Suppliers often define fixture time as the time to reach a small shear strength, such as 0.1 MPa, on a standard joint. It ranges from seconds for cyanoacrylates and UV adhesives to minutes for fast acrylics and hours for slow epoxies. Fixture time sets how many clamps, fixtures and how much rack space a line needs, but parts are not ready for service loads until much later.
Fixture time on the acrylic is twelve minutes, so the clamps can come off at the next station.
Fixture time is a production number, not a strength number; parts that pass it can still fail under service loads.
Also heard as
- handling time
- clamp time
Related terms
Cure
The chemical reaction or physical change that turns a liquid adhesive into a solid that carries load.
Green strength
The hold a bonded joint has in its first seconds or minutes, long before the adhesive reaches full cure.
Open time
The longest gap allowed between applying adhesive and closing the joint while it can still wet the second part.
Activator
A liquid applied to one surface to speed or start the cure of an adhesive placed on the other.