FAQ: Plastic Adhesion Improvements

What are ways to improve adhesion of silicone adhesives or sealants to "hard to bond to" plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, urethane, acrylic or Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)?

Utilizing one or more adhesion improvement techniques (chemical treatment, roughing the surface, corona treating the surface, DOWSIL™ primers) may help. Some very non-reactive surfaces like gold, platinum, polyethylene, polypropylene, Teflon and others are extremely difficult to bond to, even with surface treatments. Always keep in mind that even though they may not have great adhesive strength to these substrates, there might be enough adhesion for a particular application. Test the silicone sealant in your application prior to use.