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Welding dissimilar plastics

Welding dissimilar plastics

Welding dissimilar plastics

(OP)
Has anyone had experience spin welding or vibration welding dissimilar plastics such as Polypropylene and ABS.  I have a pressure vessel that I want to make cheap (the PP) and a small part that I need get an adhesive to stick to (the ABS).  I would like to weld the two parts together.  Any info would be appreciated.

RE: Welding dissimilar plastics

sjh,

Even if you get a positive answer to your question about spin welding your materials together, it would be a major mistake to not test the materials in a prototype situation.  A wide range of different properties exist in each of the materials.

As far as researching a good adhesive, start with this website:

http://www.3m.com/US/mfg_industrial/index.jhtml

Good Luck

Live Aloha

Frank M.
Tradewind Resources
http://www.tr-usa.com

RE: Welding dissimilar plastics

It would be possible to join your PP / ABS parts using heat staking.
You would have to design your pp part with pegs then sit the ABS part onto the pegs and peen the pegs over using an ultrasonic horn.

I think that getting a reliable bond from vibration weling would be difficult unless you can design a locking joint that you flood fill with the moulten polymer.

One problem is that the softening temperatures of the two plastics are very different (ABS about +50 deg C on PP).

Hope this helps.

For further information you might think about talking to a system builder for ultrasonic machines as thaey will have many experiences of different joining systems.



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