Henkel's High-Tech Glue Powering Smart Cars

What silently brings your car's brains to life—its cameras, displays, sensors, and control units? In this episode of Adhesion Matters, we reveal how advanced adhesives from Henkel are vital to making safe, connected, and high-performance vehicles possible.

What You’ll Discover:

• Electronics Everywhere—and the Heat They Generate
  As cars become more intelligent and electrified, electronics are packed into tight spaces—creating significant heat and high reliability demands. Solving that isn’t just about better engineering—it’s about smarter materials.
• Beyond Just Sticking Things Together
  From UV-cured adhesives that lock ADAS cameras in perfect alignment, to thermal gap pads that cool radar chips while blocking EMI, these are not ordinary glues—they are multi-functional material powerhouses.
• Specialized Solutions Across Vehicle Systems
  You’ll learn how Henkel's portfolio—including Loctite, Bergquist and Technomelt products—supports displays, sensors, control modules, and entire wire harnesses. Whether it’s liquid optically clear adhesives, underfill compounds, potting resins, or flexible hot melts, each plays a key role under the hood and inside the cabin.
• Tough Environments Demand Tough Chemistry
  Think extreme temperature swings, constant vibration, moisture, contaminants, and even road salt. These adhesives ensure your car’s electronics remain both functional and durable over years of use.

Why It Matters:

Your car’s high-tech capabilities don’t just depend on cutting-edge chips—they hinge on the materials holding them in place. This episode delivers a fascinating look at how adhesives are invisible champions of automotive innovation, safety, and longevity.

Transcript

Elena Bondwell 0:00

Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take a stack of sources and extract those crucial nuggets of knowledge. Today, we're inviting you to look at your car not just as, you know, a machine, but as this silent revolution on wheels. Beyond the sleek paint or the powerful engine, there's an incredible electronic brain, hard at work, powered by some real unsung heroes. We're taking a deep dive into the highly specialized materials that make everything possible, from your car's advanced safety features to those, well, dazzling dashboard displays.

Lucas Adheron 0:31

Yeah, and our mission for this deep dive is really to unpack the insights from a pretty comprehensive document, Henkel Solutions for Automotive Electronic Compainments. We'll get into how cutting-edge material science is solving these critical challenges, things like heat management, structural integrity, environmental protection, all the stuff that's making our cars smarter, safer, and yeah, truly more connected. You'll discover some surprising facts, I think, about what really goes into these crucial components.

Elena Bondwell 0:56

Okay, let's unpack this then. When we think about automotive electronics, it feels like it's exploded recently. It's way more than just bigger touchscreens, isn't it? What are the big trends driving innovation in this space right now?

Lucas Adheron 1:07

Absolutely. It's much bigger. If we connect this to the wider picture, we see several really critical market trends. And these are demanding incredibly sophisticated material solutions. Take heat generation, for instance. Modern cars are just packed, absolutely packed with high power components, tiny semiconductors, and all these electronics crammed together. They generate a lot of heat. in very small spaces.

Elena Bondwell 1:33

Intense heat.

Lucas Adheron 1:34

Exactly. And this is driving a desperate need for better thermal solutions. You need materials that can actually move heat away efficiently, keep things from, well, literally melting down.

Elena Bondwell 1:44

So it's not just shrinking the components, it's battling that heat buildup when they are small and powerful. Yes. It's like a constant engineering headache.

Lucas Adheron 1:51

Oh, it is a huge one. Then you've got increasingly strict environmental standards. We're talking global safety regulations, chemical compliance like REACH or ROHS, and recycling guidelines too. These push manufacturers to find more sustainable solutions, lighter weight solutions for pretty much everything inside the car. And for you, the driver-passenger comfort and aesthetics are massive now. Those seamless, really integrated designs in your cabin. They demand assembly materials that allow for these beautiful, clean looks without sacrificing an ounce of durability or safety.

Elena Bondwell 2:29

Ah, so that sleek, high-tech feel isn't just clever design. It's actually enabled by the glues and materials holding it all together. What about how these cars are actually made on the factory floor?

