help with adhesives

[CaptainQuaser]

Hi

I need to find a strong bonding waterproof adhesive to attach polycarbonate to acetate. It must be relatively thin, and strong.

Any suggestions?

[Danger]

Have you tried silicone? I'm not sure how well it would adhere to those materials, but it's pretty universal. If it does work, you might want to use the 'bathroom repair' sort. It has an anti-fungal agent in it for use in damp environments.

[CaptainQuaser]

Silicone is used for most of the cell, but is far too thick and week for this purpose. I am at home at the moment, but heading to the lab in a minute and I will post the glue tests I have tried, none have been particularly successful at the moment. Thickness is important, and it must be transparent to ultrasonic frequencies, and it must be strong enough not to allow buckling or vibrational modes into an acetate window.

[Danger]

This site might be of some help to you: http://www.tapplastics.com/info/adhesives.php?
I used Weld-On #'s 3 & 4 fairly extensively in a couple of different occupations. They're awesome on acrylic, but I don't know about other materials. You just put the pieces together the way that you want and squirt it into the joint with a syringe. It diffuses along the whole contact area by capillary action--very thin and completely invisible. Despite what it says on that site about setting in 30-60 minutes, we found that it was ready to handle within 1-2 minutes.

[chemisttree]

Have you tried cyanoacrylate?

[CaptainQuaser]

I have done glue tests on:
Loctite Stick,n Seal
Loctite 401
Marine Goop
Lepage 5
Gorilla Glue

i have two new ones being ordered in for tests
at the moment
Lepage 5 and Loctite 401 are the strongest candidates

Clarity is also important, and Loctite 401 seems to be the clearer than Lepage 5 which clouds pretty bad.

[CaptainQuaser]

So i used Loctite 401 on one of the cell walls, holds tight, but it dries a little to fast for my liking, making it difficult to work with.

[chemisttree]

Maybe this combination light cure instant adhesive will do the trick. Just apply light when you're ready.

http://www.threebond.co.jp/en/technical/newtechnical/ultravioletrays/newtechnical2.html

http://www.loctite.com/int_henkel/loctite_us/index.cfm?verityspider=0&layout=4&productline=OEM6020&path=Assembly%20Products|Bonding|Light%20Cure%20Ad hesives

[Danger]

As if my 'bookmarks' bar wasn't too long already... :rolleyes:
Nice link.