Düsseldorf, Germany – The latest addition to Henkel’s Loctite range of adhesives, UK 2073-2173, is designed for exterior bonding applications in the automotive sector. The adhesive is both solvent-free and elastic.
It is a two-component polyurethane that, the company claims, was designed to give superior performance on a variety of substrates. It should enable automotive manufacturers to meet current performance requirements, via reliable adhesion performance and a simplified manufacturing process, Henkel said.
When assembling large exterior plastic parts such as spoilers and tailgates, adhesives require fast cohesion build-up, but also have a short (but not too short) open time. Henkel looked to optimise these with the new adhesive, with an open time of three to six minutes. After application, it cures at room temperature, but this can be accelerated to reduce the cycle time by increasing the temperature to 60–70°C. At this temperature, handling strength is achieved in one minute.
As well as spoilers and tailgates, exterior applications include elastic exterior bonding of plastic parts on cars such as roof systems, bumpers and luggage racks. It can also be used inside the car on dashboards and trim parts made of different types of plastics.
It can be used on low surface energy substrates, including PP Talc, PP LGF, PC/ABS and PC/PET, without the need for a primer. Its elastic adhesion offers an elongation of 300% and structural performance, allowing substrates with large differences in their coefficients of thermal expansion to be bonded effectively.