Lucas Adheron 2:41

Good question. That brings us to manufacturing efficiency. Modern car production is incredibly high speed. It demands materials that cure really fast, are easy to process automatically, and deliver perfectly repeatable results. Every single time. No variations.

Elena Bondwell 2:55

Consistency is key.

Lucas Adheron 2:57

Totally. And of course, connectivity is just paramount today. Your car is basically a mobile data hub now. Which means all those highly integrated components need solutions that enable that seamless connection. But also actively protect against unintended interactions, like electromagnetic interference or EMI.

Elena Bondwell 3:12

Right, you don't want your phone interfering with your car's sensors. And crucially, road safety. ADS advanced dragger assistance systems, they're becoming pretty standard now, aren't they?

Lucas Adheron 3:22

Exactly. Standard and increasingly complex. The precision and flawless functioning of ADS components, you know, your car's digital eyes and ears, cameras, radars, lidars, they demand assembly solutions that meet incredibly strict automotive reliability standards failure is just not an option What's fascinating here is how companies like Henkel are tackling these diverse challenges. It's not just the individual materials, but with a whole broad technology portfolio. Think thermal management, bonding, connecting, protecting ceiling solutions, all of it. And it's backed by deep process expertise, too. Right. A whole toolbox.

Elena Bondwell 3:59

So we've got this big picture of why these materials are needed. But what does this actually mean for the components inside your car? Let me zoom in a bit. Starting with safety seems right. When we talk about ADUs, the sheer precision needed for things like cameras and lidars. It's kind of mind-boggling. How do materials make sure they see the road perfectly every single time, year after year?

Lucas Adheron 4:18

Yeah, it is critical. For ADS cameras and lidars, you need absolute exact alignment and thermal stability. Imagine there's this revolutionary one-step adhesive Loctite Eblestic NCA-01UV. It cures fully in just three seconds with UV LED light.

Elena Bondwell 4:35

Three seconds?

Lucas Adheron 4:36

Yeah, incredibly fast. And this isn't just good for manufacturing speed. It's critical because it locks components in the place with just phenomenal precision. It prevents any blur or drift in the camera's view over time or with temperature changes. It also has a high glass transition temperature, the TG, meaning it stays rigid and stable even when temperatures inside the car swing wildly. A low coefficient of thermal expansion, CTE, so it expands and contracts minimally, all about maintaining that perfect alignment.

Elena Bondwell 5:03

That speed and microscopic stability, that sounds like a genuine game changer for assembly lines and reliability. Okay, what about radars then? They've got that dual challenge, right? Protecting from electromagnetic interference and managing heat at the same time.

Lucas Adheron 5:16

That's a great point and a perfect example of where a single material can solve multiple problems. Take a specialized gap pad like the Bergquist Gap Pad TGP EMI 4000. It's a soft, conformable material, fills the tiny gaps between, say, the radar chip and its housing. This one doesn't just transfer heat efficiently, it's got a 4.0 WMK conductivity, which is good. But it also absorbs electromagnetic energy up to 76 So it's like

Elena Bondwell 5:45

a silent bodyguard keeping the radar clear and cool.

Lucas Adheron 5:48

Exactly. EMI protection and thermal management in one pad. And for sealing the radar modules themselves, protecting them from the elements, there are things like Octite SI5972FC. There's one component, silicone-based formed-in-place gasket, or FIPG. It cures quickly, allows for rapid assembly, and creates this really robust seal against moisture and dust.

Elena Bondwell 6:09

And then the actual control module is the brain. running these agas systems, they need incredibly robust solder joint reliability, right? Especially with all the vibrations and temperature changes a car goes through.

Lucas Adheron 6:18

Oh, absolutely critical. For control modules, just imagine the intense vibrations, the heat cycles, those critical circuit boards endure. There's an epoxy-based underfill material, Loctite Echobond UF 1173. Think of it as this super thin protective layer. It flows into the tiny gaps under and around solder joints on a circuit board and then hardens, making them incredibly strong and stable, reinforcing them.

