SKZ: New method for inline monitoring of adhesive curing

With the aid of terahertz and radar technology, bonded joints can be monitored inline without contact or destruction. As part of a research project, SKZ experts are demonstrating the suitability of these methods using numerous adhesives and different joining partners. Influencing factors such as adhesive quantity, ambient temperature, humidity and specimen geometry will also be examined in greater detail. One focus will be on the use of the most cost-effective measurement technology possible in order to achieve the highest possible market acceptance. Interested companies can participate in the project-accompanying committee free of charge and without obligation and thus gain first-hand pre-competitive research results. The SKZ is also happy to include the individual products of the participating companies in the portfolio of tests. In this way, the suitability of the newly developed process can be assessed directly and in a practical manner.

There is hardly a product in which no adhesive is used. The flexible use as well as existing further development and adaptation potentials result in an almost infinite number of application possibilities. When a component is bonded, the curing times specified by the adhesive manufacturers are often used. However, these are determined on the basis of very small sample quantities in the laboratory and, due to numerous influencing factors, cannot be easily transferred to real applications of applied adhesives. Therefore, unnecessarily long holding times are often accepted just to ensure that the component does not enter further processing too early. The IGF project 22161 N of the research association Fördergemeinschaft für das SKZ is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection via the AiF as part of the program to promote joint industrial research and development on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag.