
Thickness · width · melt point
Free sample
Bonding trial before bulk
Solvent Glue, Delamination & Stiff Bonds — Why Fabric Laminators Move to TPU Hot Melt Film
ACTIVATION
100°C – 190°C
Three problems are pushing fabric laminators away from liquid adhesives.
- 01 Solvent-based glue releases volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and requires ventilation, drying time, and proper disposal.
- 02 Sewn or pressure-sensitive seams are stiff, have poor drape, and fail after many washes.
- 03 Knife- or roller-coated layers can crack or delaminate over time.
MATERIAL CHEMISTRY & PERFORMANCE
The magic behind our TPU hot melt adhesive films comes down to chemistry. Thermoplastic polyurethane is a thermoplastic material, meaning it melts and re-solidifies without undergoing a permanent chemical change, or curing process. This makes our adhesive films highly versatile-the same film bonds many different materials, from textile and nonwoven fabric to foam, leather, and other films-without solvent, without residue, and without weakening. Unlike traditional TPU or older hot melt applications, these hot melt adhesives work as an advanced adhesive material with a strong, good adhesive hold. Because it’s a solid film rather than a liquid spread, it applies evenly and is ready for the next production step quickly, largely replacing traditional hot melt glues in modern apparel, footwear, and automotive interiors.
As a solvent-free, environmentally friendly bonding solution, our TPU film is the smart choice for fabric applications. Our film activates between 100°C and 190°C, depending on grade, providing years of development for a strong bond and a soft hand feel. Used for bonding across the textile industry and home textiles, the TPU material delivers excellent adhesion, high adhesive strength, dependable water resistance and good resistance to chemicals — a strong adhesive that leaves a clean protective film, not a messy glue.
THE TPU ADVANTAGE
A TPU hot melt adhesive film solves all three issues. It lays down a thin, uniform adhesive layer, activates in seconds in a heat press or roller laminator, and cools into a soft, elastic bond.
Tengyang TPU Hot Melt Film Grades — Thickness, Activation Temperature & Carrier
The single biggest cause of bonding failure is using the wrong grade film for the job. You wouldn’t try to laminate a thin-coated fabric with a high-temperature film meant for industrial canvas-it would burn the fabric. Likewise, a low-temperature film that works great on heat-sensitive nylon won’t stand up to an industrial wash. The first decision isn’t about the strongest bond; it’s about the best activation window for your material and equipment. We engineer TPU hot melt adhesive films across three distinct temperature grades and can formulate custom products within each range.
Precision Engineering
The Tengyang TPU Hot Melt Film Grade Decoder
Choose the film that’s appropriate for the most heat-sensitive material in your laminate stack. Your bonding temperature must melt the adhesive sufficiently without scorching, deforming, shrinking, or discoloring your fabric, foam, or substrate.
Melting point (approx.)
~70°C
Bonding / heat-press temp
~100°C
Best-fit substrates
Delicate textiles, coated fabric, thin film, paper-backed, soft plastics
Wash & heat resistance
Lower — for gentle-care goods
Melting point (approx.)
~110°C
Bonding / heat-press temp
130–150°C
Best-fit substrates
Sportswear, underwear, medical garment, automotive interior, foam
Wash & heat resistance
Moderate — everyday wash
Melting point (approx.)
