OVERVIEW:
A manufacturer of roofing components manufactures heat activated membrane installation hardware with a B-stage adhesive. Problems occur when this hardware is exposed to extended time of UV radiation to the adhesive. Without adequate resistance to polymer degradation, the adhesive can oxidize causing inadequate adhesion performance once the installation is complete. Should such a failure occur, the remediation becomes quite expensive to remove the membrane and reinstall it using non-defective hardware.
CHALLENGE:
As the adhesive used in this type of application is not designed to provide UV protection, redesigning the adhesive needs to not only factor in the proper degree of protection but also retain all of the other performance criteria of resistance to lift, speed of achieving proper adhesion, a wide enough operating window to support the proper installation under a wide ambient temperature range as well as a number of other performance criteria established to meet the stringent FM requirements.
SOLUTION:
This manufacturer found a solution to their problem through UNICHEM’s technology innovation team. UNICHEM developed a custom-formulated industrial adhesive, uniBOND®, that retained all of the properties they needed while incorporating the needed protection against UV radiation for twice the exposure time requested by this manufacturer, all but eliminating the need to incur the cost of managing field failures. For every roof installed, the manufacturer has not experienced a single installation failure thanks to another one of UNICHEM’s uniBOND® high performance adhesives
RESULTS and BENEFITS:
This manufacturer was able to reduce filed claim remediation costs by finding a better adhesive solution. With this one change, they were able to achieve the following benefits:
- No field failures of any roof installed with this new and improved adhesive
- Full transparency to all parties involved including
- No change in installation methodologies
- No need to retrain field personnel with the introduction of this new technology
- Significant value added without any additional investment for their installations.
UNICHEM offers unique solutions by formulating our uniBOND® industrial adhesive to meet custom requirements. Contact us with your adhesion problems for a solution tailored to meet your needs.