You’ve heard about Forgeway’s Purok VX70 as a potential good fit for your application. You want to do a bit more research about the product to understand it. You want to know if this high-flex structural acrylic adhesive is going to help you solve your bonding challenge. You’re in the right place.
Here at Forgeway, we manufacture Purok VX70. We know the product inside out. We know what you’re thinking. “This article is going to give a biased and glowing review of the product. How can Forgeway give an unbiased review?”
We’ve done several reviews of our products. We don’t just talk about the benefits and how wonderful the product is. We also discuss the cons of Purok VX70 to help you understand whether it is a good fit for your application.
We’ll remain unbiased. You will have all the information you need to make the right decision. By the end of the article, you will understand Purok VX70 and its benefits and drawbacks to assess whether it is a suitable product for you.
What is Purok VX70?
Purok VX70 is a structural acrylic adhesive. It is two-component (2K) and comes in a 10:1 ratio. The adhesive will start bright green and become darker as it cures.
Purok VX70 combines high flexibility and high strength. This makes it ideal for applications that require a structural adhesive to withstand heavy impact and lots of movement.
You can get several variations of Purok VX70 depending on your requirements. The two cure speeds available are VX70-20 and VX70-40. The number after the ’70’ indicates the fixture time in minutes. For example, Purok VX70-20 has a fixture time of 20 minutes.
The packaging options vary from small 50ml cartridges, to large 490ml cartridges and even in bulk too.
Where can you use Purok VX70?
“Purok VX70 is a versatile product that you can use in a variety of applications” is a very vague statement; despite it being true. However, the characteristics of this product make it ideal for certain applications.
Bonding GRP and thermoplastics
Typically, bonding GRP/Composites or thermoplastics can be difficult for several reasons. Not only can the surface energy affect adhesion, but the bonds themselves often fail.
This is because vehicle manufacturers use these lightweight materials to reduce the weight of their vehicles. In their end-use, vehicles experience a lot of movement and vibration.
Using a highly flexible adhesive (like a single-component MS polymer) will help the substrate to withstand this movement. But, these adhesives with higher flexibility will often not have enough strength to hold the substrates in place. However, higher-strength adhesives will often not have enough flexibility.
This is why it’s important to use a strong structural adhesive with high flexibility; enter Purok VX70.
The high strength and high flexibility of Purok VX70 is strong enough to be structural but also have enough flex to cope with heavy impact and vibrations. The type of impact and vibrations you’d see a vehicle experience.
Replacing polyurethane adhesives
With the introduction of isocyanate restrictions, companies are looking to switch away from polyurethane adhesives. It just so happens polyurethanes have always been the go-to adhesive for bonds that require high strength and high flexibility.
Previously, epoxy and acrylic adhesives would always have enough strength but struggle when it comes to flexibility. It would have been rare to find a high-strength and high-flexibility epoxy or acrylic adhesive.
But not anymore. Due to the acrylic formulation of Purok VX70, it is one of the most effective replacements for polyurethane adhesives.
Structural bonding that experiences movement and vibration
As we mentioned in the section about GRP and composite materials, Purok VX70 is ideal for applications that require a high-strength adhesive that can withstand movement and vibrations.
Moving structures like vehicles, boats, and planes all have bonding applications that experience a lot of movement and vibrations.
Commercial vehicles, RV, and marine manufacturers are common users of Purok VX70. However, we would recommend Purok VX70 for any moving structure (like vehicles, planes and boats) that is going to experience vibrations and impact.
What are the pros and cons of Purok VX70?
Purok VX70 is ideal for bonding structural applications that require impact resistance. Nonetheless, it may not be the right adhesive for your application. Read through the advantages and disadvantages in this section.
