Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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How to join a Teflon sheet with another Teflon sheet?
Q. I want to make a pipe of Teflon® made form Teflon® sheet.
Can you please suggest a adhesive that can fix a Teflon® sheet to another sheet?
- Kolkata, WB, India
2003
A. Hi Chinmay,
Oh dear... you say you have a 'Teflon' sheet and want to join it to another Teflon sheet.
No go... you can't, sorry!
Mind you, I'm suspicious when someone says 'Teflon' ... is it the McCoy 'PTFE' or is a lower grade of something such as FEP Teflon, Halar or Tefzel... all of which are interweldable but NOT cementable at all!
Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).
2003
Freeman, some Teflon can be "glued". It takes a metallic sodium etch followed rapidly with a proprietary adhesive.
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
2003
James,
Yup, I know that Teflon sheets can be 'glued' but only if they have one side treated... heck, this is a standard dual laminate approach. But the Teflon ain't Teflon, it isn't the McCoy PTFE but a weldable grade such as FEP Teflon or HALAR or TEFZEL... All of which are weldable fluorocarbons which PTFE is NOT !
But in any case, I assume that Chinmay wants to 'edge' join one sheet to another... and that is a no-go... and only possible using the weldable fluorocarbons and using welding to form a monolithic surface.
Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).
2003
A. Hi,
I have bonded Teflon to glass a number of times. The way I do it is this. I make the Teflon surface bondable by using a fluoroetchant (http://ptfecatalog.actontech.com/category/fluoroetch-safety-solvent/). Then you can use any glue/epoxy you want.
The etchant reacts only with the surface, leaving the body untouched. However, it makes the etched surface black.
Best of Luck,
- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
2005
2005
A. I found this product -- Chemgrip Teflon Bonding Kit -- that might work for you.
usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&product%5Fid=12176
- Pawcatuck, Connecticut
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Ed. note, Dec. 2012: Sorry, we no longer see that or a similar product at US Plastics site
December 17, 2012
A. "Teflon" is a trade name used by DuPont and consists of many plastic materials including PTFE, PFA & FEP. When specifying your material requirements please be careful of using ambiguous trade names.
Teflon® DuPont refers to PTFE (usually)
Halar ® Ausimont (Solvay) refers to E-CTFE
Kynar ® Arkema refers to PVDF
PTFE is not melt processable and requires proprietary techniques to weld (thermofuse) or bond (glue).
PFA is melt processable and can be welded using heat.
ECTFE is melt processable and can be welded using heat.
Hope this helps clarify. By the way, we use Halar/E-CTFE for many finishing applications and it's much easier and safer to work with (fumes are not as harmful as PFA).
Cheers,
-Alex
- Malden, Massachusetts, USA
A. Fluoron Inc. (Elkton MD) can seam/weld PTFE into a tube. They provided the material and size tube I needed.
Chris Geary- Newark, Delaware, USA
January 6, 2017
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