Adhesives for Bonding Elastomeric Alloy Thermoplastics to Other Substrates

Polyolefin-based TPEs which contain an elastomeric segment that is in-situ vulcanized (dynamically vulcanized) present a special challenge and opportunity to the adhesive supplier. Their low surface energy and unavailability of sites for bonding results in poor wetting and adhesion of these polymers to other substrates. Standard urethane-based adhesives, cyano acrylate adhesives, inks, and even tapes will not adhere to this type of TPE. In addition to bonding at room temperature (assembly bonding), many molders wish to insert-mold bond. The standard rubber-to-metal adhesives do not work. As a result, a whole family of products were introduced by Lord Corporation to give the design engineers a new latitude of freedom in not only designing new applications, but in the replacement of rubber with TPEs in the molded-goods market.