~150°C
Bonding / heat-press temp
170–190°C
Best-fit substrates
Industrial fabric, high-performance sports gear, protective clothing
Wash & heat resistance
High — repeated / hot wash
These ranges are industry reference bands — consistent with moisture-curing polyurethane textile-lamination patents such as US20160215185A1 — no single, hard and fast rule, as the precise melt and activation windows vary with formulation, carrier, and press dwell times – and each grade comes with its own technical data sheet and sample for trials on new bonds. Across the board, film is provided on release paper, release film or carrier-free structures, with the carrier selection influencing positioning, peeling, storage, and cleanliness of the surfaces. At Tengyang, film is custom-made for your process in terms of thickness (from 0.03 to 0.25 mm as standard), width, melt temperature, color, and formulation-a film too thin won’t fill the fabric texture, while too thick makes it stiffer, heavier and more costly. Available as single or double sided, a transparent TPU film will make your bond line invisible on visible laminates, while an in-house clear TPU or transparent film provides that transparent bonding effect on laminates where the bond needs to be unseen. Waterproofing performance and bond strength scale up with your grade choice and thickness selection. Your most costly purchasing mistake: selecting only by price or by film thickness; not an generic, off-the-shelf product, but a carefully matched Tengyang grade – produced on our own in-house casting and coating lines and proven in countless years of bonding trials – that starts with matching the correct material to the correct application and press. We also offer a double-sided hot melt adhesive film and double-sided adhesive designed for the ultimate fabric-to-fabric bonds, where both sides need adhesion. These hot-melt adhesive film solutions raise production efficiency by bonding in a single pass — adhesive solutions built around strong bonding and an environmentally friendly material. For woven textiles specifically, this hot melt adhesive film for textile fabric — the same tpu hot melt adhesive film for fabric bonds — is a trade-off-free upgrade from solvent glue, and Tengyang will not claim it fits every job without a sample first.
TPU vs EVA, PES, PA & PO Hot Melt Film — and Hot-Melt Lamination vs Solvent Coating
For that elastic, soft, wash-friendly bond, a TPU is often ideal, but it is far from being the only option — solvent-free reactive polyurethane bonding routes are documented in patent WO2017121540A1, and honest sales demands honesty about other materials when appropriate. Below, a quick comparison of Tengyang’s five hot melt film chemistries across criteria that truly influence your final bond.
TPU FLAGSHIP
- ActivationLow–high (tunable)
- ElasticityHigh, soft, elastic
- Wash ResistanceStrong (grade-dependent)
- Buyer FocusStretch fabric, foam, TPU/PVC film, footwear, apparel
PES
- ActivationMedium–high
- ElasticityStiffer
- WashStrong
- Buyer FocusPolyester fabric, labels, PET film, shape stability
PA POLYAMIDE
- ActivationHigh + chemical stability
- ElasticityFirm
- WashVery strong
- Buyer FocusTechnical textile, PI/PET film bonding, dry-clean resistance
EVA
- ActivationLow, economical
- ElasticitySoft
- WashModerate
- Buyer FocusEVA foam, mats, simple soft bonding
PO POLYOLEFIN
- ActivationEconomical, washable
- ElasticityMedium
- WashGood in selected uses
- Buyer FocusCloth, sponge, selected industrial parts
Here, process takes precedence over material, leading to the second, more complex layer of comparisons that delineates the “laminated” and “coated” fabric worlds. A hot-melt laminated fabric sandwiches and fuses a TPU membrane or adhesive layer to a base fabric using heat and pressure, whereas a coated fabric involves the application of a liquid polymer-typically PU, PVC, or acrylic-using a knife or roller, which then cures. Although both make fabric waterproof, their end-of-life properties differ. Hot melt lamination usually exhibits better water-vapor permeability, enhanced low-temperature flexibility, and stronger hydrolytic resistance-especially the ether-based TPU compounds-while solvent coating allows for more variety in color and finish, and typically at lower cost per unit. Counterintuitively for many purchasers, solvent-based adhesives are not automatically stronger; the strength of the bond is a function of chemistry, substrate, and coat weight, not whether a solvent is present or not. Frankly, none of our materials wins in every situation. Unike sales pitches claiming that one chemistry is the all-purpose miracle worker, Tengyang will never promise that TPU out-performs PES in terms of dimensional stability or EVA for price-the perennial pitfall is simply to over-specify. Backed by our extensive in-house testing and years of bonding trials, we determine the appropriate trade-off, which should ultimately rest on your particular 60°C wash test performance: not necessarily the strongest film available, not necessarily the least expensive.
