Get tough - making electronics rugged

We are getting tough with electronic components that need to be made more rugged – to be more resistant to shock, vibration and rough handling. This “toughening-up” process involves edge bonding or underfill of components with the recently introduced DYMAX 9422-SC or DYMAX 9-20790 room temperature, fast, light cure adhesives.

In particular the DYMAX 9422-SC is a component reinforcement and staking material engineered to hold critical components, such as Ball Grid Arrays (BGA) and Video Graphic Arrays (VGA), for secondary processes or for long-term reliability. These light-curable adhesives dispense and cure in seconds to provide the optimal balance of production efficiency and technical performance. This will be of interest to anyone confronted with the need to ensure that critical components on printed circuit boards remain in place and with electrical integrity throughout the manufacturing, assembly qualification and service environment for the duration of a product lifecycle. Light curing adhesives dispense and cure in seconds to provide the optimal balance of production efficiency and technical performance with bead shape designed to wet both the board surface and the component edge without seeping into shadowed areas. This material is highly thixotropic for zero movement prior to cure - 9422-SC is halogen and silicone free and RoHS compliant.

The use of BGA edge bonding adhesives or underfills can eliminate leadless component interconnect cracking due to CTE mismatches. Typical applications include mobile phones, PDAs, laptop computers, gaming consoles, GPS computers and digital music players.

DYMAX 9422-SC features See-Cure technology (going from blue when uncured to colourless when cured) and features fast dispense and cure, easy re-work, simple visual inspection and covering in seconds with improved bond strength for die and pry testing.

Conformal coating webinar

Sales partners DYMAX recently hosted a webinar called Conformal Coating at the Speed of Light: UV Conformal Coating from Start to Finish. The webinar focuses on cost savings of UV and how to qualify and maintain an effective UV conformal coating process. UV conformal coatings cure in seconds to allow for maximum process speed while consuming minimal energy and labor. As environmental regulations strengthen, budgets get tighter, and smaller circuits are positioned in harsher operating conditions, the technology is becoming increasingly accepted as a means to ensure performance throughout product lifecycle. UV conformal coatings have been successfully deployed in the consumer, military, and appliance markets for over 20 years. Various UV conformal coatings are designed to meet common MIL, IPC, and UL specifications allowing for widespread adoption. RoHS compliant, halogen-free, and solvent-free grades are available.

Register to download the webinar from DYMAX’s website at www.dymax.com/conformal. The question and answer portion of the webinar is also available for reviewing.

Latest selector guide for medical device adhesives

Recently, we updated our website with an enhanced version of the comprehensive DYMAX Selector Guide on MD® Adhesives for Medical Device Assembly. This valuable tool contains a number of charts intended to help R&D engineers and product designers choose the appropriate adhesive for their application. All DYMAX MD® Adhesives are biocompatibility tested in accordance with ISO 10993 and/or USP Class VI.

Pages are devoted to specific adhesives for the assembly of catheters and guidewires, injection needles and syringes and respiratory devices. Recently developed products incorporating new technologies such as See-Cure and Ultra-Red fluorescing have been integrated into the guide together with charts, photos and technical information which are presented to simplify and shorten the adhesive selection process and to explain the new technologies.

For the designer with a new or unique disposable-device application, the multi-purpose bonding charts quickly show the range of products available, their technical data, and the various substrates to which they adhere. Most products shown bond well to a number of plastic substrates (including those which are more specialist to the medical field), as well as to dissimilar substrates such as metal, glass and ceramic. While most formulations cure instantly upon exposure to UV/visible light, the line of MEDI-CURE® 222 Series Cyanoacrylates is offered for bonding opaque substrates and for applications where aggressive adhesion to rubber is needed.

On the last page of the guide is a selection of curing and related equipment built to optimize both performance and cost savings. Our Application Engineers can help you match the resin to the appropriate equipment as an aid to simplifying assembly process development and validation.

Ultra-Red Adhesives for high contrast bond-line inspection and product verification

We are persuading our customers to “see red” literally. The Ultra-Red™ fluorescing technology built into many DYMAX adhesives offers assemblers concrete advantages in plastics fabrication.

