Best Adhesive to Bond Aluminum to Carbon Fiber?

[Greg Mihalik]

Best Adhesive to Bond Aluminum to Carbon Fiber?

next post

[Greg Mihalik]

The aluminum plug in my LT4 broke free.  The carbon fiber shaft is sound.

 

What is the best adhesive for bonding these two parts?

[tony g]

Personally I would ask gg what they used.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>  That being said I use quickcure 5. Two part epoxy for my bondings.</p>
<p style=”padding-left: 30px;”></p>

[Greg Mihalik]

^^^

I asked.  They declined. BUT – they sent a new lower, free of charge.  Kudos!

I’d like to repair this one to have on hand as a spare.

[BlackHatGuy]

when i had this issue years ago, i used JB Weld. Worked fine.

[Greg Mihalik]

Thanks Doug.

Good ‘ol JB Weld.  Never would have thought of it.

[Roger Caffin]

In general, epoxy adhesives bond well to aluminium.
Bonding to CF tubing is a bit more tricky: it depends on what plastic was used.
I have had very good results from Loctite Black Max superglue.

Cheers

[JCH]

When constructing my MYOG tent poles using high quality CF tubes from an eBay vendor in China, I glued the ferrules in with Gorrilla Glue 2-part epoxy from Lowes.  Worked great.

[John K]

Those are dis-similar materials with different expansion coefficients. Epoxy may not be the best choice here. If you NEVER want to get it apart, use something like 3M 5200 adhesive (expensive and takes a very long time to cure). Alternatively, you could use 3M 100% silicone adhesive/sealant.

[James Marco]

Actually, several different epoxies might work well. They tend to stay elastic through a wide temperature range so the slight change in expansion is often well accommodated.

[Sam Farrington]

JB Weld also.  First suggested here in response to an OP from me several years ago.  It is the only adhesive I tried that glues ALU alloy to same for applications like a tube telescoped into a tube, or a rod telescoped into a tube.  But did try it with a carbon rod telescoped into an alloy tube and it has never flinched.  Others, including other epoxies, will lose their grip if one tube is leveraged to twist, like making a pack frame and not wanting the tubes to loosen and bend the frame out of desired shape.  And it is cheap and easy to find to boot.  No online order necessary in the US.  Have read that it has small metal particles in it that increase the grip, but have no proof of that.  Will rely on it for making tubular sidearms that must not allow the front points of a buckleless pack belt to slip out of position due to any rotation from a loosening of the bond.  That’s a lot of leverage to resist.  Greg’s application is a picnic compared to that.  Of course, once it sets, it will be that way forever.

[Ryan Smith]

3M DP420 creates an excellent bond with carbon fiber and aluminum, but is also expensive. I’ve had good luck with plain ol’ two part epoxy from AutoZone.

Ryan

 

[Author]

Posts