Processing bonding primer

Primers can be used to protect both treated metal and nonmetal substrates after surface treatment. The use of a primer as a shop protectant may increase production costs, but it may also provide enhanced and more consistent adhesive strength. The use of a primer greatly increases production flexibility in bonding operations. Usually primer application can be incorporated as the final step in the surface preparation process. The primer is applied as soon as possible after surface preparation and usually no more than a few hours later. The actual application of the adhesive may then be delayed significantly. 

The phosphate treatment must be carefully controlled to ensure the quality and uniformity of the coating. The bonding primer must be applied within 24 hours of the phosphating process. 

P.V.D.F. Polyvinylidene fluoride (p.v.d.f. or p.v.f.2) dispersions are applied by the coil-coating process. They are blends of p.v.d.f. resin and acrylic. The combination produces a system which has excellent weather-ability and which can be bonded via an adhesive primer to a galvanised steel or aluminium substrate. 

In contrast, hydrolyzed silane compounds, presumably adsorbed as oligomeric films, confer corrosion resistance in both hydrating and Cl environments. These inhibitors can also couple with applied epoxy primer or adhesive formulations to further protect the metal against corrosion by strengthening the metal-epoxide bond. The organosilanes do not appear to affect the curing process, e.g., % crosslinking, of the polymeric epoxy systems. 

Abstract—The effects of metal alkoxide type and relative humidity on the durability of alkoxide-primed, adhesively bonded steel wedge crack specimens have been determined. Aluminum tri-sec-butoxide, aluminum tri-tert-butoxide, tetrabutyl orthosilicate, and titanium(IV) butoxide were used as alkoxide primers. Grit-blasted, acetone-rinsed mild steel adherends were the substrates bonded with epoxy and polyethersulfone. The two aluminum alkoxides significantly enhanced the durability of the adhesively bonded steel, while the titanium alkoxide showed no improvement in durability over a nonprimed control. The silicon alkoxide-primed samples gave an intermediate response. The failure plane in the adhesively bonded samples varied with the relative humidity during the priming process. 

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