Industrial adhesives are classified by adhesive properties, composition, and cure mechanism. Resins, polymers of synthetic origin, are used as industrial adhesives and can be classified into thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastic adhesives bond most materials and are resistant to oil but not heat or water. Thermoset adhesives, such as epoxies, polyurethanes, and phenolic resins, are cured by catalysts, hardeners, heat, or ultraviolet light. Adhesives can also be classified by curing mechanism, including physically curing, chemically curing, and pressure sensitive resins. Hot melt adhesives, plastisols, water-based adhesives, and organic solvent adhesives are examples of physically cured industrial adhesives. Chemically cured industrial adhesives require a chemical reaction to bond two surfaces together. Pressure sensitive resins facilitate bonding between surfaces by applying enough pressure.
An adhesive is a substance that holds or bonds two different surfaces together. There are several types of industrial adhesives and they are generally classified according to their adhesive properties, composition or cure mechanism. The cure mechanism refers to the process of curing the adhesive by chemicals, heat or ultraviolet light. How resin is used as an industrial adhesive depends on its physical and chemical properties.
Resins are polymers of synthetic origin. A polymer is a large molecule formed by combining smaller molecules. Resins can be classified into thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastic resins can be remolded at high temperatures, and once cooled, they become stiff. Conversely, thermosetting resins cannot be reprinted after the curing process.
As industrial adhesives, thermoplastic adhesives such as polyvinyl acetate (PVA), cyanoacrylate or superglue, silicone resins and polyamides are used. These resins are resistant to oil, but exhibit poor resistance to heat, water and creep under high load. This type of industrial adhesive can bond most materials, such as wood, ceramic, metal and laminates. They are used extensively in applications such as screw locking assemblies.
Some of the more common types of industrial thermoset adhesives are epoxies, polyurethanes, and phenolic resins. Like other thermosetting resins, epoxies can be cured by catalysts, hardeners, heat or ultraviolet light, depending on the specific industrial need. A high performance structural adhesive has high chemical and heat resistance, especially those cured at extremely high temperatures.
Epoxy adhesives are widely used in the aviation and automotive industries. Polyurethane resins cure quickly and can even bond concrete surfaces. Phenolic resins are mainly used in the production of plywood.
Based on the curing mechanism, adhesives can be classified into physically curing resins, chemical curing resins, and pressure sensitive resins. Hot-melt adhesives, plastisols, water-based adhesives and organic solvent adhesives are different types of physically cured industrial adhesives. In particular, this category includes adhesives that can be melted, such as thermoplastics.
Hot melt adhesives are mainly used in the furniture, packaging and electronics industries. These solid adhesives usually soften on heating; they uniformly wet the substrates in contact with them and solidify by cooling. Plastisol is an industrial adhesive widely used in the automotive industry. Water-based adhesives are easy-to-clean adhesives that contain polymers dissolved or dispersed in water. Wet-glue adhesives and contact adhesives are two classes of water-based polymer adhesives.
Chemically curing industrial adhesive requires a chemical reaction to bond two surfaces together. These adhesives are classified into one-part and two-part adhesives. One-part resins are further classified into heat-curing, moisture-curing, and radiation-curing adhesives, and anaerobic and cyanoacrylate adhesives. These adhesives are mainly used in automotive, optical, microelectronic and medical industries. Urethane, epoxy and silicone adhesives are different types of two-part adhesives.
Pressure sensitive resins facilitate bonding between surfaces by applying enough pressure. These resins are mainly used in filter frames and membrane switch assemblies. In some cases, pressure sensitive resins are designed to be easily removable.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
