Performance Characteristics of New Rubber-to-Substrate Bonding Technology

Solvent adhesive systems, since their commercialization in the 1950s, have been a key component of engineered rubber components worldwide. The efficacy of solvents to assemble the key polymers and resins that form the basis of the primer and adhesive layers provides the flexibility to develop systems to target a variety of performance and processing requirements.  First generation aqueous systems have struggled to match the characteristics of solvent systems. These aqueous systems have been largely built on the same polymer technology (film forming and cure kinetics) as the solvent systems, but the aqueous medium has been less efficient than solvent systems as a delivery mechanism for the key components.  Recent breakthroughs in polymer film forming technologies and the development of novel and more effective composition of matter are enabling the delivery of aqueous technology to meet the high standards set by solvent systems. Furthermore, there is a growing need for higher performance demands on engineered rubber components, especially automotive NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) components requiring heat, fluid, and corrosion resistance.  These new aqueous platforms are set to meet these growing demands and provide performance surpassing even the best solvent systems when it comes to these higher requirements. Coupling surface treatment and adhesive technology enables unmatched corrosion performance, for both bonded and non-bonded sections of the component. This paper showcases performance characteristics of such high performance developments.