Which adhesive should I use for which application? Our online tool tells you!
Adhesive bonds are used in various industrial applications due to their low weight, design flexibility, ability to bond different materials and good fatigue and impact resistance. Finding the right adhesive bond is critical to obtaining a good quality bond, but it is also a complex process that depends on various factors. Not only do the materials, the design and the expected strength play a role, but also factors during the product's lifetime such as temperature fluctuations, humidity and possible exposure to chemicals or sunlight. Therefore, it is important to make a rough selection of possible joining techniques as early as possible in the design process.
To help companies with this, the Flanders Make Joining & Materials Lab developed an online tool. In this tool, the designer indicates which materials he/she wants to join, the force effect on the joint and the expected environmental influences during the usage phase. The tool will then generate a report that lists recommended adhesive families, together with guidelines for pre-treatment steps and the design of the adhesive bond. This report is useful for making an initial selection of possible adhesive families, improving the design and making an initial estimation of necessary production steps. This gives a first idea whether adhesive bonding is possible for the desired application and what the important points of attention are. Afterwards, an adhesive expert will be needed to specifically select a commercially available adhesive and validate the adhesive choice through experiments.
To the tool
Would you like to know more about our tool? Discover it here.
