Typical commercial UV and thermal cure epoxy adhesives have been reviewed and compared. UV cure cationic epoxy adhesives are primarily composed of cycloaliphatic epoxy resin and cationic photoinitiator. UV cationic epoxy adhesives have no surface cure issue and possess low cure shrinkage and good adhesion performance but need post-thermal cure to achieve full adhesion performance in use. Hybrid UV acrylate and thermal cure epoxy adhesives are primarily composed of acrylate monomer, free radical photoinitiator, epoxy resin and curing agent. The hybrid epoxy adhesives combine fast UV curability of acrylate composition and high adhesion performance of thermal cure epoxy composition. A new type initiator free hybrid one-component UV and thermal cure adhesive has been also introduced. It is mainly composed of maleimide compound, acrylic monomer, partially acrylated epoxy resin, epoxy resin and latent curing agent. Its UV cure and thermal cure behaviour have been studied by FT-IR spectroscopy measurement.
Part of the book: Paint and Coatings Industry
Epoxy adhesives are primarily composed of epoxy resin and curing agent. Epoxy adhesives are supplied in both one-component package and two-component package depending on curing agent used and curing method applied. Two-component epoxy adhesives are prepared by packing epoxy composition and curing agent composition separately. They cure soon after mixing the two components together. Almost all room temperature cure epoxy adhesives are supplied in two-component package. One-component epoxy adhesives are prepared and supplied by mixing all formulated components in advance including epoxy resin and curing agent. One-component epoxy adhesives usually need cure at elevated temperature and store at low temperature in a refrigerator or even freezer. Epoxy adhesives have been widely used as typical reactive adhesives for various applications ranging from general industry, construction, electronics assembly, automobile production to aerospace market. Typical room temperature cure epoxy adhesives, thermal cure epoxy adhesives and UV cure epoxy adhesives are introduced in detail.
Part of the book: Adhesives and Adhesive Joints in Industry Applications