Advanced Adhesive Bonding Performance
As the automotive industry continues to focus on lightweighting for better fuel and energy efficiency of vehicles, there is an increasing trend towards light metal alloys and eliminating mechanical fasteners by adhesive bonding as welding is very often not possible. This has created a need for improving the reliability of metal-to-metal bonds, for which proper surface treatments are key.
Syensqo has developed advanced polymers to drastically improve existing pretreatment technologies which greatly enhance bonding performances and have already been successfully implemented in premium and mass production vehicle assemblies.
For example, the Ford F-150 with an aluminum body was launched in 2015 with 317kg weight reduction and fuel economy efficiency was improved by 15-20%. In 2022, Ford received 200,000 pre-orders on their new type of F-150 lighting, the electric version of F-150. With the booming numbers of electric vehicles, reducing their weight is even more critical to facilitate better mileage in between battery chargings.
AddibondTM Bifunctional Polymeric Additives for a True Strong Structural Bond
Syensqo’s Addibond™ polymers are designed to deliver a surface pretreatment that will maximize the strength of adhesive bonds in those applications by combining two functional groups: one reacting with the metal substrate, normally before it is shaped, and the other reacting with the adhesive during assembly. The effectiveness of this smart chemistry was validated in comprehensive trials versus incumbent technologies. Ford Bond Stress Durability test was used to evaluate the bonding strength of samples under simultaneous compression load and corrosion stresses, and Single Lap Shear (SLS) testing served to determine the cohesive failure (desired) and the adhesive failure (to be avoided) after extensive cycling under acetic acid salt spray, high temperatures and humidity (SWAAT - ASTM G85 A3).
Some specific grades of Addibond™ can provide the necessary boost to reach the standard of APGE tests. Contact us for more information.
Sustainable Benefits
Addibond™ polymers can be an effective enabler for leveraging the lightweighting potential of aluminum and other light metals in a wider range of applications while also meeting higher standards of sustainability in the manufacturing process. The additives are free of chromate, heavy metals and fluorides, eliminating the risk of toxic exposure for operators. Moreover, the resulting baths are highly stable over time, free of gels, compared to silane baths. This in turn means that baths have an extended lifetime, require fewer bath makeup, thus minimizing the consumption of additives and resulting in less process water to treat and recycle.
A Multi-awarded Innovation
The innovative benefits of AddibondTM in adhesive bonding have been recognized multiple times in the industry and received the Potier Prize 2021, the Chinese Automotive award in 2021 and the Solar impulse efficient label in 2022 as a clean and profitable solution.
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