Weld Mount's Metal Bonding Adhesive is a superior, high viscosity (similar to peanut butter), acrylic adhesive for metals. It is ideal for aluminum boat builders and industrial applications. This is a 10:1 adhesive which requires an AT-12 (10:1) plunger for use in Weld Mount's AT-300 dispensing gun. Its fast cure time makes it ideal for use in mass production applications.
Once cured, AT-6030 is Weld Mount's strongest adhesive. Although marketed primarily as an adhesive for metals AT-6030 also provides outstanding adhesion to carbon fiber, composites, and most plastics.
AT-6030 has a medium high viscosity, similar to very thick molasses. During application, it will hold all of Weld Mount's wire tie mounts and smaller studs on vertical and overhead surfaces without the need for any temporary support. Heavier parts, however, may need Weld Mount AT-690 fixture dots or a small piece of adhesive tape to hold parts in place while the adhesive kicks.
Alternatively, you could switch to the thicker, non-sagging AT-8040 adhesive for installing these heavier fixtures.
• Working time is 6 minutes; sets in 10 - 12 minutes; working strength in 40 minutes
• Recommended application temperature range is 65°F to 80°F
• 38 ml cartridge - bonds 50-75 Weld Mount parts
• Most metals can be bonded without priming
• Use the AT-300 adhesive gun with the AT-12 (10:1) plunger and AT-650 mixing nozzle
• Do not mix this adhesive by hand - with its 10:1 mixing ratio, it is too difficult to adequately mix before it starts to set
• Shelf life is six months when refrigerated; do not store this product without refrigeration
• ABS certified for use on commercial vessels - see below for details
NOTE — This adhesive cartridge does NOT come with a mixing tip for dispensing with a gun. The mixing tip is sold separately.
Use the AT-300 adhesive dispensing gun with an AT-650 mixing tip (both sold separately); see Accessory Products, below.
Storage:
The AT-6030 adhesive has a storage life of 6 months when stored at 40°F. Refrigeration is required.
Product at the limit of its shelf life can be tested for viability before you use it - wait an hour, the mixed adhesive will not set hard if the product is bad. (You will be able to press your fingernail into it.)
A word about the cartridge tip...
At this time, AT-6030 adhesive is packaged in "traditional"dual cartridge where the two adhesive components are dispensed through a single common nozzle with a central divider, so care must be exercised when the mixing tip is removed between uses to ensure that no mixed components remain on the cartridge tip - where they can cure and plug the tip of the cartridge. We suggest dispensing a small amount of material onto a mixing board, then carefully wiping the tip clean with a clean rag.
You can recognize this style of cartridge by its white cap — which is NOT indexed and can be put on the cartridge "backward" with the possibility of cross-contamination. We recommend making a continuous line with a black magic marker down one side of the cap and onto the cartridge, so you can line them up when replacing the cap - always with the correct orientation.
ABS Certification
Weld Mount AT-8040 adhesive has received PDA Certification (preliminary design analysis) by ABS (American Bureau of Shipping). This certification is required to allow the use of Weld Mount products on commercial ships (carrying passengers), as well as military and other vessels built to ABS standards.
This ABS Certification will allow commercial builders to know with confidence that Weld Mount products are appropriate for installation in their vessels.
Heavy on the technical side...
Weld Mount takes great pride in supplying the finest and most dependable methacrylate adhesives on the market.
The manufacturing of methacrylate adhesives is a complex and sometimes fickle process — getting good results is not always a sure thing. In light of this, and to assure that their adhesives perform as you expect, Weld Mount has implemented extensive quality control practices, both in manufacturing and also including the in-house testing of every single batch before it goes out the door.
Weld Mount stands behind their adhesives to perform as advertised - and have achieved an, essentially, zero failure rate as a result of these efforts.
Attachment Strength
Each Weld Mount attachment fixture is rated for both tensile and shear strength. In use, the acrylic adhesive used to attach the fixture is far stronger than the fixture itself.
In other words, when correctly applied to a properly prepared surface, under extreme loads, the fixture will fail before the adhesive does.
