Stuck on structural adhesives
- Magazine Article
- 19AUTP09_02
- English
A funny thing happened on the way to the total-vehicle light-weighting that's now a common engineering dictate for nearly every new vehicle: structural adhesives-which entered low-volume automotive use in the 1980s-got pulled into the mainstream.
The widening reliance on high- and ultrahigh-strength steels and aluminum for body structures, particularly unitized bodies-in-white (BIW), to cut weight without sacrificing crash-mitigating strength or handling-degrading rigidity, is the prime factor driving the expanding use of structural adhesives. Particularly where dissimilar materials need to be joined, engineered adhesives are the way to go-alone or in tandem with more-conventional joining technologies such as riveting and spot-welding.