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Silanes form chemical or physical bonds between
the Adhesive/Sealant polymer structure and the inorganic or organic substrate. |
Crucial for the success or failure of an adhesive or sealant is the selection of the right adhesion promoter, and in particular the selection of the organofunctional group. This ensures optimum compatibility with the polymer type being used and is decisive for the quality of the physical properties of the adhesive. Silanes can even be customized to enhance adhesion of dissimilar and hard-to-bond substrates.
Figure 1: Silane Adhesion Promotion between Polymers and Substrates
For the same formulation base, adding silanes in the Adhesive/Sealant will
achieve superior mechanical adhesion with the substrate even if the assembly is exposed
to the toughest working conditions. Figure 2 shows how silane improves the wet adhesion of an adhesive used to bond glass and aluminium:
Figure 2: Wet Adhesion of a Latex Sealant on Aluminium and Glass,
with and without Silanes.
Non-sensitizing silane will also significantly improve wet adhesion to inorganic and organic substrates with the extra advantage of being low VOC and low odor. They can also be used as a crosslinker and greatly improves mechanical performances of hybrid sealants.
As an adhesion promoter, silanes can be added as an additive directly during the production of the end product. This has become successful and normal practice in many application areas.Where a particularly complicated adhesion problem is concerned (and if the use of silane as additive is impossible in this special case), the silane adhesion promoter can also be applied as a primer (e;g. as water- or solvent-containing solution) to the substrate.
Silanes can be used as an additive or as a primer to prevent diverse metals against corrosion. It drastically improves the tensile, modulus and impact strength and does not release any toxic methanol during reaction, only the more environmentally-friendly ethanol instead.
In addition to improved adhesion with substrates, other benefits gained from silane adhesion promoters are:
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Increased 
