Primerless RTV Silicone Sealants/Adhesives PP-1135

This is the final report for the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program SERDP funded project PP1135, Primeless RTV Silicone SealantsAdhesives. The objective of the project, the development of primerless addition curable silicone sealantsadhesives, was met for all three phases of the program. Detailed results for the first four years of effort also were reported in SERDP technical reports Primeless RTV Silicone SealantsAdhesives - PP1135 issued in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 References 1-4. Three Six Sigma green belt projects were completed as part of this project. The research portion of the program was divided into three phases. In the first phase, primerless, elevated-temperature curing, RTV silicone formulations that adhere to metals and glass were developed, and in the second phase, primerless, room temperature curing, RTV silicone formulations that adhere to metals and glass were developed. In the third phase of the effort primerless RTV silicone formulations that provide adhesion to selected thermoplastic substrates were developed and validated. Computational methods were used to guide the material formulation efforts, and calculations to determine the interaction between adhesion promoters and substrates resulted in the identification of promising adhesion promoter candidates. Lap shear screening tests of formulations modified with these adhesion promoters led to the development of optimized formulations, that provided adhesion to various substrates without the use of environmentally unfriendly silane primers. The final phases of this effort were focused on additional technology assessment and transitioning of the optimized formulations into DoD and DOE applications.