Bold as Brass, strong as strong can be

Advanced Adhesives formally opened its Applications Centre earlier this year, but has been investing in the testing equipment within it for many years. The company has built up a strong reputation as ‘The Applications Specialists’, with the emphasis very much on supplying bonding solutions alongside its extensive range of adhesives.

“When another adhesives company suggested to his own customer that he contact us, I knew that the reputation of the business had really spread far and wide,” says Graham Crozier, the Applications Specialist at the Newcastle-based business.

The customer in question was a sculptor, who, for a new project, was working in brass and needed a strong bond between the brass components. At the Applications Centre, Advanced Adhesives has stock samples of many commonly used materials, including a variety of many metals, plastics, glass etc and, of course, brass.

Bonding brass expertise

Sculptor Thomas Joynes takes up the story. “I had contacted the adhesive supplier we had bought from previously for other sculptures to discuss this project I was working on. They advised I contact Graham at Advanced Adhesives; if anyone would know about bonding brass in our application and what adhesive to use, it would be Advanced Adhesives I was told.”

Crozier, as ever, was keen to understand the detail of the application. “Every time a new application comes up, which can be as often as six or seven enquiries a week, we like to understand which materials are being bonded, the environment, strength and loadings the components need to resist. The list is extensive, but understanding the requirements and the production process allows us to fully comprehend what the customer and application requirements are, and we can advise from there and test accordingly to ensure our adhesives suit the application.

“The combination of almost 30 years’ experience in the industry, coupled with the extensive range of equipment in our in-house Applications Centre, allows us to test our adhesives with the customers’ components to the required level the components are going to have to survive in, and provide solid solutions.”

Sculptor Joynes explains the complexity of the project. “Previously, the sculptures I had manufactured were not from brass, had been for interior display and had only been made using thin gauge materials. They hadn't weighed a great amount, therefore I hadn’t had any concerns about the structural integrity of the adhesive being used.

Tougher challenge

“These new sculptures were different,” he continues. “The bonded assembly needed to rotate around an axis and the strips of brass combine to be structurally sound, as the adhesive was the only medium holding the components together, I didn’t want to have unsightly fixings holding the pieces together. The gauge of brass was a lot thicker than previous materials, therefore heavier, so a great deal of strength was required. Also, the brass needed to be bonded without any abrasion to the surfaces, as this would have ruined the effect the sculpture gave.

“I needed to make three similar designs over the coming months, but on a larger scale, the largest being 1.5m in height. All three pieces were to be displayed outdoors, with two of them on a cruise ship, so they would be subject to constant movement and vibration, as well as a salt environment, being outside on the ship’s deck, while also enduring the thermal factors of being outside. The third and largest was going to Sydney, so the heat there would be the key consideration and requirement for the adhesive to withstand.”

High degree of tensile elongation

Explains Crozier: “We selected two of our Hybrid Structural Methacrylate adhesives, 8061 and 8161. These products have been specifically formulated for bonding copper and brass, and will not create corrosion on the surfaces, turning the bond area green during and after the cure process. The 8061 and 8161 give a structural bond strength. However, they also have a high degree of tensile elongation built into the adhesives, which allows the adhesive to cope with the expansion and contraction the brass would experience in the changing temperatures they would be subject to, together resisting the salt corrosive atmosphere where the sculptures were going to be located in.”

Both adhesives performed perfectly well in testing, both pre- and post- the age tests, and gave substrate failure even after the 10-year age test in the Climatic Chamber. “The final result was spectacular,” says Joynes. “The result couldn’t have been better, with the brass components bonded without any unsightly fixings and looking perfect. The added comfort was, having had the testing of a 10-year aging process, I have every confidence that my sculptures and my client will have a piece for decades to come.”