A Summary for Adhesive Selection

Each application will be different and the selection of the adhesive will depend on all of the factors given above and probably many more. Engineers will have their own favourites based on their own experiences and this small section is intended only as a very general overview of five different adhesive types. 

For clear plastics where optical clarity and speed of cure are essential, the UV adhesives are an obvions first choice. However, these products are amongst the higher cost adhesives and curing eqnipment is required. 

Epoxies will fill large gaps and can show excellent durability but dispensing of small quantities ( 0.1 g) can be difficult if the volume dispensed is not sufficient to displace the quantity pre-mixed in the dispensing nozzle during the cure time of the adhesive. 

Two-part acrylics will bond many different materials and can tolerate a wider variation in mix ratios than epoxies. They can show good toughness and clarity but often have a higher odour than many of the other adhesive families. 

The low-energy plastics always represent a bonding challenge and these are discussed in Section 6.3. 

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