Elena Bondwell 6:43

Like microscopic concrete.

Lucas Adheron 6:45

Kind of, yeah. A very specialized, thermally stable concrete. Its glass transition temp is exceptionally high, 159 degrees Celsius. So it locks those solder joints in place even in scorching engine compartment temperatures. This isn't just about reliability on day one. It's about ensuring your car's brain never glitches due to a loose connection, even years down the road under extreme stress. And you mentioned it earlier, being CMR-free, no carcinogens and Okay, that makes

Elena Bondwell 7:16

sense. Let's move inside the cabin now, the displays. They're getting bigger, brighter, more integrated. What unique material challenges do they present beyond just, you know, looking good?

Lucas Adheron 7:25

Well, looking good is part of it, but it really centers on the user experience and long-term durability. Optical clarity is paramount, obviously. Anti-fingerprint properties are becoming huge and robust bonding to ensure longevity. Take liquid optically clear adhesives or OGs. Loctite AA8671PSAAD is an example. These are UV or visible light curable acrylics. They fill any tiny air gaps between the display layers, the cover glass, and the actual display panel. This improves optical performance, dramatically makes colors pop, increases contrast, reduces reflections, and also boosts durability. Make the screen tougher

Elena Bondwell 8:01

so it's not just sticking glass to a screen it's ensuring optical perfection for that crystal clear image we expect now

Lucas Adheron 8:07

precisely and to keep those big screens looking pristine fingerprints yeah exactly there's an ultra thin transparent coating loctite invisiprint It's fluorine-free, which is important environmentally, and it drastically reduces those annoying fingerprint smudges, which, let's be honest, is a real battle on those massive dashboard screens. It also minimizes outgassing, releasing volatile compounds, which prevents that annoying hazing or fogging you sometimes see develop on displays over time.

Elena Bondwell 8:37

Okay, anti-smudge tech I can get behind. What about holding the whole display unit together?

Lucas Adheron 8:42

Right, for the structural bonding, say attaching the display module frame to the dashboard structure, there are adhesive And what about those head-up displays,

Elena Bondwell 9:07

the ones that project info onto the windshield? That seems tricky.

Lucas Adheron 9:10

It is tricky. For head-up displays, or HUDs, you often need to bond dissimilar materials, maybe plastic components to the glass windshield itself. These materials expand and contract at different rates with temperature changes, which can stress the bond. So a special type of polyurethane-based reactive hot melt adhesive, like a Loctite HHD3597, is ideal here. It remains soft and flexible even after curing, allowing for that slight differential movement without breaking the bond. And it offers strong adhesion with a very short open time, meaning it grabs quickly Okay,

Elena Bondwell 9:43

so specialized glues for specialized jobs. Beyond the obvious displays and cameras, though, there are just countless hidden sensors and actuators making our cars work. Think engine management, climate control, parking sensors. How are they protected from all the nasty stuff under the hood or chassis? Heat, vibrations, moisture?

Lucas Adheron 10:00

Yeah, it's all about ensuring their long-term functionality in a really harsh environment. Protection is key. For instance, in ultrasonic sensors, like your parking sensors, there are two component potting resin systems, firm sole 33 to 4 is one. Potting just means completely encapsulating the electronic components inside the sensor housing with a protective material. This particular one forms a flexible silicone foam, and that foam provides piezodamping, basically. It absorbs vibrations that could interfere with the sensor's operation, ensuring consistency and accuracy.

Elena Bondwell 10:33

Okay, like a little protective cushion inside.

Lucas Adheron 10:34

Exactly. You also have epoxy-based thermal potting resins, like Loctite PE8086. These aren't just electrically insulating, but they're also resistant to very high temperatures, up to 180 degrees C, and crucially, resistant to things like automatic transmission fluid, ATF, so they can protect sensitive electronics located right near the transmission or engine.

Elena Bondwell 10:56

That's some serious, robust protection for really vital systems.

