Debonding-on-demand is an enabler for circularity. Circularity is a holistic concept with global relevance in a global market. The key to circularity at a product's end-of-life lies in its design. Debonding-on-demand enables the smart design of products with reduced resource use in mind, with options for modularity, repairability and extending lifecycles of products in the use phase and recovering the value of materials at end-of-life e.g., for medical equipment, textiles, packaging, construction products, electronic devices or automotive and transport.

Debonding-on-demand adhesives are – similar to other adhesives – applied between two substrates, which enable high bond strength with structural properties. If the bond is to be disassembled, e.g. at a product’s end-of-life or for repair purposes, a specific trigger is applied to perform the debonding process.

Debonding-on-demand adhesives' high performance and safety throughout a product's use phase is promoted by the right choice of adhesive technology and debond trigger. Thereby, debonding-on-demand adhesives provide the required performance for bonding materials, while allowing disassembly and material separation on demand to facilitate reuse, repair or recycling.

The preferred bonding and debonding techniques are material and application specific. Henkel supports customers to rethink circularity from the beginning of the product design phase to reduce resource consumption and to allow design for reuse, reparability, maintenance, and recyclability.

Debonding-on-demand adhesives are designed to fit into existing production processes. Their formulations are aligned with established adhesive technologies, allowing them to be used with standard dispensing, coating, and application methods. This enables manufacturers to adopt them as a drop-in solution without modifying equipment or workflows, helping to minimize disruption and reduce barriers to implementation.

Debonding-on-demand adhesives allow bonded components to be separated when a specific trigger reduces the adhesive strength in a controlled way. Triggers can be based on physical, chemical, or mechanical stimuli. Advanced trigger mechanisms include thermal activation, electrical stimulation, and chemical triggers. Further approaches involve UV or visible light irradiation and magnetic fields. The choice of trigger is an important design parameter, as it influences the adhesive system’s durability and suitability for specific applications.

Conductive inks, applied using printing processes such as screen printing or pad printing, can create integrated conductive patterns that enable electrical or thermal debonding. These printed circuits can be applied to a wide range of substrates, including both 2D and complex 3D surfaces.

In specific cases, Electrical Delamination (EDL) uses printed conductive structures integrated at or near the adhesive bond line to apply a defined electrical field across a modified adhesive system. When a controlled voltage and current are applied, an electrochemical reaction is initiated within the adhesive interface, resulting in a targeted reduction of adhesion strength.

This interface-specific failure enables clean separation of bonded substrates without mechanical force, supporting precise disassembly and high-quality material separation for recycling, particularly in complex or multi-material assemblies.

Thermal Debonding (TDL) can be realized by printed resistive heating elements that generate localized heat directly at the adhesive bond line when electrically activated. The generated heat raises the temperature of the adhesive into a defined activation window, where the adhesive softens, decomposes, or undergoes a controlled loss of mechanical strength.

By concentrating heat only where debonding is required, printed electronics enable selective disassembly without thermal damage to surrounding components, allowing clean separation of substrates and improving material purity and recovery efficiency during recycling.