Many plastics naturally fluoresce blue under UV light – this minimizes the inspection advantages of using blue-fluorescing adhesives in parts assembly. Ultra-Red™ fluorescing adhesives remain naturally clear until exposed to UV light, at which point they fluoresce bright red providing a vivid contrast that permits accurate bond-line inspection. The red fluorescence does not absorb the same light energy wavelengths as those used to cure the adhesive, resulting in faster and deeper cures when compared with the same adhesives containing blue fluorescence.

Ultra-Red™ fluorescing technology can also be used by manufacturers for product authentication. By virtue of its patented technology, the red-fluorescing compound is exclusive to DYMAX for use in radiation-cured adhesives and coatings. When measured, this technology produces a distinctly unique energy peak that cannot be reproduced by any other fluorescing compound. This offers manufacturers the ability to assemble or mark their products and be assured that, in the event of a future challenge as to the authenticity of the product’s origins, the products can be positively identified. Ultra-Red™ fluorescing technology is RoHS compliant.

Bonding optical couplets

A question from the DYMAX blog:

We have to manufacture a component which is comprised of two individual parts molded from acrylic (PMMA) that have slightly different additives. The parts have concave and convex surfaces which fit onto each other. We want optical coupling between these two surfaces. Can we place one piece as an insert and mold the other over it? Is there some other, better method to achieve the same effect?

One common technique to bond couplets together as described is to mold both acrylic lenses separately and then bond them together with an optically clear adhesive. There are optical grades of adhesives that have excellent adhesion to acrylic, are designed to be transparent to most visible wavelengths, possess low shrinkage, stress, and viscosity for easy dispensing and alignment, and then cure uniformly and evenly under the proper light source. The real benefit is that you can optically align the lenses together while the adhesive is wet, and then cure on-demand.

Vote for us!

In September 2009, DPA (Design Products & Applications magazine) will celebrate the start of its thirtieth year of publishing with a special Anniversary Issue. Over this period of thirty years they have seen extraordinary leaps in technology that have quite simply changed the way we live – the personal computer, mobile telephony and the Internet, to mention just a few. Manufacturing industry, too, has enjoyed the benefits of remarkable technological advances, and to celebrate this, they have been asking suppliers and manufacturers to nominate products that they believe are representative of these advances for an online ‘virtual’ awards event, which they have dubbed, the DPA 30th Anniversary issue Innovation Awards.

We are really pleased to have our DYMAX See-Cure adhesive technology as an entrant in the Materials & Fasteners section.

Please vote for us!

UV Cure = Speedy Cure, Fast Cure

It takes longer to read this sentence than it does to cure DYMAX adhesives.

That's the message from a new range of DYMAX advertisements - this one is aimed at plastic bonding.

Typical plastic adhesive applications include appliance assembly, automotive sub-assemblies, headlamp assembly, plastic component tacking and sealing, potting, fixturing and ruggedising plastic housings, high-end displays and jewelry manufacturing, cosmetic household items, and aerospace vibration dampening. These plastic adhesives cure rapidly for high-speed production using either broad spectrum bulb technology or visible light LED technology.

More seminar news

We will be talking about UV Technology for Encapsulation at a seminar on Tuesday next week, March 10, at the Williams F1 Centre, Grove, Oxfordshire.

It is under the aegis of the UK Display and Lighting Knowledge Transfer Network. The network has been set up by the Technology Strategy Board as a means of encouraging networking and knowledge transfer opportunities within the displays, plastic electronics and lighting industry. One of the events arranged for 2009 is a one day seminar on Integrating Plastic Electronics which addresses the issues related to turning plastic electronics technology into products.

Save 30% on your assembly bonding process

That's the promise of a free webinar from our sales partners DYMAX. I am excited by the use of the web for this kind of information sharing. Taking place tomorrow, it is a little late for most UK-based workers, but I will be there.

Fast gaskets

We are pleased to introduce a new tack-free, soft gasket material from sales partner DYMAX for sealing fuel cells, appliance housings, and critical electronic assemblies and devices. DYMAX Light Weld® GA-140 is a UV/Visible light-curable form-in-place (FIP) and cure-in-place (CIP) gasket developed for applications requiring low compression set, tack-free surface and durable, reliable sealing. It is a soft gasket material with high adhesion to plastics which provides a barrier to prevent absorption or penetration of air, dust, moisture, liquids and gaseous substances.

