Where to find 15D rip-stop nylon Sil/PU hybrid & how to bond it.

[Sean K]

TLDR Incase you feel like skipping the context: Hoping someone knows where I can purchase this 15D rip-stop nylon PU/Sil hybrid fabric by the yard/Roll. Also hoping someone may have an insight as to how Locus Gear was able to bond the PU side to the Sil side to create a no-stitch seam strong enough to hold a shelter together.

I recently purchased a Pyramid shelter from Locus Gear, paired with a net-tent inner. Through some e-mail correspondence, I was offered a new fabric in their line-up that they were planning to offer as an option for their net-tent floors. I opted for it at no extra cost, figuring that the durability would be enough, considering the 2p inner would see much less use than the 1/2 I use solo.

It’s a 15D rip-stop nylon with a PU coat on one side, and Sil on the other. They now have it listed on their site, and announced that they plan to replace their standard Silnylon shelters with this PU/Sil hybrid around June this year. In another e-mail, I was told that they have been testing a proto-type bond-only shelter made in this 15D hybrid for the last 6 months. The floor of my net-tent has a bonded seam down the middle, where the PU side is adhered to the Sil side.

What could possibly create a bond like that? Is there an adhesive available to the public that can make a bond like that, or is this most likely some ultra-sonic welding process? Has anyone seen this fabric available for purchase on any of the outdoor material supply sites?

 

[Roger Caffin]

Try asking at RipStopByTheRoll.

Cheers

[Ken Thompson]

 

[John Vance]

Very cool!  This has the gears turning for some projects I have been acquiring materials for but haven’t begun.  The glued netting for baffles is particularly interesting…..

[Colin Krusor]

Could some adhesion promoter like Volan be applied to a silicone surface? I assume it couldn’t. I can’t imagine a way to get the usual kind of silicones to bond to urethane.

[Sam Farrington]

Welcome to the search.
Some of what you are looking for I found in large sizes of Sea-To-Summit Escapist tarps, with a coated fabric weight of 1.08 oz/yd (tested by Richard Nisley on BPL)
Similar weights were found for a Terra Nova Tarp fabric and a 20 D fabric from Extrem Textil, but these were all silicone coated, which is not what you are asking for.
But if you want to go lower on the denier, there is the 7D mini-ripstop nylon from Rockywoods, which is spec’d to have a sil/pu coat.

Note that some of the 15D can be as heavy as some 20D (or someone is just guessing on the denier), so knowing the actual finished, or coated weight can be as important as knowing the denier.

Also, some of the materials, like the membrane polyesters from RBTR have silicone on one side, and polyurethane on the other. But other materials have the same coating, using both silicone and polyurethane components, on both sides. The latter is what you may be looking for in terms of using either side for bonding.

You might have to buy samples or small tarps, and test them with adhesives such as SeamGrip, one of the few polyurethane adhesives that does not foam, as it is formulated to be a sealant. I found that a compound that was thought on BPL to be a good thinner for SeamGrip actually weakened the bond considerably. So a technique is required that applies a very thin coat of SeamGrip.

Speaking of which, Roger Caffin has posted on BPL about silicone transfer tapes that place a thin coating of silicone adhesive on a material for bonding. Found one 3M product, 3M 91022 clear Silicone Adhesive Transfer Tape, 1″ by 60 yd, 2 mil, 48 rolls per case for under $45 from pack-n-tape.com. But haven’t tried it, so cannot vouch for it. It could be anything. Transfer tapes that people have been using for Cuben might work on the sil/pu compound coatings – I don’t know.

Will be interested to see what others come up with. The market is always changing.

[Colin Krusor]

Turns out there are a variety of silane primers for adhesion of silicone surfaces to other materials, I learned today. I’ve been surprised to learn in the past, from firsthand experience, that many companies that make exotic primers and adhesives offer them in small cans or syringes, like Henkel, Aremco, Masterbond, Cotronics, or Belzona.

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