Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design SMT Electronics Assembly Manufacturing Forum

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SMT electronics assembly manufacturing forum.


Expired Loctite

Yngwie

#22548

Expired Loctite | 1 December, 2002

What is the danger of using the expired glue or Loctite ? I'm using Loctite 383 and the expiry date was Oct 20th. I refused to use them, and my refusal has caused the downtime incured for 8 hours. Felt guilty, as I knew this glue can still be functioning well ( knowing the supplier & it's 'chicken' safety factor). Since I don't want to be answerable to the problem, should it happen, I decided to be a chicken and follow the Manufacturer's recommendation. What is your takes guys ? thx

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Mark J

#22550

Expired Loctite | 2 December, 2002

It probably would have been fine, but nobody can find fault with your following the manufacturers recommendation. It would have been worse if you hadn't and a problem occurred.

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blnorman

#22555

Expired Loctite | 2 December, 2002

Shelf life dates are normally conservative. Years ago we would "requalify" adhesives by running lapshear tests. Don't know if Loctite has a "requalification" test or not. I do know that we have used Loctite chipbonders that were over a year out of date for prototype builds without any problems. Check with your Loctite rep.

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Stephen

#22558

Expired Loctite | 2 December, 2002

Where I worked we used a different chip bonder. When we had trouble with flux entrapment in the epoxy from the wave solder, we checked the date of the epoxy. The tube didn't have one but the manufacturer gave a shelf life of 6 months and then the supplier told us we hadn't bought any for 9 months. Fortunately it was only a small portion of the board that was sensitive to the flux entrapment. We ended up replacing lots of caps and resistors under warrenty though.

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RDR

#22559

Expired Loctite | 2 December, 2002

For CYA reasons you made the right choice (I agree with Mark). But, for whatever it is worth I have used Loctite 383 up to 4 years past it's shelf life It worked fine for my application (wire tacking, FR4 bonding etc...). Have you ever seen a shelf life date on a bottle of loctite in an Auto parts store? (me either) It would be nice if Someone from loctite could get involved in this thread.

Russ

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steve

#22563

Expired Loctite | 2 December, 2002

On a lot of Loctite products there is a shelf life stated via a lot number on the bottle. It has been my experience as a distributor that Loctite will in most instances re-certify a product for an extended period of time, sometimes up to a year based on the product and the lot number. Again, contact Loctite direct out of CT. or your local rep and if you wish ask for recertification. They will provide you with paperwork stating such. Good luck.

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Yngwie

#22568

Expired Loctite | 2 December, 2002

Thanx for your valuable input guys...I agreed, it would be good if someone from Loctite can get themself involve in this thread...anyway, I will send the same question to Loctite HQ and advise you guys on the status if you guys interested.

Have a good day...

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RDR

#22574

Expired Loctite | 3 December, 2002

I would be interested in what Loctite has to say. (Maybe I could get 6years out of a bottle hahhah)

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dave edwards

#22594

Expired Loctite | 4 December, 2002

You wanted someone from Loctite to add their opinion on the matter. Our official statement on expired material is that after the expiration date we can not certify the performance and/or quality of the material. Although most likely the material is good long past its' expiration date. It is the customer decision and responsiblity to use or not to use the material after it has expired. In many cases we can retest the material for you and reports the results, but we may or may not recertify it. It would be up to the customer to decide wheather or not to use the product.

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MA/NY DDave

#22621

Expired Loctite | 9 December, 2002

Hi

I am glad Dave replied, I think I might have even met him at some presentation.

The problem I have seen and I am sure Dave, is that some users have some shoddy practices, storage etc and then look to the adhesive supplier to cover their mistakes.

ReCertification gets the supplier to look at the material again first hand rather then trusting a phone call or an email.

This message was posted via the Electronics Forum @

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