Lucas Adheron 11:00

Definitely. And for more general encapsulation of sensitive electronic bits, there are highly flowable two-component polyurethane-based potting resins. Terrasin PU, U137s, U102 as an example. These flow easily into complex shapes, completely sealing the components. They insulate them electrically and protect them really well against physical shock and vibration. And thinking about connections, what about the massive networks of wires, the wire harness? It's like the car's nervous system.

Elena Bondwell 11:28

Right. It connects absolutely everything.

Lucas Adheron 11:30

And it faces constant movement, vibration, potential abrasion, ensuring its long That's a

Elena Bondwell 11:37

critical point. I mean, if the wiring goes, everything goes.

Lucas Adheron 11:40

Pretty much, yeah. So for the wire harness, especially around connectors or where wires pass through bulkheads, a high-performance thermoplastic polyamide like TechnoMelt PA638 Black can be used. It's applied using a technique called low-pressure molding. This allows you to completely encapsulate fragile components like connector pins or sensors integrated into the harness without damaging them. That's because the material has a low viscosity, it flows very easily at low pressure, and sets quickly to form a tough protective shell.

Elena Bondwell 12:10

Gentle but strong protection.

Lucas Adheron 12:11

Exactly. There are also rapid UV curing polyacrylate potting products like Ulfitite AA5832. These are silicone-free, which is sometimes a requirement, offer excellent adhesion to typical harness materials, and are highly resistant to heat, up to 150 C, and also ATF resistant. Ideal for protecting connectors and splices, especially in challenging areas like the engine bay.

Elena Bondwell 12:34

OK, wow. So we've seen these incredible materials working hard in specific car components, cameras, radars, displays, sensors, wires. But maybe let's take a step back again. What are the foundational types of solutions, the main categories that make all this possible?

Lucas Adheron 12:48

Right. We can group them. What's fascinating, and maybe the biggest driver overall, is thermal management solutions. the sheer necessity of moving heat away from critical components. It's just vital for reliability and longevity. Think about any computer chip working hard, it gets hot. If that heat isn't managed effectively, the chip slows down, or worse, fails prematurely.

Elena Bondwell 13:10

Yeah, we've all felt a hot laptop.

Lucas Adheron 13:12

Exactly. Same principle, but often in much harsher conditions in a car. So Henkel offers a really broad portfolio here. Things like liquid gap fillers. These are like thermal paste, but designed to fill larger, uneven gaps between components and heat sinks. There are curable thermal gels that are soft and conformable, but transfer heat well. And then custom die-cut GP pad materials or silo pad materials, which are preformed thermal pads cut to specific shapes, easy to apply in assembly. For example, Bergquist Gap Filler TGF 4400 LVO. It's a two-component silicone-based liquid thermal interface material. It boasts a 4.4 watts per meter Kelvin thermal conductivity that's pretty high, meaning it moves heat very efficiently. And it's designed for fast, robust dispensing in automated lines.

Elena Bondwell 13:54

Okay, so a whole suite of ways to tackle heat. Then bonding and connecting solutions. When it comes to sticking things together in a car, failure is definitely not an option. Everything from structural bits to tiny sensors relies on these connections holding firm.

Lucas Adheron 14:09

Indeed. You absolutely need strong, reliable interconnections for long-term performance under stress. And this category is huge. It includes things like those active alignment adhesives we mentioned for cameras, which precisely position tiny optical components. Electrically conductive adhesives, or ECAs, which actually conduct electricity, essentially allowing current to flow through the bond line itself, useful for grounding or attaching certain components.

Elena Bondwell 14:35

So the glue itself is part of the circuit?

Lucas Adheron 14:37

In some cases, yeah. Then you have the workhorse structural bonding adhesives for robust connections, like body panels or battery housings, instant bonding adhesive cyanoacrylates or super glues, but highly specialized versions for rapid assembly of small parts, conductive inks for printing circuits directly onto substrates, die-attach adhesives specifically for mounting semiconductor chips onto packages or boards, and those liquid optically clear adhesives, LOKAs, like the Loctite AA8671 PSAED we talked about for displays, it turns into a pressure-sensitive adhesive after UV cure, which can aid assembly. Another example for active alignment, Loctite AbleStick NCA3218, it's a dual-cure adhesive, high TE, low CTE, very low outgassing, and it even comes in a gray color sometimes, specifically to prevent any stray light from penetrating, which is crucial for sensitive optical sensors.

