The suitability of an application procedure will be an important consideration in the selection of an adhesive. It is not sufficient that an adhesive can provide the necessary performance. It must also be possible to apply the adhesive at the required location and at an acceptable cost. Single-part, fast-cure adhesives such as cyanoacrylates are ideal for high production rates and can be dispensed using pressure-time or other relatively low-cost equipment systems. The two-part adhesives such as acrylics and epoxies offer the benefits of higher peel strengths and good gap-filling capability but have to be dispensed through a mixer nozzle or applied as ‘bead-on-bead’. The UV adhesives are one of the easiest adhesives to dispense but do require an investment in curing equipment.
Dispensing of the adhesives is discussed in more detail in Section 8.1.