About PowderBond

Pioneering adhesive-free bonding

PowderBond creates very strong bonds between metal and polypropylene or other plastics with no need for adhesives or composite surface treatment.

 
“Most joining techniques focus on the composite and its surface preparation, but we come at it from a different angle.”
— James Grant, Director, Powdertech Surface Science

Why choose PowderBond?

 

Faster and cleaner process

Using PowderBond is a quick and clean process, eliminating the labour-intensive procedures associated with traditional industrial adhesives. No composite surface treatment required, no adhesive application, no mechanical fixings, no extended cure time.

3x stronger than bonding adhesives

PowderBond does away with the need for bonding adhesives, itself delivering exceptionally strong bonds between the metal and the plastic surfaces, over three times the strength of traditional polypropylene adhesives.

We instigate so you can innovate

The ability to strongly bond polypropylene to aluminium opens up new design possibilities for designers. The most appropriate materials can be used exactly where they are most effective in mixed-material assemblies, with no need to incorporate joining features.

Flexibility

PowderBond’s long-lasting ‘ready to bond state’ once applied to metal has great advantages for project planning and scheduling which bonding adhesives that only remain active for a short period cannot offer.

Repeatability

Manually applied structural adhesives can cause problems with variability in applied thickness and reject rates of 10-25% are common. PowderBond is an automated process, easily reproduced with few rejects.

Recylability

At the end of product life the PowderBonded parts can be de-bonded, recyled and re-used.

 

How does PowderBond bond?

The bonding component within PowderBond is activated by heat and pressure. It is a fusion bonding system occurring in seconds.

  1. PowderBond is applied to the metal component

  2. PowderBond-treated metal is placed with polypropylene composite (no need to surface-treat) in standard mould process

  3. Composite curing cycle runs. The metal becomes very strongly heat-fused to the composite

  4. Component removed from mould and ready to use.

By applying PowderBond to your metal components we remove the ‘pain’ of adhesive bonding allowing you to concentrate on the assembly.

There can be any length of time between steps 1 and 2 because PowderBond has a long shelf life and remains in a ‘ready to bond’ state on the metal.

 

PowderBond at work

Real world applications of our innovative bonding system, incorporated into standard moulding processes.

  • Induction heating

    BigHead fasteners are joined to glass-fibre polypropylene during induction heating providing an exceptionally secure fixing into composite material. Read more in our case study Lean Manufacturing for Bonding Fasteners.

  • Compression moulding

    Stalcom Automotive Technologies uses PowderBond and compression moulding to produce Stalcom Lightweight Laminate. Read more in our case study Progressive metal-composite laminate.

  • Rotational moulding

    PowderBond is being used in rotational moulding to form a strongly bonded hybrid material with rigidity and fixing points. No bonding adhesive is needed.

  • Injection moulding

    A global automotive technology supplier used injection moulding to embed metal fixing pins in mineral-filled polypropylene composite.

  • Vac-bag moulding and autoclave

    PowderBond was used in a vac-bag moulding process in construction of the Ariel Hipercar mixed material monocoque chassis. Read the case study, Ariel Hipercar, and also this feature article in ‘Composites in Manufacturing’ magazine.

 

“We were delighted with the result. The process is clean and quick, and the bond strength achieved far surpasses current adhesive-based methods.”
— Simon Saunders, founder of Ariel Motor Company
 
A block of aluminium

The PowderBond story

We recognised the difficulties faced by design engineers planning to use mixed material assemblies for lightweighting. There are severe challenges to overcome and none of the current solutions quite do the job. Mechanical fixings can compromise the properties of the composite material due to fibre breakage when preparing the fixing holes. Bonding with traditional industrial adhesives is time consuming and fails to deliver the required strength.

Clearly a new bonding method was needed, and in particular one that would work for polypropylene, one of the less expensive plastics but notoriously difficult to bond. Designers were compromising on material or on weight to avoid the disappointingly weak bond strengths achieved with adhesives. During our participation in an Innovate UK-funded collaborative project, a need arose to construct a mixed material chassis for a lightweight vehicle, the Ariel Hipercar. We had the PowderBond system in its early stages and decided to give it a try in this real-life project. It worked! The bond strengths were exceptional. PowderBond was ready to enable polypropylene-to-metal bonding in the wider world.

Find out more about the team behind Powderbond →

Test the bond performance yourself

 

You don’t have to take our word for it!

We are more than happy to provide PowderBond treated metal samples for you to bond to your polypropylene composite and test the strength parameters for yourself. Just call or email us to discuss. Alternatively, you can visit us at our Bicester plant and we would be very pleased to provide a demonstration.

Find out more

If you would like further information on the benefits that PowderBond could bring to your design please call us for a chat. We will work closely with you through evaluation for your own particular application.