Tech-Bond Solutions
"When performance is a must!"
Frequently Asked Questions on gluing Poly's.
Q. Why are Poly's so hard to glue?
A. In simplified terms, possibly to simplified, polymers bond to each other in a way that gives the material unusual strength and durability. Because they bond to themselves, there is nothing for a glue to "grab on to" so trying to use a glue or epoxy won't work.
Q. Why isn't the Poly Prep available in retail stores?
A Our speculation is that there are a number of reasons, most of them a combination of economic reality and storage/handling/performance characteristics. A summary is given below:
• Our Poly Prep™ solution "eats" plastic, so a metal bottle must be used to store the solution. Metal bottles are more expensive that plastic bottles. (As an experiment, we put some Poly Prep™ in a white polyethylene bottle. In less than a month, the Poly Prep™ turned milky. That result made it obvious to us that the Poly Prep™ would lose its potency, over time, if stored in a plastic container.) Metal bottles are far more expensive than plastic bottles. The general public will not "pay for" the cost of a metal bottle for a one time repair.
• The Poly Prep™ evaporates quickly. Using a brush applicator would mean the liquid would be evaporating all the while the cap was off. A pump sprayer is the most efficient way to deliver the Poly Prep™, especially since the poly surface has to be saturated with the primer. Pump Sprayers also cost more, driving the retail price even higher.
• With the saturation requirement, one ounce seems to be the minimum amount that should be available to prime the polymer surface. In the past, some companies have tried felt tip pens to dispense the primer. With the rate of evaporation and the fact that these pens only hold about a third of an ounce, that application method was unsatisfactory.
• Maybe because of the all the above reasons, the existence of this technology as a way to glue polymers is not widely known. Even many in the plastics industry are unaware of its availability.
Q. Why is a one ounce bottle so large? It's only about a 1/3 full with the one ounce of the PP.
A. Economics again. If metal bottles are expensive, small metal bottles are exorbitant. To keep the cost down, the smallest metal bottle that we could find was an 80 milliliter aluminum bottle. So we used that bottle for our one ounce and 80 milliliter sizes.
Q. What does the Poly Prep™ "do"?
A. Our Poly Prep™:
• Etches the polymer surface.
• "Dries up" the oil that the polymer is made of.
• "Opens up" the polymers, so that a monomer (our Bonding Agents) can bond with the
polymers.
Q. Can the Poly Prep be used with glues or epoxies other than Tech-Bond Bonding Agents?
A. The Poly Prep™ can be used with any glue that is a molecular bonder. Epoxies are not compatible with this technology, though you can prime the polymer surface, apply a Bonding Agent and then apply an epoxy to the tech-bond. Gun smiths find this technique helpful in working with the plastic gun stocks.
