Scott Bader Expands Production Capacity for Crestabond® MMA Structural Adhesives Range
Scott Bader has recently made a further capital investment to expand production capacity for its range of Crestabond® primer-less methyl methacrylate (MMA) structural adhesives. A new mixer has been installed and is now fully operational in its dedicated ‘Structural Adhesives’ facility in the UK plant in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, from where customers are supplied worldwide. According to Scott Bader, this latest strategic investment of over €400K is in response to significant growth in customer demand for Crestabond structural adhesive products, and a continued long term commitment to the composites industry.
This additional adhesives mixer has increased production capacity by around 50%, needed to cope with the continued growth in sales over the last five years, and forecast customer order levels in 2017 and beyond. Jon Stowell, Global Head of Adhesives and Tooling for Scott Bader explains: “To meet the growing demand and continue to offer competitive lead times, this new mixer will be used exclusively for the production of the full range of Crestabond® structural adhesives, which we offer in a choice of 400ml coaxial cartridges, bulk 20 litre pails and 200 litre drums pack sizes.” Originally launched in 2010, Scott Bader now offers a choice of 11 Crestabond® products to suit specific shop floor assembly needs and long term bonding performance in use. The customer base has grown globally to now include major OEMs and tier 1 / 2 producers in marine, land transportation, off road vehicles, building & construction and wind energy markets, which now use Crestabond products in a wide variety of assembly applications for bonding metal, plastic and composite components.
Demand has been stimulated by new grade additions to the Crestabond range in the last 18 months. These include: M1-02, now the fastest curing 10:1 ratio grade available, developed for cost effective higher volume assembly of smaller parts, which must be ready to handle in under three minutes; PP-04, a 1:1 ratio specialty grade for bonding polypropylene and other thermoplastic polyolefin substrates, and two 1:1 ratio black pigmented M7-05 and M7-15 grade options, added for improving the bond joint aesthetics of black ABS and carbon fibre (CF) composites components.
Further details about the complete range of Scott Bader Crystic® resins, gelcoats, pigments, high performance Crestapol® resins and structural adhesive specialty products are available on the website.