How to Manufacture Appliances Faster Without Sacrificing Performance

Traditional Two-Part, Silicone Adhesive Sealants

As you likely know, two-part, silicone adhesive sealants have been a go-to solution for electric stovetops, overhead hoods and other appliance applications. This is because they offer:

• Durability with flexibility: Consisting of a polymeric silicone base compound with a crosslinking agent, two-part, silicone adhesive sealants offer excellent adhesion and are known for providing a long, durable service life. Further, two-part, silicone adhesive sealants provide moisture and chemical resistance, helping the end-use application prolong its lifespan when exposed to water or household cleaning products. They are also designed to offer flexibility, which allows for more movement between bonded parts without compromising the adhesive strength.
• Substrate versatility: Two-part, silicone adhesive sealants are compatible with a variety of substrates including metals, plastics, glass and ceramics. This helps manufacturers utilize the technology throughout various appliance parts and end-use applications to simplify their processes.
• Additional protection: The silicone technology helps protect against electrical shocks or short circuits, making these products suitable across appliance applications that require insulating electrical components.
• Temperature resistance: With a wide temperature range, two-part, silicone adhesive sealants can handle appliances that may experience temperature variations during usage. They also can withstand thermal cycling without cracking or losing bond strength, helping extend the longevity of the end-use appliance and enhancing its overall safety.

Comprised of 100% silicone, manufacturers are taking note of an alternative adhesive sealant solution that rapidly builds adhesive and elastomeric strength for white goods appliance assembly applications while overcoming previous challenges with two-part, silicone adhesive sealants.

Fast Fixture Time

This alternative provides end-cure bond strength improvement when compared to industry standards due to its ability to wet out the surface better than standard silicone adhesive sealants. This helps extend the overall long-term lifespan while enabling glass and metal appliance components to bond tightly and move through assembly faster than before.

Regulatory Compliance

This alternative’s formulation is REACH compatible, allowing manufacturers to use it across regions such as Europe, Asia and the Americas without worrying about chemical compliance regulations to simplify logistics. Internal testing has shown the alternative formulation performs to the same standards of UL746C protocol.

Supply Chain Efficiencies

As a fully-formulated product, this alternative adhesive sealant eases complexities to help make sure the right components are available to receive the desired supply. If a raw material does experience a shortage, a supplier that’s part of a bigger company and offering this alternative can formulate with substitute materials while ensuring the same performance levels to keep projects moving on schedule.

The alternative adhesive sealant solution also easily addresses the following performance needs:

• High-cure strength: As mentioned above, this alternative develops high initial green strength and has a five to ten-minute fixture time, ensuring the end-use product will still maintain flexibility and moisture resistance while keeping production processes moving.
• Versatile usage: Designed for bonding glass and metals including stainless steel, aluminum and galvanized painted steel, plastics and ceramics, the alternative option provides strong bonding between substrates. This makes it compatible with electric stovetops and overhead hoods as well as refrigerators and washers.
• Temperature protection: The alternative solution can continually withstand  temperatures up to 356°F (180°C), making it suitable for appliance applications that require high-temperature resistance.