The general purpose toughened black epoxy adhesive, Araldite 2031 is proving a great success, according to Huntsma Advanced Materials, thanks to its good structural stability and flexibility. Together with its gap filling properties, these properties offer practical advantages to manufacturers of high-performance products exposed to high levels of vibration. The 2031 epoxy is suitable for metal and composite bonding, offers good adhesion to polyamides, low shrinkage and high chemical resistance.
One high profile application of this new addition to the Araldite 2000 PLUS range is the racing boat Safran Open 60 that competed in the Vendée Globe round the world race last year. Thierry Eluère, managing director of the CNL shipyard that built the craft said that when it came to selecting the best range of adhesives to use in its construction, the team’s decision was unanimous.
“We chose Araldite 2000 PLUS because of the breadth of the range and the exceptional track record of its products, and 2031 and 2022 did not disappoint. In fact our technicians said they had never come across a structural adhesive quite like 2031 before. Once the adhesives had been applied, we checked the quality of the bonds created and tested their load bearing capacity. This was done under rigorous conditions to guarantee that the product could withstand the forces experienced at sea under real racing conditions. Again, we were more than satisfied.”
And when press shop handling system specialist, Bilsing Automation sought an adhesive to bond carbon fibre structural components to aluminium fixtures on a new robot arm, 2031 turned up trumps, as chief executive, Alfred Bilsing explains.
“Stringent performance and reliability targets set by the rotating, clamping and swivel movements of robot parts on busy production lines had to be met. Wherever gripping and transportation becomes necessary in the automated process, there is a need for flexible tooling to minimise the design and development cost. 2031 was particularly impressive in its resistance to vibration, and met every target we set it under the most demanding of conditions.”