Sika as the Customer’s Strategic Partner for Stiffness and Joining Challenges in the Body Shop
Sika’s structural adhesive solutions for bonding metal to metal consists of a variety of technologies. SikaPower® epoxy adhesives enable producers of commercial vehicles to substitute welding with bonded joints. It gets more and more difficult to hire staff for welding jobs. The partial replacement of welded joints, by heat- or room-temperature curing epoxies, helps our customers in automatization and cost optimization projects. Aluminum can easily be joined with steel by using Sika’s adhesive bonding solutions. Welding panels to substructures in the production of buses or off-highway machinery comes along with a significant need for post-treatment for flat surface finish.
Sika’s competence from automotive production and a global network of experts provides you with confidence in the integration of adhesive joints into vehicle bodies. Sika’s full set of material data and support on individual projects enable the smart use of adhesives to join different metals and materials or to streamline the production process. Rely on Sika – starting from the conception phase until production, anywhere in the world.
Sika’s global expertise, combined with the local technical service, provides commercial vehicle manufacturers optimal solutions for individual challenges.
"Sika’s innovative metal adhesive solutions and a full set of calculation data, enable the transportation industry to optimize their body shop and realize weight and cost savings."
Lightweight
Modern vehicle design integrates different materials and lightweight composites with Sika's adhesive technologies. SikaPower® SmartCore adhesives allow lighter vehicles by reducing metal thickness while still meeting strength and durability requirements.
Durability
Connections with SikaPower® SmartCore adhesives can be more durable than welded joints or mechanical fasteners thanks to its unique fatigue performance.
Freedom of Design
Sika's bonding solutions allow joining dissimilar substrates without restrictions. Eliminating the limitations of mechanical fasteners or welding is one of the key reasons why many adhesives are used in industrial manufacturing.
The Combined use of Metal Adhesives with Welding
The use of new materials, weight reduction requirements, and the shortage of qualified labor are drivers for more extensive use of adhesives in the body shop. Most vehicle producers started replacing steel panels with composite materials a long time ago. However, the steel structure remained welded.
Heat-curing and room-temperature curing SikaPower® epoxy adhesives allow manufacturers of trucks, off-highway machinery and other means of transport, the replacement of spot welds and mechanical fasteners by bonded joints. The combined use of spot welds for initial fixation and SikaPower® epoxies increases the structural stiffness and mechanical strength while enabling fast processing.
Key Features of SikaPower® adhesives toughened by SmartCore:
Exceptional energy absorption capacity
Excellent crack resistance
Superior fatigue performance
Unmatched impact resistance
Sika Metal Adhesive Solutions for any Context and Requirement
Sika offers an extensive portfolio of adhesive solutions to join metals with metals or other materials. From heat-curing epoxy adhesives to two-component structural adhesives based on acrylic, polyurethane and epoxy technologies Sika can provide you with the ideal solution to your challenge.
For production environments that include electrocoating (e-coat) or powder coating processes, heat-curing SikaPower® epoxy adhesives are optimal. Structural SikaPower® epoxies contain glass spheres to keep a required bond line distance between two metal sheets and to control the gaps. They have excellent wash-out resistivity, superior corrosion protection performance. SikaPower® SmartCore delivers exceptional impact resistance and is designed to withstand dynamic stresses.
SikaPower®-494 G
SikaPower®-494 G is a one-part, cold-applied, heat-curing structural epoxy adhesive. It can substitute welding in sheet metal assembly work in the body shop. SikaPower®-494 G is suitable for the structural bonding of different types of metal. It can be used in combination with spot welding, riveting, clinching, and other mechanical fastening techniques for prefixation. The adhesive contains glass beads of 0.3 mm to ensure an optimal bonding thickness. It can bond to oily substrates (standard anti-corrosion treatment and deep drawing oils, approx. 3 g/m2).
Selected room-temperature curing SikaPower® metal epoxy adhesives include Sika’s patented Smartcore technology. These systems are designed to withstand high impact energies and elevated dynamic load cycles, making them the ideal solution when strong and durable bonds are required. Warming the component with the adhesive accelerates the curing of two-component SikaPower® adhesives.
SikaPower®-877
SikaPower®-877 is a structural two-component epoxy adhesive, which cures at room temperature. It is designed for high strength and impact-resistant bonding of metallic substrates, like steel and aluminum, as well as of composite substrates like glass fiber reinforced and carbon fiber reinforced laminates. The adhesive has excellent non-sag properties and contains glass beads of 0.3mm to ensure optimal bonding thickness.
SikaFast® acrylic adhesive systems are a low odor, fast-curing, structural but flexible adhesives for the replacement of mechanical fixtures such as rivets, screws or welded joints. SikaFast® acrylic technology combines fast strength development with minimal surface preparation for a wide range of bonding surfaces.
SikaFast®-5200 Series
The SikaFast®-5200 Series offers several user-friendly, elastified structural acrylic adhesives at different curing speed options. SikaFast®-5200 products are lower in odor than MMA adhesives and adhere to a wide range of bonding substrates with minimal surface preparation.
SikaFast®-3000 methacrylate adhesives
With SikaFast®-3000 series, Sika offers structural methacrylate adhesives for various applications such as metal to metal and metal to composite combinations. Replacing mechanical fasteners with elastified SikaFast® adhesives when joining dissimilar materials reduces stress peaks. This results in more durable structures.
Within the SikaForce® range of adhesive solutions; Sika provides specific solutions for bonding a variety of substrates in insulated and dry freight trailer bodies, such as panel joints, profile elements, and reinforcements. These cost-effective solutions are made for extensive area bonding and combine good non-sag and gap filling properties. SikaForce® Powerflex adhesives combine high structural strength with permanent elasticity throughout the entire service temperature range.
SikaForce® Powerflex Series
SikaForce® Powerflex two-component polyurethane adhesives combine highest levels of strength with lasting elasticity even at low temperature. With the unique performance characteristics, SikaForce® Powerflex outperforms the state-of-the-art two-component structural adhesives designed to join lightweight materials. SikaForce® Powerflex adhesives create a durable adhesive bond throughout the service life of bonded components no matter what climate conditions they face.
SikaForce®-7722 structural adhesive for refrigerated truck trailer body assembly
SikaForce®-7722 is a rigid, thixotropic two-component polyurethane adhesive for panel assembly in trailer manufacturing. Different versions offering a variety of open time and curing speed options are available. SikaForce®-7722 bonds well to materials present in the trailer manufacturing industry like profiles and sandwich constructions made of glass fiber reinforced polyester, wood, metal, ceramic substrates, and pre-treated plastic substrates.