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Finished Adhesives and Sealants

Ask Dr. Dave

Bonding Polystyrene to Glass

Can you recommend an adhesive for bonding a polystyrene part to glass for a consumer product? The adhesive needs some good strength, and it must be clear, cure quickly, and be easily used by relatively non-skilled operators. The final product will be used indoors and might suffer occasional impacts.

By Dave Dunn Ph.D.
December 17, 2021

Many adhesives will probably do the job, such as tough acrylics and epoxies. The simplest to source and start with might be a clear 5-min epoxy, dispensed from a twin-syringe and fitted with a static mixer. As its name implies, this type of adhesive will give good handling strength in 5 min and will cure completely in less than 24 hrs at room temperature. If desired, the curing can be accelerated with mild heating in an oven or by using a heat lamp. Its adhesive strength may exceed the strength of the polystyrene, and this type of epoxy does have some toughness to absorb impacts.

If you need something that cures even faster, versions are available that fixture in 30 sec. With these products, you will need to keep dispensing the adhesive quickly to avoid it setting up in the static mixer. This type of system is extremely easy to use and can be automated in the future if your production requirements increase considerably.

KEYWORDS: acrylics adhesives in assembly bonding epoxies

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Dave dunn

Ask Dr. Dave is written by Dave Dunn, Ph.D., of F.L.D. Enterprises, a technical consultancy and full-service industrial market-research firm specializing in the adhesives, sealants, specialty rubbers and plastics fields. Dave is a former vice president and director of Loctite Corp. and has spent many years in troubleshooting adhesive and sealant problems. Questions for publication should be directed to him at 242 Trails End, Aurora OH 44202; phone (440) 477-5164; fax (330) 247-1690; or email DrDave242@windstream.net .

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