The specialty chemicals value chain has risen to the challenge of retooling to fill large supply gaps for sanitation products, packaging containers and inks, and other essential products to meet spikes in demand as an outgrowth of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We assemble steel panels with welding and screws. Can we replace these with an adhesive?

School closings and stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 have forced many parents around the world to become true activities directors for their households—whether they like it or not. This can be stressful for everyone involved, but I’ve been amazed at some of the ambitious projects I’ve seen families undertake over the past few months using simple household items.

It may be a one- or two-part system. We need temperature resistance up to 500˚C, and the adhesive will be applied to fill small gaps in a hot mild steel structure. The required initial setting time is 5 min.

With increasing consolidation among adhesives manufacturers and the raw material suppliers that support them, global product formulation and availability of materials used in these formulations continue to grow in importance.

You don’t indicate which substrate is on the outside, and this does make a difference in the possible choice of adhesive. Epoxy adhesives were traditionally used for this application, but they should be used with care as they may be too rigid.

You need to look at so-called “shadow curing” options. Most UV-cured systems are based on acrylates and methacrylates and cure free-radically by the decomposition of a photoinitiator.

Independent testing and third-party validation of application-specific and customer-required adhesive products are expected across the value chain. It is especially important to validate adhesive performance for the electronics industry.

All adhesives tend to lose strength on immersion in water. Water acts in two ways on a bonded assembly: It can be absorbed into the adhesive and soften it, and it can degrade the interface between the adhesive and the bonded surfaces.

This first installment of a two-part series highlights the value proposition of today's adhesive chemistries and curing methods to high-value end-use markets.