Zero VOC. Seconds to bond.
Switching from solvent glue to TPU hot melt film removes solvent purchase, ventilation and VOC-handling overhead, cuts drying time to a few seconds of cooling, and leaves no glue seepage to rework.
* Directional TCO benefit based on solvent-free hot melt processing (industry sources); exact savings vary by line — request an application-specific estimate.Where TPU Hot Melt Film Bonds Best — Garment, Footwear, Automotive & Outdoor Laminates
Tengyang’s TPU adhesive film is found in industries where a strong, clean, flexible bond defines the final product. In every case, from apparel to home furnishings, heat transfers and reflectives, one film reduces processing steps while increasing yield, by completing the bond in a single press pass. Each application defines a grade range, so the chart below also provides an example selection to start from.
Application
Typical bond
Grade direction
Underwear & garment accessories
Elastic fabric to fabric, soft hand feel
Low–medium
Sportswear & outdoor apparel
Fabric to membrane, seam sealing
Medium
Footwear
Upper, lining, foam, mesh, leather
Medium–high (hydrolysis-resistant)
Leather lamination
Leather-like material to fabric / foam
Medium
Heat transfer & reflective materials
Film / motif to textile
Low–medium
Automotive interior
Fabric to trim, foam, soft-touch composite
Medium–high
Packaging & building decoration
Flexible material assembly
By substrate
PROCESS OPTIMIZATION & PATENTED BONDING
Perhaps one of the most frequent areas of surprise to first-time customers is a multi-substrate laminate – a stretch nylon face, a TPU membrane and a knit backing joined with one pressing. A correctly-matched film will often substitute a two-step powder-then-press method for a streamlined process-exactly the efficiency TPU enables. Where other suppliers will send a generic film for any application, Tengyang matches grades on our proprietary production lines: the bond required at 130°C for the interior of a vehicle won’t work on a 100°C delicate laminate because the activation temperatures don’t align. Years of work with oem programs across apparel and footwear lines ensure this is a measured choice, not an educated guess. The specific application for bonding fabric to foam is patented (USPTO patent US20170183550A1).
The film almost never fails on its own. When a customer sends back a delaminated part, nine times out of ten the activation temperature was set for the strongest bond instead of the most heat-sensitive layer in the stack. We match the grade to the substrate that moves first — then the bond outlives the garment.
Quality, Compliance & Batch Consistency
For any textile application that touches skin, compliance isn’t just a nice add-on-it’s what opens the door to certain regulated markets — from US FDA food-contact substance rules to REACH. Standards, which form the framework Tengyang helps customers with, govern this product segment.
-
OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100
Textile harmful-substance framework for skin-contact goods -
REACH / RoHS
EU chemical & substance-restriction compliance for export -
Solvent-free
No VOC, no plasticizer migration, cleaner workshop -
Batch consistency
Recorded thickness, width, carrier & melt point per order
Solvent-free technology inherently adds a compliance benefit, as it eliminates the need for ventilation and emissions control required for solvent adhesives and leaves no trace residue in the finished product. Every Tengyang order is documented by its thickness, width, carrier, and melt-point data, ensuring your batches remain within specification for regulated use. If you’re an OEM with a specific wash test, audit or regulation to meet, we offer supporting material certifications and third-party test reports. Our TPU films support manufacturers of all types of garments, activewear and technical textiles, and with increasingly bio-based and recyclable options available, we’re aligned with the direction of the circular economy. We will back your order with batch data and certification to ensure you don’t accept an inferior, undisclosed film as the cost of entry. Having extensive experience exporting to both CE and REACH markets ensures we’re prepared when you’re asked about a 60°C wash test.
