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about structural joint

Hello everyone, I need help: I've to connect aluminum and/or glass-reinforced plastic panel to form a box. I've try silicon to give a water resistance, but with mechanical solicitations an UV radiations (the box is outside in a vehicle) the connection fail and the water going inside. Do you have any suggestion for alternative materials (not aerospace "expansive" materials) to obtain a good structural joint that working under mechanical solicitation (vibration lateral deformation and thermal excursion) Thank for help.. marco

Reply to
Marco
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What is the base polymer? Some plastics are far more likely to show poor adhesion - Teflon is well know, but PP, and PE can be pretty awful too. Foam tapes such as 3M VHB can be good in this situation, not because the adhesive itself is that superior (although it is quite good), but that the foam backing helps absorb a tremendous amount of energy that cannot be used in destroying the bond.

If all else fails, go with mechanical fasteners and then a sealant.

John Aspen Research, -

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"Turning Questions into Answers"

Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of my employer.

Reply to
john.spevacek

The base polymer is painted Aluminum panel........

Reply to
Marco

Does "aluminum and/or GR plastic" mean, that your box can be made either completely out of aluminum parts or completely out of a GR plastic parts or out of a combination of aluminum and GR plasic parts and that you need to seal off the final box to make it water tight?

If so, why don't you make all parts of the box out of a black, i.e. UV-resistant, 30%GR PA66 and vibration weld all side walls toghether, in case the plastic box can't be injection molded economically. The properly designed, sealed plastic lid could be screwed on with plastic screws.

For the gasket various rubbers could be used ->

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ACM polyacrylate rubber, for example, has been used > Hello everyone,

Reply to
Rolf Wissmann

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