Structural adhesives for thermoset plastics are more often than not epoxies, two-part acrylics and sometimes cyanoacrylates [4]. UV-cure adhesives are not widely used as many thermoset plastics are not clear.
Epoxies will bond to most thermoset plastics but as mentioned in Section 1.4 there are many different epoxy adhesive grades available and some epoxies are far more suited for bonding metals than plastics.
Two-part acrylics (or MMA) bond well to many thermoset plastics and these products are often used for the assembly of larger thermoset plastic components. They generally cure faster than epoxies and the mix ratio of two-part MMA acrylics is not as critical as it can be for epoxy adhesives. However, many MMA have a high odour and have a tendency to string and many grades are flammable.
Standard ethyl-based cyanoacrylates will bond thermoset plastics but the modified toughened grades are often specified for thermosets due to their improved impact resistance.
Cyanoacrylates are best suited where the gaps are small (<0.15 mm) and although some grades will fill bigger gaps there is always a risk of ‘blooming’ (see Section 10.2.6) if the cyanoacrylate is slow to cure.