It’s time for ASI’s annual Buyers’ Guide, a purchasing and applications resource for raw materials, equipment, and services used to manufacture adhesives and sealants, pressure sensitives, and adhesives and sealants products such as tapes and labels. The Buyers’ Guide also includes supplier details for finished adhesives and sealants.

Having a piece of plastic or metal inserted into your body is never going to feel like a warm blanket wrapping around you, but it is possible to make sure that these vital instruments are doing their job while not causing any damage or unnecessary pain in the process. Surface engineering is key for medical devices like tubing, catheters, and stents that are implanted in the human body.

When anticipating using adhesives in structural bonding, a common need is developing the testing protocol to demonstrate bonded system effectiveness. While pressure-sensitive tapes are used in structural joining, this discussion will focus on liquid, paste, and film adhesives in structural joints.

Third-party coating, adhesive, and sealant providers benefit greatly from the rigorous testing standards required by their manufacturing partners. While this is a widely adopted norm, the best practice in testing procedures involves incorporating additional quality control and testing standards beyond those requirements.

We have all seen and experienced so many changes over the past few months. COVID-19 has caused a health crisis on a level most of us hadn’t even imagined, beyond the pages of dystopian fiction.

The potting of electronic components involves filling the assembly with a compound such as liquid resin (e.g., epoxy, silicone, polyurethane) to protect it from environmental or use conditions like moisture, humidity, and vibration. Any air entrapment in the potting compound can result in air bubbles that may cause performance problems in the finished component.