Plastics don’t behave like metal or glass at a bond line — dissimilar coefficients of thermal expansion, lower surface energy, and a much wider range of flexibility mean a single “plastic adhesive” rarely fits every joint. A wicking grade that penetrates a pre-assembled housing by capillary action and a structural grade dispensed before assembly solve genuinely different problems, which is why Incure’s Uni-Weld™ plastic bonder line spans both ends rather than offering one formulation for every job.
Nine Grades, Wicking to Structural
Viscosity across the line runs from 100 cP up to 84,000 cP, and that range maps directly to how the adhesive gets applied. Ultra-low viscosity grades — 3271 at 100–200 cP, 1462 at 250–500 cP, 1453 at 350–700 cP — penetrate already-assembled joints by capillary action, suited to parts that are mated first and bonded second. Mid-range grades like 1417 (5,700–11,400 cP) and 1444 (1,900–3,800 cP) dispense before assembly for gap-filling and structural work. The highest-viscosity grade in the catalog runs 42,000–84,000 cP, formulated for load-bearing structural bonds and potting rather than wicking into a fine gap at all — that same grade also carries the widest service temperature range in the line, rated from −55°C to 150°C against −55°C to 80°C on most of the wicking grades, reflecting its role in higher-demand structural joints rather than delicate capillary-fill work. Picking a grade starts with which of those two application methods the joint actually calls for, not with viscosity as an abstract preference.
Elongation Spans Nearly 300x Across the Line
The mechanical range is just as wide as the viscosity range, and the two don’t move together. 1072, a wicking grade suited to rigid bonding, cures to just 13% elongation and Shore D76–D86 hardness — stiff, dimensionally stable, not built to flex. At the other end, 1483 reaches roughly 3,800% elongation at Shore D50–D60, formulated for joints that need to absorb vibration and thermal expansion rather than resist deformation. 1417 (346% elongation) and 1444 (355% elongation) sit in between, tough enough for structural loads while still damping vibration on solder joints and wire tacking. Selecting a grade for a specific mechanical property means checking its elongation figure directly rather than assuming “structural” and “flexible” describe the same thing — they’re opposite ends of this line, not synonyms.
Tensile Figures Are Substrate-Limited, Not Adhesive-Limited
Grades in this line are rated up to 10,800 PSI tensile strength — but that figure, marked with a fracture indicator in Incure’s spec table, reflects the polycarbonate test substrate failing before the adhesive bond does, not the adhesive’s own strength ceiling. That distinction matters when specifying a grade for a genuinely high-load joint: the 10,800 PSI number describes what a PC substrate can take before it breaks, which may be a different limiting factor than what the adhesive itself is capable of on a tougher substrate. Every grade in the catalog is tested and reported the same way, so the substrate-fracture caveat applies across the line rather than to one outlier figure — worth keeping in mind whenever a tensile spec is being compared directly against a different adhesive line tested on a different substrate.
Substrate Compatibility
The line is formulated primarily for polycarbonate (PC), acrylic (PMMA), ABS, and PVC — the common engineering plastics most likely to need UV-cure bonding rather than mechanical fasteners or slow-curing epoxies. Select grades extend beyond plastic-to-plastic work to bond glass, metal, and ceramics for multi-substrate assemblies, a broader compatibility question covered in more depth in Incure’s guide to Uni-Weld™ multi-substrate bonder grade selection for dissimilar-material joints beyond plastic alone.
Email Us with your plastic substrate, bond gap, and whether the joint needs rigidity or flex, and Incure’s engineers can confirm which Uni-Weld™ grade actually fits.
Cure Equipment
Uni-Weld™ plastic bonder grades cure in the 365–405 nm UVA range, compatible with Incure’s L9000™ UV LED spot lamp, L-Series™ UV LED flood lamps, and B/C-Series™ cure chambers for enclosed batch curing.
Where the Line Fits
Electronics assembly draws on the mid-viscosity structural grades for component staking, wire tacking, and general potting, where high elongation grades like 1453 and 1462 absorb vibration and prevent fatigue failure at solder joints during drop testing. Optical and display bonding uses the crystal-clear, low-shrinkage formulations for lens assembly and display lamination where bond-line visibility has to stay minimal. Glass and speaker assembly work benefits from the self-leveling grades — 1444 in particular — for bubble-free bond lines on glass furniture and loudspeaker cone assembly. Dissimilar-substrate joining across electronics, automotive, and general industrial work uses the tough, high-elongation structural grades to bond materials with different thermal expansion rates without the joint cracking under thermal cycling. Doming and glob-top encapsulation work uses the self-leveling, bubble-free flow properties of grades like 1483 for structural potting over sensitive components.
Contact Our Team to confirm the Uni-Weld™ plastic bonder grade for your substrate and mechanical requirement.
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