Page 56 - Handbook of Adhesives and Sealants

24 Chapter One

TABLE 1.8 Examples of Applications where Bonding is a Practical Method of
Assembly 6
Application areas for adhesives Examples
Dissimilar materials Combinations of metals, rubbers, plastics, foamed
materials, fabrics, wood, ceramics, glass, etc.
Dissimilar materials which Iron to copper or brass
constitute a corrosion couple
Heat sensitive materials Thermoplastics, magnetic materials, glass
Laminated structures Sandwich construction based on honeycomb
materials; heat exchangers; sheet laminates, core
laminates
Reinforced structures Stiffeners for wall paneling, boxes and containers,
partitions, automobile chassis parts, aircraft body
parts
Structural applications Load bearing structures in the aircraft fuselage,
automotive and civil engineering industries
Bonded inserts Plug inserts, studs, rivets, concentric shafts; tubes,
frame construction; shaft-rotor joints; tools;
reinforced plastics with metal inserts; paint brush
bristles
Sealed joints and units Pipe joining, encapsulation, container seams, lid
seals
Fragile components Instrumentation, thin films and foils,
microelectronics components and others where
precise location of parts is required
Components of particular Where bonding areas are large or there is a need
dimensions for shape conformity between bonded parts
Temporary fastening Where the intention is to dismantle the bond later,
the use of various labels, surgical and pressure
sensitive tapes, adhesives for positioning and
locating parts, in lieu of jigs, prior to assembly by
other means

tained from metallurgical heat treating processes could be lost because
of a high temperature joining process. Adhesives, on the other hand,
provide a low temperature, high strength, joint with many of these
substrates. They thereby avoid many of the problems commonly en-
countered with other methods of joining.
Many polymeric adhesives are viscoelastic and act like tough, rel-
atively flexible materials with the ability to expand and contract. This
allows the bonding of materials having greatly different coefficients of
thermal expansion or elastic moduli. Toughness also provides resis-
tance to thermal cycling and crack propagation.
Bonded structures are often mechanically equivalent to, or stronger
than, structures built with more conventional assembly methods. An