New lightweight concepts for reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles and the trend toward electric vehicles are two global trends that call for new vehicle designs. The use of aluminum profiles and castings is particularly increasing in these areas. Castings are often used as so called nodes for joining profiles. In particular, the bonding of these components by means of adhesives presents new technical challenges. Sika has now developed a new adhesive solution for this purpose.
Sika Solutions for Lightweight Cars and E-Mobility
New lightweight concepts for reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles and the trend toward electric vehicles are two global trends that call for new vehicle designs. The use of aluminum profiles and castings is particularly increasing in these areas. Castings are often used as so called nodes for joining profiles. In particular, the bonding of these components by means of adhesives presents new technical challenges. Sika has now developed a new adhesive solution for this purpose.
Modern EV and lightweight architectures have a high proportion of profiles. However, traditional adhesives are unsuitable for the bonding of profiles. SikaPower SmartFlow is an innovative adhesive concept especially for such applications. The adhesive is injected into the joint gap and spreads out along predetermined channels. The specialty: Although the channels are not sealed/form-fit due to the required joining tolerances, the adhesive exclusively spreads inside the channels and avoids the adjacent area.
SikaPower® ADHESIVES: PERFECT SOLUTION FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND LIGHTWEIGHT DESIGNS
SikaPower® adhesives are one-component, epoxy based, bulk hybrids which are cured by the temperature influence of electro-coat ovens. The SikaPower® product portfolio includes crash durable, structural and e-coatable adhesives. All SikaPower® adhesives are available with or without glass spheres, which are important to keep a required bond line distance between two metal sheets and to control the gaps. The bonding of oily substrates (standard anti-corrosion treatment and deep drawing oils, approx. 3 g/m2) is possible because of the oil uptake during the heat curing process; This is an essential material behavior for good adhesion to substrates. Common substrates in body shop applications for SikaPower® adhesives include all types of steel, aluminum and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), and combinations of these substrates, in mixed material bonding.
SikaPower® adhesives are delivered as bulk material and applied by cold or warm pumping equipment. In most cases, the last part of the dispensing system pipes, especially between doser and nozzle, is pre-heated in order to ensure the same application properties over all climate seasons. Applications are preferably done automatically by robot but in some cases manual application is implemented as well.
SIKAPOWER® SMARTFLOW TECHNOLOGY RECEIVES INNOVATION STAR ACCOLADES
SikaPower® SmartFlow technology is a a second place winner in the 2019 Innovation Star Awards, given at the AEE Automotive Engineering Expo in Nurnberg, Germany. The adhesive allows new bonding solutions. This means that push-in connectors such as those found in electric vehicles or lightweight designs can be reliably bonded. The same adhesive can also be used to bond structural parts over the entire surface, resulting in higher stiffnesses and strengths.