Apr 5 2005
Permabond UV-curable adhesives are excellent for use on glass to glass or glass to metal applications. They are very high strength so are suitable for load carrying joints such as glass furniture and display cabinets. Flexible products are available for cases where differential thermal expansion between parts occurs. Plastics, such as acrylic and polycarbonate, would need to be checked for UV transmittance (as quite often plastics are UV stabilised). Permabond technical staff can check this and suggest or develop suitable products to meet your application requirements.
What are the benefits of UV-curable adhesives?
Single-part adhesive chemistry allows rapid preparation, application and cure.
UV-curable adhesives are capable of joining dissimilar materials, such as acrylic to metal, with no compromise in bond strength.
Cure in seconds - which eliminates the need for costly jigs or ovens and accelerates assembly rates.
Permabond UV adhesives are solvent free and non flammable.
They exhibit superior bond strength which often exceeds that of substrate material.
The finished appearance is aesthetically pleasing.
Cures on demand to allow proper alignment of components before bonding.
Optically clear products.
How do Permabond UV-curable adhesives work?
Permabond UV-curables contain a photo-initiator which when exposed to Ultra Violet or blue light radiation, triggers the acrylic adhesive to cure instantly. To transmit the UV light requires at least one of the substrates to be clear. For shadow areas, products with dual cure mechanisms are available.
How do you cure the product? Will it cure in normal daylight?
There are UV rays in normal daylight which can cause the adhesive to slowly gel and cure although it won't achieve full strength, so you would need to use a UV-lamp. Permabond can help you with this. Lamps are available in a variety of luminosities from small inexpensive hobby lamps to larger high intensity units. Permabond will hep you select the best type of lamp for your specific application.
How long do they take to cure?
We quote cure speeds for each of the products on thefollowing table. These are rough guidelines as it is dependent on the intensity of the UV light, the distance from light source and the transmittance through the substrate material.