The pros of Purok VX70
- Double the Strength of similarly flexible adhesives. Adhesives that can achieve Purok VX70’s level of tensile elongation are mostly one-component. These one-component adhesives can rarely achieve strengths above 5MPa. Purok VX70 reached strengths of up to 15MPa in some tests. It would typically have a strength of around 10MPa. Making it twice as strong as adhesives that have similar levels of flexibility.
- Doesn’t contain Isocyanates. We’ve discussed that polyurethane adhesives contain isocyanates. We’ve also discussed the health and safety concerns around isocyanates. But as Purok VX70 doesn’t contain any isocyanates, it will not fall under the restrictions that are coming into force in August 2023.
- Very High Flexibility compared to other structural adhesives. Typically, a ‘flexible’ structural adhesive will have between 75%-100% tensile elongation. Purok VX70 can achieve 250-300% tensile elongation. This makes it nearly three times more flexible than most other flexible structural adhesives.
- Fast curing and variable cure times. Purok VX70 can come in two cure speeds; VX70-20 and VX70-40. It can reach handling strength in either 20 minutes or 40 minutes (times will vary). Either way, this cure speed is fast.
- Minimal surface preparation is required. As with all acrylic adhesives, Purok VX70 doesn’t require extensive surface preparation to ensure a strong bond. You simply need to wipe the surface to remove contamination and you’re good to go.
The cons of Purok VX70
- Can have a strong odour. Like most acrylic adhesives, Purok VX70 can have a strong odour. Whilst this odour is completely harmless, it can be unpleasant to work with.
- Not as high strength as other two-component structural adhesives. Whilst strength is a definite advantage of this product, we also won’t ignore that it isn’t as high strength as some other structural adhesives. Purok VX70 can achieve strengths up to 15MPa. Some acrylic structural adhesives can reach over 30MPa. Nonetheless, you have to sacrifice strength when getting a high-flexibility adhesive. The higher the strength, the less flexible an adhesive will become.
- Can affect aesthetics. Due to the colour of this product (green), any excess or ‘spew’ can damage the aesthetics. You should remember it’s glue. It won’t come off. Be careful to ensure that the adhesive doesn’t leak out on show if the structure you are bonding needs to be aesthetic.
- Can have limited heat and chemical resistance. Whilst the added elastomers and low crosslink density of Purok VX70 improve the flexibility, they can also negatively impact the heat and chemical resistance. Its chemical resistance isn’t as good as other structural acrylic adhesives like Purok VX61.
How much does Purok VX70 cost?
The answer ‘it depends’ is common when companies ask for pricing. The problem is, pricing for Purok VX70 really does depend. You can visit our pricing page to understand what affects industrial adhesive pricing.
Ultimately, Purok VX70’s pricing will depend on several factors including volume, variation, and location. Larger order volumes are easier to process which can bring pricing down. Packaging sizes can also affect pricing. A bulk drum will cost a lot less than 50ml cartridges (per litre of product).
These are all examples of what may affect your pricing.
But we can still give you a rough guide to help you understand what Purok VX70’s pricing might be. If you wanted to purchase over 100 units of Purok VX70, it would cost you £28.87 per 490ml cartridge.
Reach out to a Forgeway adhesive specialist if you need help finding exact pricing.
Is Purok VX70 a good fit for you?
Now that you understand Purok VX70 and its benefits and drawbacks, you will have a better idea of whether it is a good fit for you. Nonetheless, you may not be ready still.
Here at Forgeway, we manufacture industrial adhesives. Purok VX70 is one of our newest developments. It has become increasingly popular for customers looking to replace structural polyurethane adhesives. Or for customers who are bonding applications that experience a lot of movement.
Nonetheless, you may not want to make a decision just yet. That’s ok! You can research acrylic adhesives (AKA methyl methacrylates) in more detail to understand Purok VX70 better.
Or, if you like the look of Purok VX70 and are interested in learning more, you can fill in your information to download the Technical Datasheet below.
(Alternatively, you can reach out to an adhesive expert who can help you determine if Purok VX70 is the right product for you!)