Adhesive Assurance Built In: Dymax Encompass Technology
Medical assembly is high precision, high compliance, and high consequence. The pressure to get it right the first time is enormous. Mistakes in medical device bonding aren’t just process errors—they can lead to product recalls, regulatory violations, or worse: patient harm.
Dymax’s range of UV/visible light-curable adhesives feature See-Cure® colour change for visual cure confirmation and Ultra-Red® fluorescing for easy bond-line inspection—two technologies particularly beneficial in applications where great accuracy, repeatability and verification are required, such as medical device manufacturing, and electronics production.
Benefits
- Improved process development and control: Being able to see visual cues before and after curing allows you to put in place an effective assembly process from the start – meaning you can manage variability and have complete control of your process from start to finish
- Enhanced quality assurance: Built-in inspection features support you in validating your process, which is particularly important in medical manufacturing
- Regulatory confidence: Dymax MD® adhesives contain no added solvents, are ISO 10993 and RoHS compliant, and are suitable for short-term (<29 days) or single-use medical devices
- Flexible curing options: Compatible with either LED or UV/Visible light curing systems, enabling fast cure times and reduced work-in-progress
Applications
See-Cure and Ultra-Red technology is suitable for testing adhesive application in:
- Catheters and tubing sets
- Syringes and needle bonding
- Diagnostic devices
- Wearable medical electronics
- Y-connector assembly, balloon bonding, marker bands
- Respiratory devices, facemasks, breathing circuits, blood transfusion sets
Encompass® Technology
Some of Dymax’s UV curing adhesives comprises both See-Cure and Ultra-Red, while other Dymax adhesives utilise just one of these innovations. It’s therefore useful to understand the difference between the two individually. Let’s break it down.
See-Cure Technology
See-Cure is used in a range of UV curing adhesives for bonding plastics. The products have special significance in medical device manufacturing, where the extra process assurance can give you distinct advantages in a critical area.
The technology features visual cure indicators that shift colour as the adhesive cures—changing from blue to clear, blue to pink, or purple to pink—providing instant visual confirmation of effective application and cure.
With See-Cure Dymax have answered two important questions:
- How can I tell where the adhesive has been applied?
Dymax adhesives formulated with See-Cure technology are bright blue (or in some cases purple) in their uncured state. It is therefore easy to see where the adhesive has been dispensed onto substrates. This means you can immediately correct any voids in the bond-line before curing. - How do I know the adhesive is cured?
You can tell the adhesive is cured because it changes from blue to clear (or purple to pink) when exposed to UV light. This makes it easy for you to see on the surface of substrates, in deep wells, or when placed between two layers of material. The ability to see that the bond-line has been completely cured offers reassurance to assembly process.
The colour translation is not the effect of bleaching from the UV irradiation. The colour change is directly linked to the photoinitiator in the adhesive. The coloured See-Cure adhesive will not permanently stain or, in the case of medical device adhesives, affect the bio-compatibility of the component surfaces that they contact.
Understanding fluorescence
Many things naturally fluoresce under UV light – animals, bodily fluids and plastics (read our blog on it).
Fluorescence can be detected using a black light – a lamp that emits long wave ultraviolet (UV-A, ~365nm) light and very little visible light. UV-A light has a shorter wavelength than visible light, so you can’t see it. If you expose a fluorescent material to a black light, then it absorbs the UV light and re-emit it as visible light, which is detectable by the human eye, especially when it is otherwise dark.
A number of adhesives, coatings and temporary masking materials have a fluorescent tracer added to them, to act as a visual aid for application quality. Most of these fluoresce blue/purple under black light. This is useful if the adhesive and the substrate being bonded are both clear, as it can be tricky to see if there is any adhesive in the bondline at all with the naked eye in ambient lighting.
However, since many plastics naturally fluoresce blue under UV light, spotting blue-fluorescing adhesives in parts assembly can be challenging. Dymax’s Ultra-Red fluorescing technology offers a solution to that problem.
Ultra-Red Fluorescence Technology
Dymax’s Ultra-Red fluorescing technology improves bond-line inspection and product authentication in light-curable adhesives and coatings. Built into many Dymax adhesives, it’s effective when working with plastics that naturally fluoresce blue under UV light.
Unlike conventional blue-fluorescing adhesives, which can be hard to distinguish from blue-fluorescing substrates like PVC and PET, Ultra-Red adhesives remain clear until exposed to low-intensity UV blacklight. They then fluoresce vivid red, creating sharp contrast for accurate inspection of adhesive placement in both manual and automated quality assurance processes.
Ultra-Red also supports faster, deeper curing. Since the red fluorescence doesn’t absorb the same wavelengths used for curing, more energy reaches the bond line—improving cure efficiency over similar adhesives with blue fluorescence.
Additionally, Ultra-Red enhances product security. Its red fluorescence produces an energy peak—a spectral fingerprint exclusive to Dymax. This cannot be replicated by other fluorescing compounds, allowing manufacturers to verify adhesive presence and authenticity. In regulated or high-value applications, this supports traceability and helps guard against counterfeiting or material substitution.
Insights into our work in medical device assembly:
Case study
UV adhesive helps Brandon Medical overcome production time challenges
White paper
Designing in light curing adhesives – a holistic approach to adhesives in medical device assembly
Medical Device brochure
Explore our adhesives, protective materials and equipment for medical device assembly
Learn More
Explore our range of Dymax medical adhesives featuring See-Cure and Ultra-Red Technology or contact our team to discuss your specific application.
 01865 842842 |  orders@intertronics.co.uk |
