removing acrylic PSA from neoprene

- M
- Mark Hampson
  
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posted
20 years ago

Fri, Oct 10, 2003 2:06 AM

I've got a challenge...I need to remove a 3M adhesive transfer tape (acrylic adhesive) from a neoprene product that we produce. Turns out that there was some level of contamination and the parts are coming off in service. THe application is such that this is a very undesirable effect.

This product was previously installed using a contact cement and we've been challenged to remove the PSA from the very large quantity of parts already in inventory so that they can be installed using the previous method.

Anyone out there ever run into anything like this before? Are you willing to share you knowledge?

Please send me an e-mail: snipped-for-privacy@goodrich.com

Thanks for your time.

- J
- John Spevacek
  
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posted
20 years ago

Fri, Oct 10, 2003 4:36 PM

Mark,

There are lots of options. Acrylic adhesives are soluble/swellable in polar solvents such as ethyl acetate, THF (make sure you know about the peroxide risks- they are low but significant) or maybe MEK. The company's favorite is 70/30 w/w heptane/isopropanol, but the heptane would selectively swell the neoprene parts you have. The first three options I gave you will not affect the neoprene.

You can also look into freezing the parts and then mechanically removing it (scraping it, sandblasting it with corn cobs,...)

John

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- Dbeardandsons1
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Oct 15, 2003 3:11 AM

The last company I worked for used an acrylic coater to apply adhesive and once a year or so we would sandblast with dry ice crystals....little costly but clean-up was a breeze....

David