For fastening and bonding it’s hard to go past adhesives and sealants for performance, durability, reliability and a more aesthetically pleasing final product. From Acrylics to Silicones, here we take a look at 5 essential adhesives and sealant variations for just about any job.
Epoxies
These types of adhesives and sealants provide excellent bonding to a wide variety of substrates and exhibit superior heat and chemical resistance among common adhesives. They will cure at room temperature and can be rapidly cured at higher temperatures, but those epoxies cured with heat will be more heat resistant and chemical resistant that those cured at room temperature. General use epoxies have limited durability in elevated temperature environments.
We like: Plastic Steel Putty (A) by Devcon
Cyanoacrylates
Commonly known as super glues, these liquid and gel products cure rapidly to form a strong bond between many substrates. However, they are prone to blooming (leaving a white residue on surrounding surfaces), are brittle and possess limited stability at elevated temperatures.
We like: Scotch-Weld™ Instant Adhesive CA100 Clear by 3M
Acrylics
These two-step structural adhesives bond with minimal preparation to a wide range of dry materials. Acrylics generally cure quickly at room temperature, but can also be cured at higher temperatures. They provide excellent environmental and chemical resistance but have limited thermal stability in moist environments. Acrylics are also used as Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSA) in electronic applications.
We like: General Purpose Gap Filler from QUIADSA
Polyurethanes
Polyurethane adhesives and sealants provide both durable and flexible bonds to a wide variety of materials, with superior resistance to moisture, oils, solvents and fuels. They possess excellent resistance to oxygen, ozone, sunlight and general weather conditions, as well as outstanding electrical insulating properties.
We like: Sikaflex-11FC Polyurethane Sealany by Sika
Silicones
Silicone sealants and adhesive are extremely versatile products because of their durability, flexibility, and inherent properties; these include thermal stability, resistance to water, sunlight, oxygen and ozone, electrical insulation and excellent chemical resistance. Silicone bond with a wide range of substrates, but some surfaces do require priming to enhance adhesion.
We like: Superflex® Blue RTV Silicone Adhesive Sealant by Loctite