Press this button if you would like an Adhesive Technician to call you
or Contact Us via Email

Adhesive
Calculation
Table(pdf)

Spanish Edition To Home Page   Email

Why Methacrylates?...A Comparison between Epoxies, Urethanes and Methacrylates*

Epoxies
Advantages
· Usually low priced
· Good gap filling capabilities
Limitations
· Adhesives thin during curing cycles

Urethanes
Advantages
· Moderately priced
· Excellent toughness and flexibility
· Good flexibility at low temperatures
· Excellent adhesives for a wide range of materials
· One-two component, room- or heatcure available
· Varying cure times
Limitations
· Poor temperature resistance
· Sensitive to moisture both in cured and uncured state
· May undergo reversal with heat and moisture
· Two component mixing or single
component toxicity
· Short pot life
· Require special equipment to mix and dispense

· Epoxies – Epoxies lack solvating ability, as a result they generally perform poorly on
thermoplastics and require careful cleaning or surface preparation on metals and
composites. Epoxies can exhibit very high strength but are limited in impact,
particularly at low temperature.

· Urethanes – Urethanes can have good adhesion to metals and composites but, like
epoxies, have some weakness in thermoplastic bonding and often require primers to
bond. The structure of urethanes can give them excellent performance at low
temperatures, but they weaken quickly at high temperatures.

* From Plexus Bondline newsletter  March 2006