To launch a new solid surface adhesive when the market is already swamped with budget products from far and wide - including China was never going to be an easy task.. So what made us do it? well there are some major flaws with all the existing products on the market, these include:

.FORMOA 055 - EN45545 R1/R7 Being a relatively new addition to the range, we wanted to boost the profile of FORMOA 055 as the choice adhesive in the rail industry. Strict regulations surrounding this industry demand high performance products, as passenger safety is paramount. So, knowing that FORMOA 055 gave excellent performance as an adhesive for glazing and sealing and that it possessed inherent fire-retardant properties, we obtained a ‘PASS’ certification to EN45545-2 R1/R7 HL3. This is the highest hazard level that can be obtained in EN45545-2 for the application areas detailed in R1 and R7 of the standard

ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS CRACKING (ESC)Are you using the correct adhesive?Did you know that you could be unintentionally weakening your plastic? Selecting the wrong adhesive could lead to an issue called environmental stresscracking, sometimes referred to as the ‘Plastic Killer’Environmental stress cracking(ESC) is defined as the premature embrittlement and subsequent formation of cracks in plastics as a result of both being under stress and in contact with a chemical agent.Environmental stress cracking isa significant problem, accounting for ‘25% of all plastic failure in commercial usage’[1].In ESC a chemical agent does not cause direct molecular degradation or chemical attack, but instead permeates into the molecular structure of the plastic and weakens the forces between the polymer chains, resulting in molecular disentanglement. In short, the plastic will become severely weakened and as a  result will develop cracks and become structurally compromised.An example of environmental stress cracking on polycarbonate can be seen below. The polycarbonate sample at the top has been placed under stress for over 7 hours with no chemical agent applied, it shows no visual signs of cracking. However, the polycarbonate on the bottom was once again placed under strain, but when a chemical agent commonly found in adhesives and paints was applied to this surface, cracksdeveloped within 10 minutes and the test piece snapped. The test piece in the middle was exposed to the same chemical agent but was not placed under any stress and no cracks were observed. This shows that you needboth a form of strain and a chemical agent to cause environmental stress cracking.At Forgeway® we have carefully designed and tested an adhesive which will be suited for your most sensitive of applications. So, if you have plastic under strain and want to use an adhesive choose Formoa® 206i.Stress Cracking is seen widely in the RV market as plastic is used extensively and is often placed under strain during every day life.[1]: J. A. Jansen, “Environmental stress cracking: the plastic killer,” Advanced Materials and Processes, vol. 162, no. 6, pp. 50–53, 2004.Case Study | Environmental Stress Cracking (ESC)