Film adhesive enables high-temperature bonding

Park Aerospace Corp. (Newton, Kan., U.S.) is featuring Aeroadhere FAE-350-1 film adhesive, the company’s novel 350°F curing modified epoxy designed for high-temperature bonding applications. FAE 350-1 is suited for service up to 350°F dry and 325°F wet. It offers optimized adhesion to composite, metal and honeycomb substrates.

Aeroadhere FAE-350-1 is offered in a variety of product forms, including mat and knit carriers. The film adhesive can be bonded directly, but only to composite substrates that have only peel-ply surface preparation. It has demonstrated high toughness and elevated temperature performance for use in primary and secondary aerospace structures, and is particularly suitable for aircraft nacelle and acoustic panel applications.

Aeroadhere has a material tack life of up to 20 days (certified for 18 days), and a mechanical life up to 40 days at room temperature. The adhesive has a shelf life of 365 days when stored at 0°F (-18°C) or below. Standard film weights are 0.03 PSF, 0.050 PSF, 0.09 PSF or 147 gsm, 244 gsm and 439 gsm.

Aeroadhere offers a flexible cure cycle from 280-350°F. A typical composite bond/metal bond autoclave cure cycle would be to heat up at 2-4°F/min to 350°F (177°C) for 120 minutes under 45 psi (3 bar). Multiple cure cycles at 350°F are possible. Park Aerospace recommends consulting the product’s technical data sheet for details related to cure cycles and adhesive properties.

Aeroadhere FAE-350-1 will be manufactured at Park’s new AS9100- and Nadcap-certified expansion facility on equipment employing novel manufacturing processes for film adhesives. The company’s facility with open capacity, and will include a product development lab with enhanced capability for testing adhesives.