ADHESIVES AND SEALANTS

Adhesive—a substance capable of holding at least

two surfaces together
in a strong and permanent manner.
Sealant—a substance capable of attaching to at least
two surfaces,
thereby, filling the space between them to provide a
barrier or protective
coating.
Adhesives and sealants also share several common
characteristics.
1. They must behave as a liquid, at some time in the
course of bond
formation, in order to flow over and wet (make
intimate contact
with) the adherends.
2. They form surface attachment through adhesion
(the development
of intermolecular forces).
3. They must harden to carry sometimes continuous,
sometimes variable
load throughout their lives.
4. They transfer and distribute load among the
components in an assembly.
5. They must fill gaps, cavities, and spaces.
6. They must work with other components of the
assembly to provide
a durable product.
·0 Adhesives are chosen for their holding and
bonding power.
 They are generally materials having high shear
and tensile strength.
·1 Structural adhesive is a term generally used
to define an adhesive whose strength is critical to
the success of the assembly.
This term is usually reserved
to describe adhesives with high shear strength (in
excess of 1,000
pounds per square inch or psi) and good
environmental resistance.
Examples of structural adhesives are epoxy,
thermosetting acrylic, and
urethane systems.
·2 Structural adhesives are usually expected to last
the life of the product to which they are applied.
Non-structural adhesives are adhesives with much
lower strength
and permanence. They are generally used for
temporary fastening or to bond weak substrates.
Examples of non-structural adhesives are pressure
sensitive films, wood glue, elastomers, and sealants.
Sealants are generally chosen for their ability to fill
gaps, resist
relative movement of the substrates, and exclude or
contain another
material. They are generally lower in strength than
adhesives, but
have better flexibility. Common sealants include
urethanes, silicones,
and acrylic systems.
Both adhesives and sealants function primarily by the
property of
adhesion. Adhesion is the attraction of two different
substances resulting
from intermolecular forces between the substances.
This is distinctly
different from cohesion, which involves only the
intermolecular
attractive forces within a single substance. The
intermolecular forces
acting in both adhesion and cohesion are primarily
van der Waals
forces.
The following items contribute to a ‘‘hidden cost’’ of
using adhesives,
and they also could contribute to serious production
difficulties:
·3 The storage life of the adhesive may be
unrealistically short; some
adhesives require refrigerated storage.
·4 The adhesive may begin to solidify before the
worker is ready.
·5 The cost of surface preparation and primers, if
necessary, must be
considered.
·6 Ease of handling, waste, and reproducibility can
be essential cost factors.
·7 Cleanup is a cost factor, especially where
misapplied adhesive may
ruin the appearance of a product.
·8 Once bonded, samples cannot easily be
disassembled; if misalignment
occurs and the adhesive cures, usually the part must
be
scrapped.
Functions of Sealants
Sealants are generally used as a barrier or a
means of protection. In
this way, sealants are used to exclude dust,
dirt, moisture, and chemicals
or to contain a liquid or gas. They are also
often used as a coating
to protect a surface or an article. They can
exclude noise and vibration,
improve appearance, and perform a joining
function. Certain sealants,
like adhesives, can be used to assemble parts,
and many adhesives
can be used to seal. Sealants can also be used
as electrical or thermal
insulators, fire barriers, and as products for
smoothing, filleting or
faying. No matter what the application, a
sealant has three basic functions:
1. It fills a gap between two or more substrates
2. It forms a barrier by the physical properties
of the sealant itself
and by its adhesion to the substrate
3. It maintains its sealing property for the
expected lifetime, service
conditions, and environments.