In several articles so far, I’ve mentioned the importance of cleaning the parts before bonding or sealing applications. And for a good reason. On microscopic level particles of contaminants are basically obstacles that can prevent adhesive from attaching itself to the chosen surface. So the cleaner the surface, the stronger the bond.

Most of the general purpose cleaners are solvent based, which allows for them to evaporate after use, leaving no residue. The most commonly used products are Loctite SF 7061 and Loctite SF 7063. However, there are also grades especially formulated for plastic parts, like Loctite SF 7070.

The use of the mentioned products is really easy and straight forward given their practical spray packaging, but example videos like the below can be found in youtube.

How to use Loctite 7063

There are other aspects of industrial cleaning, outside of the surface preparation, but I’ll come back to that in my next article.