Crash resistance requires some serious bonding technology. Daniel Rudolph, business director for NVH & Structural Solutions, Asia Pacific, Adhesive Technologies, discusses the latest offering in automotive adhesives

Like a number of industries in the past year, the adhesives market was not immune to the economic tsunami of 2009. Some segments of the market saw a flattening – or even a decline – compared with 2008.

The good news is that signs are looking more positive – particularly in Asia – as we approach the year ahead. Government stimulus packages to prime investment in transportation and infrastructure, to consumer spending and green technology, have begun to take hold across many countries in the region.

But the economic challenges of the last year provide a good lesson for the industry and an opportune chance for reflection on what makes our industry grow. Innovation, particularly in the adhesives market, needs to be focused on delivering greater value to customers, enabling them to develop more creative, cutting-edge products in a more cost-effective manner.

One such area where this is occurring is in the automotive sector, where new adhesive technologies are enabling manufacturers to develop cars that are lighter, safer, more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

The Holy Grail for automotive adhesives

Structural adhesives have long been a staple of the automotive industry. One area where they have played a key supporting role is in supplementing welds that connect panels and joints, critical to the structural integrity of an automobile. The bonding of these adhesives, under normal driving conditions, had proven sufficient.

But when it came to crash resistance, or being able to withstand the heavy impact of an automobile accident, adhesive bonds were simply unable to stay in tact. Numerous studies have shown that the bond of traditional adhesives would often rip open like a zipper during high impact. As a result, carmakers have had to rely on nuts and bolts, mechanical fasteners, and heavy reinforced welds to hold parts together.

This in turn, required significant costs for the manufacturer introducing thicker or additional steel reinforcements in order to find a working solution. For the consumer, this meant added weight to the car, degrading driving performance and fuel efficiency. This has long posed a challenge for adhesive manufacturers. Finding a crash resistant adhesive, one that could replace the need for welding or mechanical fasteners to hold panels together, remained the Holy Grail of the industry. That was, until recently.

New science drives to new opportunities

Henkel, a manufacturer of speciality coatings and adhesives, saw an opportunity in addressing this challenge and pulled together scientists from across the globe to systematically identify the chemical and structural dynamics contributing to this challenge to develop a stronger, more crash-resistant adhesive.

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Elit Rowland, Editor, APCJ elitrowland@quartzltd.co.uk

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