Sponsored: Forming stronger bonds: the new breed of sign adhesives

Over the past 10 years, those who design and produce sophisticated products for architecture, outdoor venues, trucking, sporting equipment and a host of familiar applications have all moved in one direction – to the latest technology liquid adhesives. They can offer significant advantages over older liquid adhesives and double-sided tape. Long haul trucks, buses, building exterior panels, recreational vehicles, elevators and automotive bodies are just some of the industries embracing the benefits of these new liquid adhesives and sealants. 

Henkel, under the LOCTITE brand, has a number of new technology products offering strong value for the sign industry including hybrids, and improved acrylics. Here’s a quick comparison of their respective advantages:

•    New generation hybrids or Universal Structural Bonders…are “universal” because they offer high performance on metal, plastic, and other substrates.

•    The latest acrylic adhesives have higher peel strength and impact resistance, particularly on aluminum.

•    Newest technology silanes offer fast curing, good depth of cure, and seal like a silicone but with 2x better adhesion.

Why new generation liquid adhesives are the preferred choice for sign manufacturing

The new products offer benefits over older adhesive and sealant technologies and double-sided tape, such as improved performance and faster manufacturing speed. Plus, they’re safer and greener. 

Advertisement

Improved Performance: 

Compared to older liquid adhesives and double-sided tapes, new generation technologies offer higher adhesion; especially impact strength and peel resistance. Both are critical requirements for aluminum and plastics used in sign manufacturing. 

Henkel’s universal structural bonder is one of the new generation technologies. The product offers multi-substrate performance unlike older technologies that might be optimized for metals or plastics, but not both. Today’s Acrylic Adhesives cure to an extremely hard material that can be sanded and machined. Modern Silane adhesives/sealants look like silicones and have the same flexibility but up to 2 times better adhesion. Silane adhesives/sealants are paintable and unmatched in their weathering performance.

Faster Manufacturing Speed:

These new generation products offer significant advantages. Adhesives can attain handling strengths in less than a minute, reducing clamp time or cycle time before the parts can be moved. The acrylic adhesives can cure considerably faster than older acrylic technologies, yet still be stored at room temperature. Light curing materials can be fully cured in less than two seconds and are an excellent choice for complex, hard-to-fixture designs. 

While double-sided tapes provide a level of instant bonding, liquid adhesive alternatives are faster to apply for larger areas and complex shapes, while providing orders of magnitude, higher bond strength and lower costs.

Advertisement

Safer / Greener: 

Many new generation adhesives and sealants are low odor, non-flammable products with minimal health and safety concerns. As regulatory agencies and safety requirements get more stringent, the latest adhesives are more worker friendly, with a lower environmental impact.

Modern LOCTITE® adhesives transform Joker FX sign manufacturing

An example of the benefits of new generation adhesives to the sign industry is Henkel Corporation’s recent experience with Joker FX, a leading manufacturer of visual communication display signs. 

Joker FX was looking for an adhesive solution for signs and displays typically found in outdoor parks and trails. In response to a number of application needs, Joker turned to Henkel where they were introduced to Loctite’s first universal structural bonder, Loctite HY 4090™ as well as other modern solutions. Joker FX’s design and manufacturing processes faced several challenges which included the need for strength, durability, and resistance to outdoor elements. HY 4090™ proved to be the ideal solution. This hybrid adhesive’s speed and versatility allowed Joker to dramatically reduce turnaround time for some of its designs from weeks to days, and in many cases, just 24 hours. 

In a case study video made with Joker FX, viewers will see how HY 4090 and other modern adhesives make it easier for sign makers to bond a range of materials including acrylic, polycarbonate, glass and aluminum. This includes applications for outdoor brochure holders, letter mounting, sign box construction and panel mounting. The ability to manufacture and cure quickly – with a tough adhesive that offers high resistance to outdoor elements has made an impact on the entire signage industry. In the words of Peter Knobbs, president of Joker FX, “It’s pretty safe to say that Loctite has enabled us to become the company we are today.”

