Adhesive bonding has become the preferred joining technology of the 21st century. It allows the effective joining of the same or different materials and plays a vital role in ground-breaking lightweight multi-material structures. Besides having excellent mechanical properties, bonded joints are also used to provide heat conduction, electrical insulation, sealing properties, and bridge dimensional variation. Effectively designed bonding processes can be smoothly integrated into series production. Unlike welding, bonded joints do not adversely affect the mechanical properties of the substrates. Furthermore, process design allows bonded joints of high quality to be guaranteed. For all these reasons, adhesive bonding has now become widely used in many sectors of industry.

Adhesive bonding at Fraunhofer IFAM

Fraunhofer IFAM is the leading international R&D organization in the area of adhesive bonding technology, worldwide. For 50 years highly qualified scientists in various disciplines have devoted their energy to advancing the state-of-the-art of this joining technique. This long experience and expertise and the advanced facilities are utilized by the more than 200 people currently working in this area to provide high-quality services and carry out R&D projects for a variety of customers. The work ranges from the giving of advice to the detailed design and implementation of verified production concepts.

https://www.ifam.fraunhofer.de/en/Core_Competencies/Adhesive_Bonding.html