Got a tough combination of molded components? Normally we weld, but sometimes the two materials are welding incompatible or the welding conditions are too extreme in temperature or time for the size of the part or complexity of the design. In that case, the option is to bond the materials.
Bonding thermoplastics is a little tricky because the surface energy is low compared with a thermoset material. It may be necessary to use a surface preparation technique to raise the wetting level. Dispensing can also be challenging, especially on small parts, but syringe units are quite sophisticated and give reproducible results. Once the components are joined, the curing can be fast if we used a cyanoacrylate or UV/VIS curable.
If you have a weird combination of materials to join, don’t be shy about asking us for suggestions. We work with all brands of adhesives and curing methods, and our goal is to get you running and successful. If you need testing or analysis, that’s no problem – we do that too. Bring it on, bring it over.
My name is Dr. George Ritter. I’m a materials engineer at EWI and I’ve been doing this for thirty years. Post your materials joining question below or contact me at [email protected] or 614.688.5199.