Temperature Sensitivity During Application
The setting and curing process for all methacrylate adhesives is temperature dependent. For every 10 degrees decrease in temperature below 72°F the kick
time doubles. 65°F is the recommended lower temperature limit to avoid excessively long curing times. Below 50°F the adhesive will not set.
Likewise, for every 10 degree rise in temperature above 72°F, the setting time halves. Plan your work flow accordingly.
Bear in mind that temperature will also affect viscosity during the application process. Lower temperatures will make the uncured adhesive more viscous. Higher temperatures will lower viscosity, making the adhesive more likely to "run", especially at temperatures above 80°F
Temperature Sensitivity When In Service
Like many adhesives including epoxies, methacrylate adhesives soften and fail at very high temperatures. Weld Mount does not recommend using their attachment fixtures in applications where the substrate temperature exceeds 225°F.
UV and Chemical Resistance
Once cured, methacrylate adhesives are amazingly resistant to UV and chemical degradation. More specifically, they are completely resistant to petrochemicals, and can even be installed inside fuel tanks.
Applying to Painted or Gelcoated Surfaces
Weld Mount adhesives stick extremely well to bare fiberglass.
They also stick well to gelcoats but with varying levels of success, depending on the type of gelcoat. Using light capacity (150 lb) fixtures like Weld Mount nylon mounts for wire runs on gelocat is typically fine, but Weld mount doesn’t endorse the use of heavier capacity (1,500 lb) threaded stud mounts for mounting a heavy oil filter, for example, on gelcoats. We always recommend testing on your specific gelcoat before application. (See the relevant Tech Tip, below.)
Weld Mount adhesives stick well to paint, but paint often doesn’t stick well to its substrate. Like the previous example for gelcoats, it depends on the application. For lightweight items like running wires, attaching to a painted surface is usually okay. However, we don't recommend hanging a heavy filter on a painted surface. See below.
Powder coats, however, are great for Weld Mount adhesives because powder coats are well bonded to their substrate. You can attach anything on a powder coat that you would attach to the bare substrate.
Mixing Tips
Unlike the common round mixing tipe you are used to, Weld Mount's special mixing tips have a square cross-section. This shape, and the interior corners it produces, increases "turbulance" during the gunning process - resulting in superior mixing of the adhesive components to ensure consistent results.
Application Tech Tips
• Applying Adhesives to Coated Substrates — When the paint or gelcoat coating on an otherwise acceptable substrate is of dubious quality, many riggers choose to remove the coating in the area under the Weld Mount fixture down to the bare substrate. This can be done neatly by creating a cut-out template of the fixture base out of metal flashing, or even very thin plywood, and using it to protect the surrounding surface during coating removal by sanding or grinding.
• Tip Replacement During Application — Once you start using (gunning) the adhesive, the mixed product in the tip will set in about 6 minutes if not used. For jobs with long (approx. 6 minutes or more) periods of time between adhesive uses, you will either have to replace the tip, or gun the adhesive in the tip onto a piece of cardboard, replacing it with new adhesive to gain an additional 6 minutes of time - thus saving a mixing tip. (By either method you lose an amount of adhesive equivalent to the volume of the tip.) Make sure to have an adequate supply of mixing tips on hand for your projected work flow.
• Clean-Up & Removal — Although low toxicity isopropyl alcohol is the recommended solvent for cleaning uncured adhesive, other common solvents such as acetone or MEK can also be used.
Once the adhesive is cured, it can only be removed mechanically by cutting or grinding, or by heating to approximately 350°F and then scraping it off. Removal by heating is not advisable where there is a danger of damaging or igniting the substrate or nearby materials. Duh...
AT-6030 Bonds:
— Metals:
• Aluminum
• Steel
• Stainless Steel
• Coated Metals
— Thermosets:
• Fiberglass
• Phenolics
• Gelcoats
• Epoxy
• Liquid Molding Resins
• SMC
— Thermo Plastics:
• Acrylics
• ABS
• Polycarbonates
• PVCs
• Styrene
• Peeks
• PBT Blends
• PET Blends