Page 12 - Industrial Technology EXTRA - 27th April 2020

ADHESIVES...

See the light with ultra

violet bonding adhesives

For the uninitiated, the selection and use of adhesives in the design and or the

manufacture of a product can be a daunting prospect. How on earth are you supposed
to know which one is the most suitable for your application. Here we explain all you
need to know about UV adhesives

ltra violet light curing (UV)
adhesives are just one example
of how a simple adhesive
Uchemistry can be seen as
mysterious, complicated to use and very
high tech, which often puts users off. That
negative image belies the many valuable
features and benefits of UV and visible light
curing adhesive systems – and how easy
they are to use.
UV light curing adhesives are ‘’cure on
demand’’ adhesives and remain completely inert UV curing adhesives find a number applications in many
and in a liquid state when applied to a substrate different industries, including optical lens bonding
until they are subjected to controlled and
concentrated UV light. These adhesives are used in Typically there are two types of chemistry to
many different applications, including the choose from either epoxy or acrylate based
manufacture of disposable medical devices, such as adhesives depending on your application. Acrylate
chest drains, syringe needle bonding, catheter based adhesives are widely used for bonding clear
tube/bag sets and blood filter housings, electronics, substrates such as PMMA, PVC, SAN, PC and glass
optical lens bonding and fibre optic filament either to themselves, in combination or indeed to
splicing. They are also widely used in glass and some metals.
acrylic furniture manufacture, as well as decorative The benefits of acrylate based adhesives are
glass, display cases, signage and trophies to name numerous:
just a few! They are extremely versatile products, l Can be used in a wide variety of applications.
ideally suited to high volume production outputs as l Fast curing, making them very useful for high
well as the artisan craftsmen. output production.

April 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA! • p12