Page 480 - Handbook of Adhesives and Sealants

416 Chapter Eleven

everything except the adhesive fixed. Very often, nothing is rigidly
established, and it is up to the design engineer to not only choose the
adhesive but also to decide on all of the peripheral processes. Alter-
native substrates, processes, etc. should always be considered. For ex-
ample, a slight change in the application methods could open the door
for consideration of an entirely new family of adhesives.
This chapter will identify some of the critical deliberations that are
necessary in making such compromises. It will be shown how choices
regarding

Substrate
Joint design
Production processes
Service requirements

affect the choice of the adhesive. A planning process is suggested to
find the optimal adhesive system that results in a reliable joint at the
least cost.

11.2 Planning for the Bonding Process
In choosing the correct adhesive and developing an optimized bonding
process, there are several critical decisions that need to be made as
shown in Fig. 11.1. Each of the steps, such as substrate selection and
joint design, needs to be analyzed and optimized with respect to their
influence on the final, desired result. A significant problem is that each

Figure 11.1 Adhesive and sealant selection considerations.