DYMAX GA-140 can be dispensed into intricate and complex configurations with the benefit of in-line curing which allows for increased production speed, greater output, lower processing costs, and reduced inventories. It is a silicone-free, one-part resin requiring no mixing, with low out-gassing, cures in seconds and with a viscosity that allows for varying bead heights. It conforms to intricate channels or recesses and has excellent tear resistance for serviceable and limited-service applications.

Experience across many industries confirms that the FIP gaskets cure completely in seconds even in 6mm thick beads. This eliminates the racking, stacking, waiting and un-racking as required with traditional FIP gaskets. Light-curing FIP gaskets offer the ultimate in gasket design flexibility - designed for flat flanges or wide shallow grooves, permanent FIP gaskets can eliminate the delay experienced with slow-curing resins as well as the design, inventory and labour expense associated with pre-cut gaskets.

DYMAX GA-140 FIP Gasket being applied on a domestic iron

Conformal coating latest

First level defence of electronic assemblies is often a post-assembly dielectric coaing used to protect against moisture, bio-hazards and low level mechanical problems. Our sales partner DYMAX Corp have trialled their new Dual-Cure 9481 Conformal Coating, showing significant improvements over previously available products.

Dual-Cure 9481 is a new coating which represents the latest leap in light/moisture cure technology. Dual-Cure 9481 is specifically formulated to ensure complete cure in coating applications where shadowed areas on high density circuit boards are a concern. Previously, areas shadowed from light were managed by selective coating - eliminating the need to cure in shadowed areas - or a secondary heat cure process. Users needed to balance the cost of selective dispensing equipment and time/energy costs of a secondary heat cure. With Dual-Cure 9481 Conformal Coating, shadowed areas cure over time with moisture, eliminating the need for that second process step or concerns of component life degradation due to temperature exposure. In addition, Dual-Cure 9481 fluoresces bright blue when exposed to UV light and is low viscosity, allowing it to be dispensed easily.

DYMAX has conducted extensive laboratory, as well as field testing of Dual-Cure 9481, which is now available from us. The results indicate substantial progress in addressing those challenges typically associated with conventional dual-cure materials. Dual-Cure 9481 is formulated to address high-volume production and field trials have resulted in very favourable response from a variety of pcb assemblers.

Historically, light-cured conformal coatings have been most successful in applications with no or minimal shadowing. Shadow areas, which can inhibit the access of light, have the potential to hold or trap the conformal coating and limit the full cure of the materials. In recent years, several companies have made attempts to commercialise conformal coatings which address the need for shadow curing with conventional moisture curing as a secondary cure mechanism. Most of these attempts have had limits related to the efficiency of the cure as well as the consistency of the final properties. Other challenges have included special packaging and handling requirements as well as objectionable odours – substantially now dealt with in DYMAX Dual-Cure 9481.

See-Cure - to be sure

Our sales partners DYMAX have created See-Cure technology as a visual indicator for their UV cure adhesives by colour changing from original blue to clear during the curing process. This innovative approach greatly aids industrial assembly processes, whether the application is medical, electronic, aerospace or automotive. In each case it is essential to know that sufficient adhesive has been dispensed and that a full cure is effected – See-Cure colour change technology enables this to be determined at a glance.

Excitingly, the product has been featured on television in the USA, in a segment on Eye on America - have a look!

LED curing a reality

We have been asked about LED-based curing lamps for some years. The advantages which have resulted from the recognisable use of LEDs in traffic lights and car headlamps may also be true for industrial curing applications. LED outputs are consistent and have good longevity - and their use usually saves money.

However, the technology has been difficult to adapt to UV curing, for a lot of reasons - wavelengths, bandwidth and heat are just some.

Happily, our sales partners DYMAX have been able to come up with an LED lamp which is practical for curing - the BlueWave LED.

This product is not a drop-in replacement for traditional UV curing lamps, but it does have many applications. What is the difference between an LED visible light curing system and a traditional UV light curing system? Find out here.

Clock this!

