High performance multi-purpose acrylic adhesives from Permabond

Permabond TA4611 and TA4550: versatile multi-purpose adhesives 

Permabond TA4611 and TA4550 belong to a special class of adhesives, known as multi-purpose adhesives or ‘all-rounders.’ They each have their own bonding specialty – TA4611’s being low surface energy (LSE) plastics, and TA4550’s, nylon – but both are also highly effective at bonding a wide variety of other substrates well. This makes them incredibly convenient and ideal to have around for bonding jobs where you may be unsure which adhesive is best to use.

TA4611 and TA4550 are both acrylic-based adhesives. TA4550 is fully toughened, offering high-strength structural bonds with impressive shear and peel strength performance. Both products offer excellent resistance to impact, vibration and stress. In short, they’re tough! They can withstand numerous everyday stressors with ease, ensuring a long-lasting, durable adhesive bond, even in demanding applications. Neither product requires a surface primer before bonding, and both cure rapidly at room temperature.

Permabond TA4611 – Outstanding bonds on LSE plastics & more

Permabond TA4611 was developed mainly as a solution for bonding plastics with low surface energy. These plastics are very common – think polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and PTFE (Teflon®). Low surface energy is a problem for adhesives, as such surfaces resist ‘wetting’ (imagine water on a freshly waxed car – the water bunches up, instead of spreading out evenly across the surface) which an adhesive needs to do to properly bond. Therefore, traditionally the surfaces of these plastics have needed to be changed in some way to prepare them for bonding. Corona treatment, flame treatment and chemical etching are common methods of doing this – but they are costly and time-consuming. Etching in particular is also a hazardous and environmentally unfriendly process.

With Permabond TA4611, however, you don’t need to do any surface preparation before bonding LSE plastics. Just wipe with isopropanol and then bond – it’s that simple. Its built-in technology ensures a strong, reliable bond on these substrates that lasts. TA4611 is also great for bonding other materials, for example metals and composites. It excels in bonding dissimilar materials and is therefore ideal for more complex applications involving an array of substrates. Permabond TA4610 is a similar product to TA4611, but TA4611 doesn’t contain microbeads, making it suitable for smaller gaps or where a more aesthetically pleasing finish is required.

Permabond TA4550 – More than just a nylon bonder

For years, manufacturers had been searching for a reliable adhesive solution for bonding nylon – arguably one of the most challenging substrates out there. Nylon (also known as polyamide, or PA for short) has a medium surface energy – although higher than PE or PP, it can still cause issues when bonding with adhesives. Additional factors that make nylon tough to bond include somewhat competing characteristics of being both hydrophobic (resistant to water and wetting) and hygroscopic – readily taking in moisture from the air around it. These inherent properties of nylon have made developing a suitable adhesive that overcomes all these challenges, well – challenging. Until Permabond TA4550 came along, that is.

As with TA4611, Permabond TA4550 doesn’t require any surface preparation for bonding nylon – just wipe as usual, and then bond. TA4550 works well on many commonly used types of nylon – PA6, 6.6 and 12 to name a few. And with nylon becoming ever more popular in industry – from automotive applications to sports gear and 3D printed parts – TA4550 is definitely a product to have in your arsenal.

While originally developed for bonding nylon, Permabond TA4550 also offers truly exceptional bond strength on many other substrates, making it highly versatile. It has outstanding strength on steel, including stainless steel, aluminium and other metals, as well as on composites and other plastics. Its high peel strength and toughness enable it to bond dissimilar substrates where differential thermal expansion and contraction could be an issue, for example nylon to another material. This makes TA4550 a great multipurpose structural bonder, offering impressive bond strength on a wide variety of substrates and thus making it suitable for a wide range of applications.

Key Features of Permabond TA4611 and TA4550:

• True multi-purpose adhesives, offering high bond strength on many substrates
• TA4611 – outstanding on LSE plastics such as PE and PP
• TA4550 – outstanding on many types of nylon, metals and composites
• No costly surface preparation needed
• No primer needed
• Fast cure at room temperature
• Excellent at bonding dissimilar substrates
• Thixotropic for optimised flow control

If you’d like to find out more about these two products, please refer to the TDS for TA4611 and TA4550. Alternatively, you can always get in touch with us to discuss your application.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Why are low surface energy (LSE) plastics harder to bond?

• LSE plastics have a low surface energy, meaning they actively resist adhesive wetting. This means that an adhesive will struggle to spread out and key into the surface, which is necessary to form a strong bond. Normally, an adhesive needs to have a lower surface energy than the substrate to form an effective bond, but TA4611’s special technology allows it to overcome this issue.

2. What glue works best for nylon?

• Permabond TA4550 is excellent for bonding many types of nylon, such as Nylon 6, 6.6, and 12.

3. Which adhesive (TA4611 or TA4550) is better for bonding metals such as stainless steel?

• TA4550 offers stronger bonds on most metals, including stainless steel, compared to TA4611. See the product TDSs linked above for further information.