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Wide, controlled coverage — without atomizing the material into a mist.
Air-dispersed spray sits between atomized spraying and bead extrusion. Low-pressure air shapes and spreads a fluid stream into a defined pattern — spiral, swirl, or oscillating — rather than shearing it into droplets. The material stays largely intact as it travels, then lands as a controlled pattern with a definable edge.
That combination is difficult to get any other way: the width and coverage of a spray, with far less airborne mist and much better control over where the pattern stops. For adhesives, elastics, and web applications where a bead is too narrow and a spray is too messy, this is the method.
Fluid leaves the nozzle as a continuous stream rather than a mist. Jets of low-pressure air, arranged around the orifice, catch that stream and move it — into a spiral, a figure-eight, or a lateral oscillation, depending on the air cap geometry.
The result is a pattern with three useful properties. Width without atomization, so one head covers ground that would take several bead nozzles. Defined edges, because the material has enough mass to stay where it’s placed instead of drifting. And low mist, because the fluid was never broken into droplets small enough to become airborne.
It works particularly well with high-viscosity materials, including hot melt adhesives — which is why it’s the dominant method in hygiene and tissue converting, where wide adhesive coverage has to be applied at speed onto delicate webs without soaking through or contaminating surrounding surfaces.
Several of our methods are non-contact. Which one fits depends on your material and how much of it needs to land.
| Method | Overspray | Viscosity range | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air atomizing | Highest | Low to medium | Finest films, finish quality, contoured coverage |
| Airless | Moderate | Medium to high | Heavier films, less mist, material savings |
| Air-dispersed (this page) | Low | Medium to high | Wide patterns without full atomization |
| Extrusion | None | High | Defined beads and stripes |
| Slot coating | None | Low to high | Uniform wide-web films at set thickness |
| Non-contact | Varies | Low to high | Delicate, irregular, or moving substrates |
Tissue converting — ply bonding and tail-tie adhesive application, where wide, light, controlled coverage across a moving web is exactly the requirement. Spraymation equipment runs at global tissue manufacturers.
Hygiene and nonwovens — adhesive application across coverstock and web at high line speed, where soak-through and edge control both matter.
Packaging — wide adhesive coverage on panels and closures without the mist an atomizing head produces.
Elastic and strand attach — controlled adhesive placement onto moving strands and narrow substrates.
Coatings on contoured targets — where pattern width matters more than film fineness.
Tissue and hygiene converting is where Spraymation’s installed base is deepest, and air-dispersed adhesive application is the method those lines run on. Our equipment is in the production of a large share of the world’s paper towel and tissue products.
Pattern geometry is a design variable, not a catalog selection. If your web width, line speed, and adhesive require a pattern that doesn’t exist yet, that’s the work we do.
Consistent pattern at line speed, with cut-off fast enough to start and stop cleanly at the web edge.
Spraymation systems are still in production service 40 years after installation.
Documented quality processes.
Spare parts, consumables, remote technical support, and factory rebuilds.
Air atomizing → uses air to break the fluid into fine droplets. Air-dispersed uses air to move and shape a fluid stream that stays largely intact. The result is a wider pattern with defined edges and far less airborne mist — at the cost of the fine, uniform film that atomizing produces.
Yes — hot melt is one of the most common materials for this method, and heated air-dispersed application is core Spraymation capability. See hot melt adhesive systems →
Pattern width depends on air cap geometry, standoff distance, and material — send us your coverage requirement and we’ll specify.
That’s a large part of why this method exists. Because material isn’t atomized into a fine mist and is applied in a controlled pattern rather than a flood, add-on stays low while coverage stays wide — which is what prevents strike-through on lightweight tissue and nonwoven substrates.
Yes. Many customers integrate Electromatic™ heads and controls into equipment they already run.
Get Started
Tell us the web width, line speed, and adhesive. Our engineers will specify the pattern and the head.
Or call us directly +1 954 484 9700