World renowned clocks have been made in Derby since the mid-1700's, when clockmaker John Whithurst entertained his friends Benjamin Franklin and Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles Darwin) at his house in Queen Street. So, when the Finesse Collection of hotels were planning the reception area of their new boutique hotel in the town it was natural that they seek out the present day flag carriers of the Whithurst brand. Smith of Derby worked closely with James Blick, the Hotelier, to derive a contemporary design in keeping with the modern refurbishment of their traditional building.

The spectacular design by Kevin Litchfield did however call for some very specialist work. Explains Kevin, “We needed to fit a glass map of the world into a fine stainless steel frame. The two-part adhesive we were using gave us problems so we called the team at INTERTRONICS to discuss a UV cure alternative. Paul Whitehead arrived two hours later and basically did the job there and then.”

Our solution was to use DYMAX 429, which allowed plenty of time to accurately position the one-off and highly expensive components before rapid curing initiated with an IUV 250 UV Curing Flood Lamp. Paul described the situation, “They were having problems getting the joint bubble free using a two-part epoxy – whereas the DYMAX 429 completely eliminated this problem and gave a virtually invisible bond in a matter of minutes.”

Reaction to the finished clock has been extremely positive with its unusual two-part electromechanical construction showing local time in one quadrant and global time in the other. The two elements are actually two separate clocks. One shows local time, indicative to the quarter of an hour. From 12am to 12pm (and vice versa) the hand travels through the quadrant, there are hour and quarter hour markings. As an example, if it is 11:59, the hand would be positioned at the bottom of the quadrant pointing downwards. At 12:00 the hand would travel back through the quadrant.

The second clock depicts world times through 24 zones – or the 24 countries mentioned on the clock itself. The reference point for clock is the UK, and then countries were selected that were an hour apart from the previous one. When looking at the clock the world map travels around and the time can be taken from the dial that surrounds the globe.

This was clearly a unique one-off situation with very expensive components where no mistake could be allowed for – but it was also a valuable learning experience and we understand that Smith of Derby already have another commission with similar requirements and already know the solution – DYMAX 429 UV Curing Glass Adhesive.

New DYMAX information sources

Our Sales Partners DYMAX have been busy building special websites for some of their latest leading edge products.

Check out:

• www.dual-cure.com
  UV and moisture cure conformal coating


• www.seeitcure.com
  Colour change on cure - a great innovation in process control


• www.ultraredadhesive.com
  Strong, red fluorescence for quality control

These are exciting new resources for exciting new products.

Seeing red

We have just updated our DYMAX Medical Device UV Curing Adhesives webpage to offer the latest version of their selector guide - it's a download from there.

DYMAX are announcing some really exciting developments in this field (more to come soon!). Ultra-Red™ Fluorescing Technology is one. Once assembled and cured, DYMAX UV curable adhesives are usually clear and cosmetically superior.

When adhesives with Ultra-Red fluorescing technology are exposed to "black" UV inspection light (360-380 nm), they fluoresce bright red. The bright red fluorescence contrasts extremely well on plastics that naturally fluoresce blue in color (like PVC), and greatly assists with visual inspection of the bond-line area.

Lots of medical device manufacturers will find this a great boon!

Latest brochure for electronics assembly adhesives

Download the complete DYMAX Electronics Adhesives, Coatings & Encapsulants Selector Guide (548Kb pdf).

Diaphragm valve for UV materials

Dispensing of UV adhesives is a subject close to our hearts, so we are pleased to introduce the new IJF DV509-UV-LF Diaphragm Dispensing Valve. This diaphragm valve comes from the same world leading stable at I&J Fisnar as the pneumatic controller which makes this such an easy to use package, especially for UV curing resins. The valve’s high cycling rate of 200 per minute makes it ideal for automated systems in all industries.

The IJF DV509-UV-LF has been specifically constructed to provide shielding from outside light and to reduce metal contact, which can sometimes cause UV resin to gel. The diaphragm itself is opened by pneumatic solenoid and is positively closed by a return spring, thus ensuring precision of operation. Construction of the valve includes a wetted chamber compatible with the flow of low to medium viscosity UV materials which can otherwise prove difficult.

