This review has been written as a practical approach to bonding various kinds of elastomers to substrates such as steel and plastics, as used in the manufacture of diverse products such as rubber covered rolls, urethane fork lift wheels, rubber lining for chemical storage or solid rocket motors, engine bushes and mounts, seals for transmissions, electrical power connectors and military tank track pads. Based on the authors' years of experience working closely with end-use customers and it offers a thorough overview of how to successfully bond rubber to a given substrate in the manufacture of quality rubber engineered components. This review is supported by an indexed section containing several hundred key references and abstracts selected from the Rapra Abstracts database.

Annotation. Many books and papers have been published on adhesion of materials in general but the topics covered by this book have been selected to cover a wide range of interests, both in terms of products and applications. Although there is some discussion of relevant theory in various sections of d104, the emphasis in this volume has been to concentrate on the practicalities of bonding of rubbers, to themselves and substrates. It is considered that this type of information is of immediate interest to the practising technologist dealing with shop floor problems on a daily basis.

Polyolefins have many and varied applications. However, they have very poor bonding properties. This review discusses ways of improving adhesion and bonding. It describes the theories surrounding adhesion of polyolefins and the analysis techniques which have been used to characterise the material surfaces. Methods of enhancing adhesion are then discussed. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Polymer Library gives useful references for further reading.

Rubber components are used in many demanding applications, from tyres and seals to gloves and medical devices, and failure can be catastrophic. This review of Rubber Product Failure outlines and illustrates the common causes of failure, while addressing ways of avoiding it. There has been increasing pressure to improve performance so that rubbers can be used at higher temperatures and in harsher environments. For example, the under-the-bonnet temperature has increased in some vehicles and new medical devices require longer lifetimes in potentially degrading biological fluids. The expectations of tyre performance in particular are increasing, and retreads have been in the spotlight for failures. The definition of failure depends on the application. For example, a racing car engine seal that lasts for one race may be acceptable, but in a normal car a life span of 10 years is more reasonable. If appearance is critical as in surface coatings and paints, then discolouration is failure, whilst in seals leakage is not acceptable. Each rubber product must be fit for the use specified by the consumer. Failure analysis is critical to product improvement. the cause of the problem can be much harder to find. It can range from a design fault to poor material selection, to processing problems, to manufacturing errors such as poor dimensional tolerances, to poor installation, product abuse and unexpected service conditions. The rubber technologist must become a detective, gathering evidence, understanding the material type and using deductive reasoning. Testing and analysis of failed materials and components add to the information available for failure analysis. For example, stored aged tyres appeared superficially to be alright for use, but on drum testing small cracks grew more quickly than in new tyres leading to rapid failure in service. Quality control procedures such as product inspection, testing and material quality checks can help to reach 100 percent reliability. In critical applications such as electricians' gloves for high voltage working, gloves are inspected before each use, while engine seals may be routinely replaced before the expected lifetime to avoid problems. in the literature is not high. However, several reviews have been written on specific products and references can be found at the end of this review. Around 400 abstracts from papers in the Polymer Library are included with an index. Subjects covered include tyre wear and failure, seals, engine components, rubber bonding failure, rubber failure due to chloramine in water, tank treads, gloves and condoms, medical devices and EPDM roofing membranes.

Rapra Technology Limited launched its first conference focusing on the bonding of both rubber and plastics to various substrates. The conference aimed to widen the area of discussion from a purely rubber or purely plastic based topic to include those additional related bonding application areas. Papers discussing bonding within the polymer industries and from academic researchers will enable the reader to more fully understand the problems and their solutions for the bonding between polymers and a wide range of substrates. Topics covered at Polymer Bonding 2004 include: latest material advances, new processing technologies, analysis of bonding techniques, progress in application technology, formulation advancement and business and industry issues. List Of Papers...Session 1: Technology Overview; A Review of Recent Developments in Bonding of Steel Products for Rubbers and Plastics Reinforcement Dr Daniel Mauer, N.V. Bekaert S.A. Bonds Factor: Effects from Processing and Chemistry Mr RJ DelVecchio, Technical Consulting Services, USA; Quantum Leap in Polymer Innovation Performance through Advanced Technology Management Dr Wolfram Keller, P R T M, Germany; Session 2: Polymer Bonding Analysis; Can Test Pieces Predict Component Performance? Dr Marina Fernando, Charles Forge & Jonathan Clarke, TARRC, UK; The Development and Exploitation of Accelerated Durability Tests - The; new ASTM D429 Method G immersion Test and Potential Future Developments; Mr Peter Hansen, MERL, UK; Analysis of Adhesion Differences by Nano-Indentation and Cure Kinetics; in a Rubber-Glass Composite Dr Chris Stevens, NGF Europe Ltd, UK; Session 3: Novel Bonding Techniques And Applications; Self-Adhesive Silicone Rubber: High Speed Processing in Conventional; Injection Moulding Dr Sascha Buechel, Wacker-Chemie GmbH, Germany; +++ Paper Unavailable At Time Of Print +++; Bonding Cellulosic Substrates to Polyolefins without Corona treatment; or use of a Primer. Greece; A Shift Toward Two Component Adhesive Packaging that Fits in Standard; Caulking Guns Ms Meghann Horner & Crispin Dean, TAH Europe Inc, UK &; Dan Mottram, TAH Industries, USA; Hybrid Nonisocyanate Polyurethane Adhesives; Prof. Oleg Figovsky, EFM -Enviromentally Friendly Materials GmbH; Germany; Bonding Plastics with Cyanoacrylates and UV Curing Adhesives Mr Bob; Goss, Henkel Loctite Adhesives Ltd, UK; Session 4: Developments In Bonding Technology; Reactive Fluid Bonding Systems; Dr Daniel L Neuman, DuPont Dow Elastomers, USA; Water Based Bonding Agents; Mr Greg Rawlinson & Dr Keith Worthington, Chemical Innovations Limited; (CIL), UK; Aramid as Reinforcement in TPE's: A Method for Measuring Adhesion Ms; Annamarie Zuuring, Teijin Twaron BV, The Netherlands; +++ Paper Unavaiable At Time Of Print +++; Non-Hygroscopic Polyamide Bonding TPV; Mr Synco de Vogel, Solvay Engineered Polymers GmbH, Germany; +++ Paper Unavaiable At Time Of Print +++; Hard-Soft Combinations with Silicone Rubber - Innovative Technical; Solutions Dr Joachim Hegge, & Stefan Rist, GE Bayer Silicone GmbH & Co.; Automotive; Parts Production Mr Aissa Benarous, Chemical Innovations Limited (CIL); UK; Rapra Technology 2004

Many variations of injection moulding have been developed and one of the rapidly expanding fields is multi-material injection moulding. This review looks at the many techniques being used, from the terminology to case studies. The three primary types of multi-material injection moulding examined are multi-component, multi-shot and over-moulding. The basic types of multi-material injection moulding, the issues surrounding combining different types of polymers and examples of practical uses of this technology are described.