Elena Bondwell 15:27

Wow, that's a lot of different ways to stick things together. Okay, third category, protecting and sealing solutions. So beyond just heat, what else are we protecting these delicate electronics from inside a car? It sounds like a battlefield in there sometimes.

Lucas Adheron 15:39

It really can be. You're protecting them from the entire environment, basically.

Elena Bondwell 15:42

Yeah.

Lucas Adheron 15:43

Stray electromagnetic waves, or EMI, like we discussed, extreme thermal stresses from temperature swings, moisture, humidity, road salt, dust and dirt, corrosive chemicals like oils or cleaning fluids, and of course, mechanical shock and vibration from just driving down the road. All of these can compromise performance or cause outright failure. So these materials safeguard electronics at all levels, from the individual chip to the entire module.

Elena Bondwell 16:08

So what falls under this protection umbrella?

Lucas Adheron 16:11

A wide range. EMI protection materials that include some thermal interface materials that also shield, like that gap pad we mentioned, but also specialized gaskets and coatings designed purely to block electromagnetic interference. Gasketing and sealing materials, like those formed in place, FPG, and cure in place, CIPT, that create custom seals against moisture and dust, those low-pressure molding materials like Technomelt that encapsulate components, underfills like the Loctite Echobond UF-10173 that reinforce solder joints against vibration and thermal shock. Potting materials are both thermal and standard. They completely encapsulate components for the ultimate protection against shock, vibration, and fluids. And finally, conformal coatings, thin protective polymer layers applied over entire circuit boards to shield them from moisture, dust, and chemicals.

Elena Bondwell 17:00

That gap pad that absorbs EMI, the Bergquist Gap Pad TGP EMI 4000, sounds like a perfect example of a material doing double duty for protection.

Lucas Adheron 17:08

It absolutely is. A great example of material synergy. It combines that solid 4.0 WOMK thermal conductivity with, get this, 86 decibels of EMI absorption at 18 gigahertz. That's a significant level of electromagnetic shielding. For underfills, that Loctite Echobond US Kenny 1173 we mentioned is crucial for reinforcing solder joints in tiny tip-scale packages, CSP, and bowl grid arrays, BGA. Those are common types of surface mount microchips, ensuring their long-term reliability under stress. And for low-pressure molding, that Technomelt PA638 Black really simplifies assembly and protects fragile components beautifully, like we highlighted with the wire harness connectors. Okay.

Elena Bondwell 17:46

We've peeled back quite a few layers today, I think, revealed this incredible, almost hidden world of advanced materials that are quietly enabling the whole automotive revolution right under our noses, or rather, under the hood and dashboard. From stopping critical parts from overheating, to ensuring sensors line up perfectly, to protecting everything against the harsh road conditions, these specialized chemical solutions are truly the silent powerhouses behind modern vehicle performance, safety, and connectivity.

Lucas Adheron 18:13

It's really remarkable when you stop and think about it. How these often unseen chemical solutions contribute so much to the seamless, smart and safe experience you have every single time you drive. Hopefully it provides that kind of aha moment, understanding the hidden heroes, the materials working tirelessly inside your vehicle.

Elena Bondwell 18:32

Absolutely. So the final question then, what does this all mean for the future? We know vehicles are becoming even more autonomous, more connected, more electrified. The demands on these materials must be just skyrocketing, right? Consider that constant, relentless push for materials that are not just incrementally better, but maybe even revolutionary in their ability to manage ever-increasing heat loads, ensure flawless high-speed connections, provide unwavering protection, all in ever smaller, lighter, more complex packages. How will this continuous race for innovation in material science continue to redefine what's even possible in automotive design? and function, maybe even just in the next five or 10 years. Something to think about.