Visibly tamperproof in an instant

A common requirement popped up again last week - the need to quickly tamperproof some enclosure screws with something which is visible and pretty permanent. Manufacturers want to do this to prevent casual tampering with the innards of their products. Another application is the fixing of the screws of adjustable components, like variable resistors or potentiometers. DYMAX 3086-RF seemed to fit this bill perfectly:

• Very fast cure with UV light


• Good adhesion to metal and hard plastics


• When cured, is a hard polymer which is both red in colour and fluorescent


• Solvent free - not only environmentally sound and safe to use, but no worries about solvents or vapours getting into the product


• Comes in both free flowing and thick grades

Supplied in a dispensing syringe, it's easy to apply. Of course, if you want something like this but temporary, one of our UV cured masking products would do the trick.

A fast cure for coatings - the user view

Here's a clip of my old friend Tom Charlton of Electronic Coating Technologies, Canada, talking about why he uses DYMAX Conformal Coatings:

How many substrates are in your medical device assembly?

That is the question which was asked recently by our Sales Partners DYMAX, in an advertisement introducing a new product in their range of adhesives for disposable medical devices, DYMAX MD® 1161-M.

The text is possibly too small to read in this reproduction for the blog, but it goes like this:

Design engineers strive to use materials that offer the absolute best performance in their medical devices. Unfortunately, this can create assembly challenges in their manufacturing process. The bonding options for various combinations of dissimilar substrates such as polycarbonate, stainless steel, PVC and polyurethane are limited and typically require the use of multiple adhesives or assembly methods.

DYMAX MD® light curing adhesive 1161-M provides a single solution for all these combinations. 1161-M permits engineers to use the best performing materials for their product designs and at the same time, optimize their assembly process. Discover a Better Assembly Solution. Discover DYMAX.

We thought it was a very simple, yet very powerful message!

Car headlights - illuminating!

DYMAX 3-20469 features fast cure speeds, the ability to cure through clear, UV blocked plastic and offers advanced features for a variety of vehicle lighting assembly applications. It cures through large gaps and forms excellent bonds and seals on assemblies with unusual shapes and less than perfect fitting joints.

In addition to headlamp assembly, other vehicle lighting applications for which UV cure adhesives have been used successfully include tail lights, fog lights, and side lighting. DYMAX 3-20469 passes Ford’s Headlamp Performance Tests (Ford WSS-M11P28-B2).

Structural adhesion to plastics and other construction materials means that a smaller amount of 3-20469 adhesive may be used than with some other types of adhesives and sealants, such that some manufacturers have reported this allows for a larger reflective area and consequent increased lamp brightness.

3-20469 cures in seconds upon exposure to a high intensity UV/Visible light. Fast cures, ease of dispensing and in-line quality control capabilities allow for fast parts processing, ease of automation, J.I.T. assembly, reduced work in progress, lowered energy costs and increased throughput, while avoiding off-ratio rejects and reducing the manufacturing footprint. The one part "cure on demand" approach to adhesive technology eliminates pot life and hazardous waste concerns.

We also have adhesives for lens bonding, vent-hole sealing, lead tacking, bulb positioning and fixturing and various associated electronic coating applications. High temperature grades are offered that withstand the heat generated in close proximity to bulbs for positioning and fixturing applications. Some of the physical properties of these vehicle lighting adhesives include a wide range of viscosities, elongation from 20 to 300%, excellent thermal and mechanical shock, vibration, and moisture resistance characteristics. The products have shown superior durability during extensive road testing under harsh environmental conditions.

Adhesive for acrylic aesthetics

We have many customers who bond acrylic (PMMA) parts together to make display cabinets or point of sale structures. One way of doing this is to use a solvent based adhesive, but these often give cloudy or untidy joints. In an industry where cosmetic aesthetics is important (like selling cosmetics!), a clear and structurally secure joint is required.

One solution is to use DYMAX 3099 (pdf file), a UV curing plastic bonder which works particularly well on acrylic. It gives a very strong, high clarity bond, and offers all the advantages of UV cure: a single part adhesive, very fast cure. Combined with a UV curing lamp, DYMAX 3099 has been used for exhibition displays, trophies, post of sale stands, signs, covers, and many other acrylic applications.