Bonding creates folding frame for dustproof/watertight connections
In all industrial sectors, components made of diverse materials can be joined for a range of applications, such as protection, sealing and enhancing aesthetic appeal. These industrial component connections have to be temperature-resistant and long-lasting, especially for customers from the automotive and electronics industries, says Schreiner ProTech.
The company has developed a patent-pending Folding Frame process to provide a more efficient and effective alternative to conventional joining methods such as liquid gluing, bolting, soldering, riveting, single strips of adhesive tape or frames created from full-surface cut-outs.
Bonding diverse components requires precision to ensure that the parts are accurately and neatly placed on top of each other to guarantee functionality of the final product. Adhesive frames created from full-surface cut-outs are commonly used for this purpose, but produce a lot of waste, explains Schreiner ProTech.
The material is typically available only in the form of single units or sheets. Automated versions are expensive while manual processing can pose the risk of faulty adhesive bonding, warns the company. The use of adhesive tape saves material but in manual processing leads to small gaps or overlaps in corners which can result in component connections are neither watertight nor dustproof.
Liquid gluing is another method that can be used to connect complex geometries. However, the curing times of liquid adhesives slow down the assembly process and their flow behaviour usually prevents accurate and clean adhesive bonding.
Schreiner ProTech advocates its foam-based adhesive tapes, the Folding Frame, saying it meets industrial demands for fast-curing and clean adhesives and eliminates the complex cleaning requirements of liquid adhesives. The Folding Frame can be precisely positioned and is suitable for semi-automatic or fully automated processing of roll-fed materials, which saves time and costs, and reduces the risk of defects that may occur in manual processes.
The production of a foldable adhesive version, instead of a frame created from a full-surface cut-out, can reduce material consumption, says Schreiner ProTech. Self-adhesive bonding contribute to a lightweight design and replace bolted, riveted and soldered options. In addition to bonding and sealing, foam-based adhesive tapes make it possible to equalise uneven areas or height differences and reduce noise.
