Application equipment automotive adhesives

Thermoplastic PAI resins find use in many applications, such as adhesives, coatings, filled and unfilled molding compositions, fibers, films, composites, and laminates. In particular they are used in aircraft, automotive electric and electronic appUcations, as coatings, seals, and in oil and gas processing equipment. 

In order to eomplement their knowledge, the engineers who work with structural materials in automotive, aerospace, bonding of metals, plastics, and composites should also, of course, read the chapters Design and calculation of bonded parts , Physics and chemistry of adhesion , Surface preparation before bonding , Metal bonding , Bonding composites , and also Epoxy adhesives , Application equipment , etc. 

Several volumes will be published during 2005-2007 which contain chapters linked to the chapters in Volume 1, for instance Bonding metals , Bonding composites , Epoxy adhesives , Bonding in automotive , Structural adhesives , UV curing , Application equipment , and others. 

O Figure 37.24 shows a heated application equipment which is commonly used to apply one-part adhesives, like in the automotive industry for car body bonding. 

Common applications for transfer tapes include the assembly of membrane switches used in the electronic industry, the attachment of face plates to appliances and other equipment, the assembly of automotive displays in the in.strument cluster, and the assembly of displays, such as touch screens for computers and teller machines. Fig. 18 pictures the use of a transfer tape adhesive in the assembly of a membrane switch. 

At l/pound they are finding applications in electrical and electronic equipment, hot household appliances, automotive under-the-hood parts, and aircraft ducts and panelling, as well as hot water service and metal/metal adhesives. 

For many applications, adhesives are formulated and tailored around specific products and environments. Among these are the ground communication and control equipment for the military that must withstand a wide spectrum of harsh terrestrial climates in addition to high levels of shock and vibration. Spacecraft electronics will be subjected to high vacuum, low temperatures, and particle bombardment from both radioactive and physical particles. Other specific applications include memory modules, automotive, flat-panel displays, optoelectronics, LEDs, MEMS, and EMI shielding. 

PES finds application in aircraft interior parts because of its low smoke emission. Electrical applications include switches, integrated circuit carriers, and battery parts. The high-temperature oil and gas resistance allow PES to be used in automotive applications. The ability of PES to endure repeated sterilization allows it to be used in a variety of medical applications. Consumer uses include cooking equipment and lighting fittings. PES can also be vacuum metallized for a high-gloss mirror finish. They are also used for specialized adhesive and lacquer applications. 

Bonded joints are extensively employed in the construction of composite structures in aerospace applications, maritime structures, lifting equipment, wind mills as well as automotive industries [3, 4, 5], Unlike the bolt hole in mechanical fastening that causes a stress concentration in the composite joint plates, adhesively bonded joints minimize the potential for stress concentration within the joint. Besides, applications where lower structural weight, improved damage tolerance design philosophy are required, adhesively bonded joints provides a potential solution. Bonded joints are an efficent fastening solution also for hybrid structures, i.e., structures where composite parts are connected to metal parts. 

Coextrusion and lamination processes have been described extensively in the patent literature. The technology usually involves multilayer structures utilizing, as an adhesive layer, a compound of PVDF with another material, which provides the bonding to the substrate. In this way, the full benefits of a thin film of PVDF may be realized (121). Another approach using acrylic alloys with PVDF sometimes achieves adherence to various substrates without the tie layer necessary for the pure PVDF film (122). The full breadth of options available by these technologies to protect surfaces with weatherable PVDF surfaces has been reviewed (123). Surface PVDF layers on polyolefins has been a particular technology of interest with respect to suitable finishes in cost effective parts for exterior automotive and agricultural equipment applications (124). 

Acrylate polymers are often used in many applications that require good optical properties. However, they are unsuitable for use in the automotive industry because of their brittle characteristics. Thus, when natural rubber is blended with poly(methyl methacrylate), there is a big improvement in the elasticity of the brittle acrylate polymers. It is of interest that thermoplastic natural rubbers are relatively new products in the rubber industry and are fastgrowing items in the polymer market. The acrylate polymers blended with natural rubber can improve various properties of both the natural rubber and the acrylate polymers such as elasticity, adhesion, processability properties, and transparency. These materials are known for their excellent processability, characteristic of acrylate polymers, and their elasticity property provided by natural rubber, thus they exhibit the typical properties of elastomeric materials and can be processed with thermoplastic processing equipment used to prepare acrylate polymers. Many of their interesting properties have been widely developed for several industrial applications such as in the automotive industry, household appliances, medical devices, electrical cables, and headphone cables. ... 

Applications adhesives, aerospace structures, audiovisual equipment, barrier films, bobbins, cameras, capsules for electronic devices, coatings, composites, connectors and sockets, electric motor components, fiber optic connectors, fuel cells bipolar plates, Information storage devices, lamp sockets, LED, microwave cookware, precision molded components, printers and copiers parts, SMT components, sporting goods, under-bonnet automotive components, watches ... 

Beside the many automotive uses, one-component RTV products are applied in almost every segment of industry in which they can perform the functions of adhesives or as sealants and gaskets. As with the automotive applications, some end users dispense and apply RTVs from 55-gallon drums and from pails using pneumatic pumps plastic cartridges of the product can also be employed either with power equipment or manually, and there are squeeze tubes for the smallest assembly and sealing work. 

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