Aerobic acrylic UV and activator curing technology was developed with a view to maintaining the formulation flexibility necessary to meet a broad range of application requirements. Adhesives, sealants, and coatings providing improved product quality have been the result. In addition to increased formulation flexibility, improvements in resin characteristics possessing toughness and durability have resulted in assemblies of superior quality and performance [5-7].
B. Tough, Durable Bonds Yield Higher-Quality Assemblies
The essence of acceptable assembly quality is to eliminate production line rejects and failures over the life of the manufactured product. Aerobic acrylic activator curing
Adhesive |
Values (in.-lb) |
Polyamide epoxy |
7±5 |
Cyanoacrylate |
2±2 |
Anaerobic |
12±5 |
2nd-generation acrylic |
20±7 |
General-purpose aerobic acrylic |
40±10 |
(metal deformation) |
|
High-impact aerobic acrylic |
60 + |
aOn degreased, sandblasted steel, 1/2-in. overlap. |
adhesives and sealants have been in use in demanding automotive, medical, electrical, and electronic applications for the past 20 years. Designed to resist vibration, shock, and impact, they have withstood the severe environmental stresses of thermal, as well as physical, shock. Excellent for bonding closely fitting metal, glass, ceramic, filled plastic, and thermoset plastic parts, aerobic adhesives improve durability by also acting as shockabsorbing cushions. High tensile/shear strength to 3000psi, combined with flexibility and the ability to absorb shock, results in a toughness developed to increase the useful life of the bonded or sealed part. Table 2 compares the toughness as measured in impact strength of aerobic acrylics with other adhesive products offered to OEM (original equipment manufacturers). Appendix B tabulates a range of properties available from different aerobic adhesive formulations [1].