Need compliance paperwork? Request certificates →
Sourcing TPU Hot Melt Film — Customization, MOQ, Lead Time & Sampling
Given the vast range of products and processes that use adhesive film, selecting the correct one — a process reflected in film-lamination patents such as US20050033004A1 — for your specific application starts with a trial, not a price comparison. Tengyang works directly with OEM partners across multiple thicknesses, widths, melt-points, colors and application-specific formulas; confirming the four variables in the Bonding Temperature Grid below is the fastest way to an order you can be confident in.
Confirm this
Why it decides the bond
What to send Tengyang
Substrate pair
Sets which material is most heat-sensitive → caps the grade
Both materials (e.g. nylon + TPU film, fabric + foam)
Heat window
Activation must melt adhesive without deforming the substrate
Press type + normal temperature / time / pressure
Melt / activation grade
Low ~100°C, medium 130–150°C, high 170–190°C press
Your machine’s usable temperature ceiling
Thickness
Too thin under-fills texture; too thick stiffens & adds cost
Target hand feel or existing spec (0.03–0.25 mm typical)
Width & carrier
Reduces trimming loss; carrier affects positioning & storage
Lamination width + release paper / film / carrier-free
Performance priority
Softness, peel strength, wash resistance, cold flexibility
Rank what matters most for the finished product
Wash / test target
Sets low vs high grade & validates durability
Wash temperature, cycles, or test standard required
Color / transparency
Visible bonds need clear or matched film
Clear, translucent or color requirement
Volume & schedule
Drives MOQ, roll length and lead-time planning
Trial quantity + estimated bulk order
Before you order
Test on real parts, not swatches. We’ll help you fine-tune thickness, carrier, temp, time and pressure – and expose the two common bonding failure points your data sheet doesn’t address: trapped moisture causing the bond to foam, and missing pre-treatment (corona, plasma or primer) on low-energy substrates starving adhesion before film melts.
Engineering & Selection Tools
TPU Hot Melt Adhesive Film — FAQ
Choose by your most heat-sensitive substrate and your press ceiling, not by “strongest.” Low-temperature film (activates near 100°C) protects delicate or coated fabrics; high-temperature film (170–190°C) delivers the best wash and heat resistance but needs equipment that reaches those temperatures. Medium grade (130–150°C) covers most sportswear, underwear and automotive interior work.
Release paper aids positioning and hand placement; release film suits cleaner or transparent bonds; carrier-free is used where the film goes straight into an automated line. The right carrier depends on your process — tell us how the film is fed and we match it.
Yes — wash durability is one of TPU’s core strengths, but it scales with grade rather than being a single guaranteed number. Low-temperature films suit gentle-care goods and hand wash; medium grades handle everyday machine wash; high-temperature films survive repeated industrial or hot wash cycles and dry cleaning. Because the result also depends on your activation temperature, pressure and substrate, confirm your wash temperature and cycle count up front, and we will select and sample the grade that holds through your validation test.
Bubbles almost always come from trapped moisture or air in the substrate, not the film. Dry the base material before bonding and ensure uniform pressure across the press; both are common fixes in textile and foam lamination.
Weak bonds usually trace to three causes: activation temperature set too low for the grade, insufficient or uneven pressure, or a low-energy substrate that needed surface pre-treatment (corona, plasma or primer). A slightly higher, grade-correct temperature and even pressure resolve most peel issues.
No. Plain TPU film is a functional layer; the adhesive film is a bonding layer. Many laminated fabrics use both.
It is solvent-free and contains no volatile organic compounds (as classified under US EPA 40 CFR 51.100), so it eliminates the VOC handling, ventilation and solvent residue associated with liquid glue. That is both an environmental and a workshop-cleanliness advantage.
Place the film between your two materials, apply heat and pressure at the grade’s activation temperature, then let it cool into the bond. Beyond textiles it also works for metal and plastic substrates as well as foam and leather; for metal, confirm the surface is clean and, where needed, primed.
Typical thickness runs 0.03–0.25 mm with custom options; width, melt point, color and formulation are made to your specification. MOQ, roll length and lead time depend on grade and volume — send your trial and bulk quantities for a quotation.
