Plastic to Rubber Adhesive

Does anyone have any suggestions for adhesives suitable for manufacturing? I’m interested in adhering a rubber, lets say, logo to a plastic part. I’m concerned that this just can’t work and will eventually peel off over time. Is it better to avoid this altogether or is there anything anyone can suggest?

Thanks!

  • Mitso

What kind of rubber – what kind of plastic?

The plastic piece will be glossy ABS.

Nothing has been specified for the rubber. But, it would be great to hear if you have any suggestions for specific types of rubber that would be best for this.

Also, The user would mildly handle the product on the area where the rubber would be.

Anything can peel over time, but it is going to depend on the conditions. Are you making something that sees extreme temperatures? Abrasion? Excessive handling?

There are adhesives, overmolding/2 shot molding, and other ways of assembling rubber parts to plastic.

Using a TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer) and overmolding can give you a very reliable adhesion (Such as on a tooth brush).

This will be much more reliable than using an adhesive.

If you are using an adhesive, there are liquid glues which will can work well, but one challenge is going to be the handling of it. If your design allows hand oils to permeate between the two parts it can cause corrosion and delamination, so mechanical interlock features are also helpful if they are possible to achieve in your design.

A 3M rep will get you a dozen different psa samples in a couple of days.

And I would never say overmolding is more reliable than an adhesive - it depends.

Based on the original poster’s description that users will be handling the area with rubber, overmolding a TPE onto ABS with a close to flush profile would be the safest approach.