Activators

Activators and accelerators are used with adhesives to initiate and speed up the curing process. Activators are catalytic agents and are necessary parts of the chemical curing process. Accelerators are typically used to achieve fast fixture times in high-speed manufacturing environments or to overcome substrate challenges such as when bonding materials with low surface energy. These chemicals may be applied using a brush or an aerosol spray. Users will want to keep the activator and adhesive separate until the moment that curing is desired as curing can proceed quickly after contact is made. One common way of achieving this is to apply the activator or accelerator to one substrate while applying the adhesive to the other. Then when the parts are mated, the chemical and adhesive will naturally mix. In some cases, it is also possible to spray on accelerators before mating the parts. This is typically accomplished by carefully applying the adhesive first and only spraying on the accelerator or activator immediately before mating the parts. 

There can be some trade-offs to accelerators. A rule of thumb for adhesives is that the longer it takes to cure, the stronger the bond. Sometimes accelerators can cause adhesives to cure and harden before the adhesive has fully connected with the substrate surface. This is most common when working with porous materials that require more time for the adhesive to fully integrate with the surface.