Adhesives helpdesk

Adhesives helpdesk

Keywords Adhesives,DTI, Helpdesk

To increase user confidence and provide engineers with tools to predict the performance of adhesively bonded joints, the DTI is sponsoring a series of national adhesives events targeting UK manufacturing industry. To support this activity, an"Adhesives Helpdesk" has been established at the Centre for Adhesive Technology at TWI.

The events are low-cost,"clinic" style workshops raising awareness and offering advice on using adhesives to improve UK competitiveness and innovation. The objective is to disseminate results of the performance of adhesive joints programme funded by the DTI's measurement technology and standards (MTS) budget. Partners in the dissemination programme are AEA Technology, NPL and TWI. The partners have worked with industry and academia on the programme which comprises five projects:

• 1.

  ADH 1: measurement of basic mechanical properties of adhesives for design use;

• 2.

  ADH 2: failure modes and criteria for adhesive joints;

• 3.

  ADH 3: environmental durability of adhesive bonds;

• 4.

  ADH 4: measurement of characteristics to define surface condition;

• 5.

  ADH 5: measurement of optimising adhesive processing.

Industry can benefit from the results of the programme in an easy-to-digest form, for example, "best practice guides" and case studies on CD ROM.

The adhesives helpdesk has been established at TWI to answer enquiries. The helpdesk is a focal point where UK companies obtain details about forthcoming events, discuss technical and commercial opportunities, purchase CD ROMs containing electronic copies of the reports and details of adhesive bonding training courses.

For enquiries on using adhesives or the forthcoming events, please contact Clare Rushforth, Adhesives Helpdesk, The Centre for Adhesive Technology, Abington Hall, Abington, Cambridge CB1 6AL, UK. Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 1223 894615; E-mail cjrushforth@twi.co.uk