10 myths about epoxy resins - part 4

10 myths about epoxy resins – part 4

What can’t epoxy do? We’re here to shatter two more epoxy myths, this time with the help of technical expert Hamish Cook. If you thought WEST SYSTEM epoxy is only good for wood and reinforced fiberglass or doesn’t stick to plastic, you’re wrong!

Myth 7: Epoxy is only good for wood

Wrong !!! It is true that WEST SYSTEM® epoxy was originally developed in America for use with wood, it is a general purpose epoxy in the shipbuilding industry – and it has been constantly evolving since then.

Epoxy is now a material for all kinds of applications, from work and repairs with fiberglass, to puttying cement and aluminum hulls. It is also not only used exclusively in the shipbuilding industry, we have customers who use our epoxy for various repairs at home or in the production of decorations and works of art consisting of items that are immersed or poured with epoxy and dried. They are also used on tube trains, buses, planes – the sky (or your imagination) is the limit.

The only caveat is that different substrates need to be prepared differently to get great results with our epoxy. We have a huge amount of literature on how to use epoxy with different materials – contact us if you need help with a specific project that is not made of wood.

Myth 8: Epoxy doesn’t stick to plastic

Also wrong !! There is a WEST SYSTEM product that is made specifically for plastics and is called G / flex® epoxy. There are many reasons why G / flex gives much better results with plastic than the traditional WEST SYSTEM 105 epoxy®.

First, it should be said that the plastic surface needs to be treated with fire to get good adhesion with any epoxy product. By passing the flame incredibly quickly over the surface, without any heating of the plastic, you create an oxidized surface that can be soaked in epoxy, rather than as a plastic surface to which epoxy does not adhere.

With a work surface ready, G / flex epoxy gives us amazing results. It is much more elastic than other epoxy so it can bend with plastic and tolerate larger deviations (shocks and impacts). Just for comparison, a 10cm length of plain WEST SYSTEM epoxy can stretch up to 10.4cm before cracking, while G / flex epoxy stretches up to 13cm. This is a big difference and very important for strong, long-lasting results with plastic.