Adhesives in the Automotive Industry

Trending in the Automotive Industry is the swap from mechanical fastenings to using adhesives. Here are 7 reasons why:

1) Adhesives are good for bonding dissimilar parts. Traditionally, mechanical fasteners such as bolts, rivets, screws, and welds were used to connect parts in car manufacturing.[4] But all these mechanical fasteners pose a challenge when trying to connect items of different materials; like metal to glass or plastic to steel.[1]

From an engineering standpoint, it is difficult to drill holes in metals, plastics, and glass. In addition, dissimilar parts expand at different rates due to heat and pressure.[2] This causes stress on the bond and warping to the materials which could lead to problems and possible failure of the parts.[2]

Usually, attaching a static mixer to its corresponding adhesive cartridge is relatively easy and simple. 

For instance, for many 50 mL cartridges one simply attaches a standard bayonet style mixer, which twist-locks onto the cartridge.
[ The proper parts for this would be the AA style cartridges :https://brandywinecartridges.com/aa-series and the MAH Series Static Mixers: https://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-statomix-mah-series-static-mixers ]

It is a self explanatory process when you are actually holding the parts.

Similarly, for larger cartridges (200/400 mL) one simply attaches a bell inlet style static mixer, which easily fits over the outlet ports of the cartridge.
[ The proper parts for this would be the AC style cartridges: https://brandywinecartridges.com/ac-series and the MCH Series Static Mixers: https://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-statomix-mch-series-static-mixers ]

However, sometimes it just doesn’t work! We don’t want you pulling out your hair in frustration or losing precious time on the production floor, so we thought we would write this blog to help.

If you are a frequent purchaser or user of Sulzer Mixpac static mixers, you may have noticed; The static mixers are available in many colors. There’s blue, yellow, green, orange, and plain old white.
You may have wondered; Why are all of these different colors available? Do they indicate anything? Or are the colors merely varied for aesthetic appeal? Which one should I use? Should I just choose my favorite color?

Perhaps you know already: The different colors in fact indicate different performance and functional features of the mixers.

Let’s start with plain old white. Static mixers with white mixing elements are used for 2-component adhesives that have a 1:1 or 2:1 mixing ratio. Within the “white mixer world” there are further subdivisions into different product series.

For 50 mL cartridges, there are 2 series for the white static mixers ( which again, are used for 1:1 and 2:1 applications) : the MAH and MBH series.
To see pictures or more information about these mixers, visit our webpage:
MAH static mixers: http://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-statomix-mah-series-static-mixers                                                                                                                                                                                                MBH static mixers: http://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-mbh-series-static-mixers
The difference between the MAH and MBH mixers has to do with their inlet attachments and the different adhesive cartridges they are compatible with. The difference can be seen in the pictures in the links above, and additionally, there will hopefully be a follow up blog that will more thoroughly explain this.

For 200 and 400 mL cartridges, there are also 2 series for the white mixers: the MCH and MFH series.
To see pictures or more information about these mixers, visit our webpage:
MCH static mixers: http://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-statomix-mch-series-static-mixers
MFH static mixers: http://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-mfh-series-static-mixers
There difference between these two series is the same as the difference between the MAH and MBH series, and will hopefully be explained in an upcoming blog.

Sulzer Mixpac offers 2 series of static mixers for meter mix dispensing machines: the ME and MS Series.
Both of these mixers have polyacetal mixing elements, making them strong enough to withstand high pressure mixing systems (roughly 25 Bar or 300 Psi).

 Additionally many of the mixers in both the ME and MS series have the same exact combination of inner diameter, length, and # of mixing elements. For instance, ME 05-24T and MS 05-24T are both 149 mm long, with an inner diameter of 5 mm, and have 24 mixing elements.

See our webpage for more specs:

ME Series Page: http://brandywinemixers.com/sulzer-mixpac-statomix-me-series-static-mixers