Assembly Magazine recently published an article on Assembly Methods for Bioplastics.
They reported, “Bioplastics can be processed with most conventional techniques, including extrusion, injection molding, blow molding and compression molding. They can be blown into films and spun into fibers for textiles and nonwovens. They can even be used with 3D printers.”
Many of the same assembly technologies that are used to join Bioplastics, such as ultrasonic welding and vibration welding require some experimentation. Therefore, manufactures are turning to Adhesive bonding as another option.
Adhesives formulated to bond specific petro-based plastics will perform equally well with bioplastics. For bioplastics, the effectiveness of adhesive bonding is the material’s surface energy. Their relatively high polarity, in particular PLA and PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) provide good wettability, so they are typically receptive to adhesives.