non-mechanical bond UHMW to steel

[KyleWilcox]

Hey there, does anyone know of an epoxy or other adhesive that will glue UHMW to plain carbon steel? I've found some UHMW suppliers giving info on how they can do it, but I can't find anything that tells me a good glue to buy and use.

I've read about cleaning and brushing the metal surface, and lightly oxidizing the bond surface of the UHMW with a torch... has anyone done this?

thanks!

Kyle

 

[Pud]

Not a hope in hell...

Screws/bolts work fine.


Cheers

Harry

 

[KyleWilcox]

hahaha, alrighty... Does anyone know of a caulking that could seal such a joint then? I'm trying to make a large wash bin, and am hoping to use a simple bottom made out of UHMW so it'll slide around well.

If the consensus is that it can't be bonded, then can anyone comment on this page?

http://www.garlandmfg.com/plastics/bonding.html

 

[patprimmer]

3M make some adhesive systems that can work OK with HDPE.

Regards

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[Demon3]

The main problem is the low surface energy of the UHMWPE (the same reason you can't bond to Teflon/PTFE). So, to wet the UHMWPE and thus get adhesion your best chance is a sealant with olower surface energy than the UHMWPE has. Therefore I suspect a silicone is your best bet (this is a guess based on adhesion theory).


There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.
- James Branch Cabell

 

[Oceania]

There is a work around to bonding UHMWPE to steel and that is to use a fibre impregnated sheet(and I'm assuming this problem uses flat sheet)

A good epoxy adhesive will bond to both the steel and the glass fibre backed material, and give you a reasonable joint.

If you don't wish to use the fibre back sheet, then alternatively you can try a Plexus adhesive or a film adhesive, ie 3M, this sticks most things to nearly any thing else.

Hope this helps

 

[KyleWilcox]

interesting to know Oceania... I think I've (fortunately) finally convinced my superiors that plain old steel sheet will suffice for the task instead... the fiber concept makes good sense though, and I bet will come in handy at some point in my life.

For the record, we tried to glue UHMW to steel with loctite 3030, after roughing up the steel with a grinder disc and the UHMW with 36 grit sandpaper. They did hold together actually fairly well, but not really load-bearing well. Plus the gun to dispense the loctite 3030 was $300 to buy... not worth it.