The world of bonding adhesives is vast. There are bonding adhesives suppliers for every imaginable specialty needed on any job site. Some companies specialize in one niche, like automotive, while other companies supply almost any kind of bonding adhesive.
For example, an adhesives supplier could sell bonding supplies to a business that makes direct label equipment. To the supplier, then, the direct label-production business is merely the end-user, and the direct label-production business could even be considered the end-user if only to the extent that the customer understands what the company does and how it does it.
But all parties involved know that the customer is the true end-user and that adhesive design has to start and end with the customer in mind. This is true of every type of bonding process, starting from epoxy to metal bonding to fiberglass fiber cement.
Every type of bonding process has its particular strengths and weaknesses and adhesives suppliers can help a company determine which type of bonding they should use and which they should avoid.
In many cases, a supplier can also help a company find the right type of adhesives for a given project. For example, when a metal bonding job calls for a certain kind of chemical compound, a supplier can provide that kind of chemical.
A medical device company might require epoxy to assemble medical device parts. A good supplier can help a medical device company qualify adhesion requirements and make sure that the company uses the correct chemical formulation. The same is true when it comes to bonding plastic substrate surfaces to metal surface frames.
A good supplier can supply a company with the proper plastic substrate coatings to qualify adhesion requirements and ensure that the company uses the appropriate adhesives. A company may have substrate coatings and adhesives suppliers that can both qualify substrate surface requirements and ensure that the proper adhesives are used.
It’s important to understand that some components require different kinds of adhesives depending on the application. So a medical device company may need epoxy to assemble sensor kits when components fit and the seal needs to be tight.
Choosing a bonding adhesive can help a company to qualify specific requirements, such as fit and seal, or offer a generic formulation to fit any application. A good supplier may also be able to offer a better grade of adhesives than a supplier that provides materials that are not specifically formulated to meet the requirements of that application.
Different finishes require different types of adhesives. A good supplier can make a distinction between various finishes and offer a selection of suitable adhesives that are formulated to meet those requirements.