Sikaflex® is known as the world's leading brand for elastic one-component adhesives and sealants based on polyurethane (PU) or silane-terminated polymer (STP). We offer products for a wide range of applications for construction and industry.
Elastic thick-layer bonding with Sikaflex® offers considerable advantages compared to mechanical joining techniques. Discover our Sikaflex® solutions for bonding and sealing in construction as well as in industry and DIY.
Sikaflex® Adhesives Replace Conventional Fasteners
Elastic bonding and sealing as joining techniques are widely used to replace conventional fastening methods such as screws or welding. Sikaflex®, the world’s leading brand for elastic bonding and sealing makes the difference with more efficient production processes and a higher quality and performance for products.
Joining parts with Sikaflex® elastic adhesives results in an even stress distribution and consequently higher durability. Sikaflex® bonds to a wide variety of materials and reduces corrosion by keeping corrosion protection layers intact and preventing water to enter between substrates. This substantially increases the life of the vehicle or construction. With Sikaflex® a large range of materials can be invisibly bonded without any screw or rivet heads showing, making for more attractive surfaces and higher-quality end products.
Benefits of Elastic Bonding
Sikaflex® for Construction Joint Sealing
Joints are omnipresent in construction. They are found between the different building elements and materials. They are designed to enable movement between the building blocks mainly originating from thermal expansion of the materials. They need to be sealed against water ingress and air exchange. The joints are where a building is weakest to leakage. Only correctly specified and professionally applied high-quality joint sealants will manage to keep your building or structure sustainably tight during its entire lifespan.
Polyurethane sealants are used to seal joints in a wide variety of construction applications. Sikaflex® is Sika’s line of professional-grade polyurethane sealants that have the right balance of properties for reliable and durable sealing, like good adhesion, long-lasting elasticity, high weatherability, good chemical and mechanical resistance and much more.
Sikaflex® Construction Adhesives
The use of adhesives for structural and non-structural bonding in construction is gaining more importance due to new construction materials, new methods of building and higher demands in water and airtightness.
Sikaflex adhesives are elastic adhesive-sealants. Elastic bonding has several advantages over mechanical joining or rigid thin film bonding. Elastic bonding enables the reliable and durable connection of very different materials like metal and concrete, it avoids material fatigue as in mechanical joining by evenly distributing stress over a large area, it absorbs vibrations between the materials and protects the bond surface from corrosion by sealed them to water penetration.
Sika offers a wide range of elastic adhesive-sealants to meet the specific needs. For example, an adhesive-sealant with a very high compatibility to special substrates or with a high initial grab making temporary fixation during curing obsolete to name just a few.
Sikaflex® in Vehicle Construction
The new fastening technique of elastic bonding complements the existing range of traditional fastening methods. The first use of elastic adhesives to bond components and assemblies in the manufacture of vehicles dates to the early 1980s. The modern rail industry now depends on elastic adhesives for a whole range of fastening applications – including roof assemblies, window glass, side walls, front and rear ends, floor pans and countless smaller assemblies. The bonding of all these components to the structure helps to increase the stiffness and reduce the weight of the vehicle. As a result, the latest generation of trams weights up to a third less than their predecessors, which helps to reduce the life cycle cost.
Major assemblies such as the driver's cabin or complete roof elements can be pre-assembled with their interior linings and then bonded with elastic adhesives to the bodyshell. This method avoids the high stresses associated with welding, while the thick-layer adhesive helps to bridge large manufacturing tolerances between components. All this contributes to reducing production costs.
The correct joint design needs account for the specific mechanical properties of the substrates and the adhesives used. Simply substituting an elastic adhesive for a rigid fastening will not achieve the desired result. The key to the successful use of adhesives lies in consultation between the product designer and the adhesive manufacturer, who can advise on the best way to configure assemblies and joints for elastic bonding.
Discover Sikaflex® Solutions for DIY Use
Caravan and Boats
Sikaflex® sealants and adhesives are available in DIY markets and are the preferred choice for sealing and bonding of boat and caravan owners.
DIY Applications
For DIY usage in construction Sikaflex® adhesive-sealants are very appreciated due to their versatility and are used for sealing, bonding and repairing inside and outside.
Discover Sikaflex® Solutions for Industrial Use
Sikaflex® adhesives and sealants are widely used in Industrial manufacturing. They enable the use of different materials while coping with different thermal expansion rates. Sikaflex® solutions combine high strength for mechanical load transfer with simple surface preparation. With technologies like Sikaflex® Booster they can increase production output.
Discover Sikaflex® Solutions for Tanks and Silos
Sikaflex® sealants are used for the sealing of tanks and silos. They are widely used as sealants in segmental containers where stainless steel, black steel or enameled steel segments are assembled in the plant or on site.The sealants need long open times, since building such silos requires time, high tear resistance (since the segments move once loaded) and high chemical resistance to organic acids.
Such silos are found in food processing plants, agricultural applications and biomass power plants. Liquids being stored include water, silage, food waste and liquid manure.
Discover Sikaflex® Solutions for Marine Applications
Sikaflex® elastic adhesive and sealants systems specially developed for the marine industry offer outstanding performance where it is needed. Equally suitable for all types of construction – timber, fiberglass, aluminum or steel – Sika’s extensive line of marine products covers all your caulking, levelling, bedding, sealing and bonding needs.