Special Offer: Get your free sample of Free Sample of HY LOCTITE® 4070™ Universal Structural Bonder Hybrid: henkel-adhesives.com/us/sign.
 

Advertisement

Why this matters to the sign industry

Each category of LOCTITE’s new generation products offers specific advantages to those who manufacture signage.

New Hybrid Universal Structural Bonders: fast, versatile, and long lasting

The principal behind Hybrid adhesives is simple. As Henkel Chemist Jesse Davis puts it, “We take an instant adhesive and combine it with a structural bonder, merging the best chemical properties of both. Instant adhesives give you fast cure, high performance on plastic and are very safe to handle. Structural bonders deliver high gap fill, structural performance on metals, and environmental durability.” Integrating the best of both results in what Henkel calls a universal structural bonder – one that works quickly, safely, and powerfully on surfaces ranging from plastic, to wood, to metal. The hybrid adhesive is easily applied through a variety of dispensers, quickly creating an instant, high strength, and durable bond. 

This video shows LOCTITE® Hybrid Universal Structural Bonder in action. So strong, just three grams pull a 200-ton train down the track.

(For more about hybrid adhesives, see video here.)

Safer to use

Davis adds, “In developing our Universal Structural Bonder (hybrid) we strove to make the products as worker-friendly and green as possible. Low odor, non-flammable, non-corrosive. With environmental hazards such a pressing issue for manufacturers, this is a significant step forward. (For more about safety features, see video here.)

Universal Structural Bonders — LOCTITE® HY 4070 and HY 4090™

For anyone in the signage business, you know that bonding thin materials with anything but an adhesive is problematic. Here are some of the key benefits of these universal structural bonders:

•    Speed of an instant adhesive with the toughness of an epoxy/acrylic
•    Multi-substrate adhesive, including plastic, metal and wood
•    Gap filling up to 5MM
•    Good UV and humidity resistance
•    Non-flammable, low odor, environmentally and worker friendly
•    HY 4070™: ideal for aluminum panels and letters, fast curing, a great alternative to time-consuming tape application
•    HY 4090™: tough, high chemical resistance, available in 400ml package. This product is the first instant adhesive with the strength of an epoxy 

Special Offer: Get your Free Sample of HY LOCTITE® 4070™ Universal Structural Bonder Hybrid: henkel-adhesives.com/us/sign.

Silane (Silane Modified Polymer — SMP) Adhesives and Sealants

Historically, the sign manufacturing industry has relied upon two different decades-old technologies: acrylic adhesives and RTV silicone sealants. Acrylics provide very high strength structural bonds while Silicones provide very low cost sealing of joints. Recent advancements in Silane Adhesive / Sealant technologies have resulted in materials that have the sealing ability of silicones but up to 2x the adhesion strength. While not as strong as acrylics, they are lower cost, more flexible, lower odor and available in a range of colors and package sizes. Silanes are excellent options for a great many bonding and sealing applications in the sign industry. Silanes offer significant advantages:

•    High value performance
•    Available in many single or two component package sizes
•    2 times stronger adhesion than silicones 
•    Faster Curing than Silicones
•    Paintable 
•    Excellent weather resistance

New Generation AA H8003 Acrylic Adhesive

Henkel has introduced a new line of 2-component acrylic adhesives that provide a range of benefits over older generation products currently used in the sign industry. These newer products feature faster cure times and longer shelf life. Other improvements:

•    Highest peel strength on aluminum substrates vs. older acrylic adhesives
•    Product cures non-tacky, so cured product is sandable and machinable
•    Much better cold weather impact resistance than older acrylic adhesives
•    3 products with a range of cure speeds from 10-60 minutes
•    Long shelf life with room temperature storage

Special Offer: Get a free sample of Free Sample of HY LOCTITE® 4070™ Universal Structural Bonder Hybrid

Test its fast curing, adhesive strength and versatility. Request your FREE sample at: henkel-adhesives.com/us/sign.