Pultruded composites are continuous fiber-reinforced materials that can be used as a main structure and, when combined with sealants or structural adhesives, create a unified macrostructure.

Form-in-place gasket (FIPG) sealants are well-established in the automotive sector for seal applications such as oil pans, drive trains, and cooling systems. However, innovations in automotive design have led to substantial changes in how FIPGs are used today. Heuristics established for previous generations of designs and materials are no longer applicable.

Before sharing some of this issue’s highlights with you, I’d like to relate a bit of personal news. After more than two decades with BNP Media, ASI’s parent company, I’ve decided to step away in order to pursue new opportunities. Though I’m excited about what’s to come for me, this is a bittersweet moment.

As the world emerges from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy is seeing some positive indicators for growth, with sustained high demand and increases in new orders for all major subsectors. 

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) may find that post-curing can bring value to certain applications. To determine if post-cure is the best option, it’s important to better understand what is happening during the process, the advantages it offers, and key best practices.

Inspired by examples of hierarchical structures improving the properties of soft materials, the authors have explored methods to apply these concepts to waterborne acrylic PSAs made by emulsion polymerization. In this work, they attempted to build a sacrificial bond network into a PSA through multistage emulsion polymerization.

The most successful companies are focusing on taking control of their end-to-end supply chain with cross-functional, cross-organizational, collaborative programs such as sales and operations planning (S&OP), which is also known as sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP).

Contaminated printed circuit board assemblies can lead to poor performance. Oils and flux residue can prevent proper adhesion of conformal coatings, while marking inks, adhesives, and other materials can cause PCB delamination, blistering, shorting, dendrite growth, and electrochemical migration. It is therefore critical to remove all leftover manufacturing contaminants and to do it in an environmentally sustainable way. 

Generally speaking, the hand dispensing of resins in prototypes is not a complicated process. Optimizing several factors will aid in the development of a transparent commercialization process, with straightforward resin dispensing and industrial dispensing equipment selection, all completed in an expedited timeframe.

Companies are becoming more aware of the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions. As a result, manufacturers of adhesives and sealants are increasingly demanding sustainable products, a trend that is driving change in the packaging sector.