As the advantages of structural epoxy adhesives become more apparent, new curing agent technologies can help facilitate a more sustainable adhesive product.
Lightweighting of structures and combining of materials to take advantage of their best properties is becoming a part of engineering design, and adhesives will play an increasing role in those future designs and applications.
Lightweighting of structures is most often associated with automotive structures. However, lightweighting is a challenge across the transportation sector, including trucks, trailers, buses, passenger rail cars, and even heavy earth-moving equipment and cranes.
While structural adhesives provide step-change innovations beyond mechanical fastening, multiple factors need to be taken into consideration to ensure optimal results.
Design engineers are increasingly embracing a shift from mechanical fasteners to structural adhesives in sectors ranging from automotive and aerospace to energy and construction. In fact, the market for structural adhesives is projected to grow at a 6.9% CAGR (2021-2030) to reach a value of $27.9 billion worldwide by 2030.
Epoxy adhesives offer high shear strength while bonding efficiently to a wide range of substrates.
May 9, 2022
The global epoxy adhesives market is expected to reach $11.6 billion by 2026. These adhesives offer high shear strength while bonding efficiently to substrates like wood, glass, and metal. They also provide minimal shrinkage, superior thermal and chemical resistance, and cohesive strength.
Market studies indicate that the use of structural adhesives will continue to show significant growth in the coming years. Whether for first joining operations, maintenance, or repair operations, the use of paste adhesives offers many advantages compared to welding or traditional mechanical fastening, including ease of use, environmental resistance, sealing, stress distribution, and joining dissimilar materials.
Conagen recently announced the development of debondable hot-melt adhesives made with high-performance materials from sustainable and natural biomolecules.
The use of adhesives in electric vehicles (EVs) is even more widespread than in conventional automobiles. In both types of vehicles, adhesives offer many advantages, including ease of use compared to welding, environmental resistance, sealing, distributing stress, and joining dissimilar materials.