A series of focus groups conducted by the Adhesive and Sealant Council, Inc., has led to the ongoing development of a proposed new standard, WK14701, New Symbols for Adhesive Applications. WK14701 is being developed by Subcommittee D14.04 on Terminology, part of ASTM International Committee D14 on Adhesives.
 
According to Lawrence D. Sloan, president, Adhesive and Sealant Council, and D14.04 member, ASC held the focus groups of designers, engineers and architects to better understand the unmet educational needs of those that specify and/or influence the selection of bonding agents in their line of work. “We learned that virtually all design these days involves the use of computer-aided design software and that there is currently no symbol to represent an adhesive as there is with welding or other mechanical fasteners.”
 
Adhesives are often denoted in the comments section of a CAD drawing, which Sloan says allows critical information to be lost or overlooked. “Development of a new adhesive symbol would make it easier for engineers to model a product using adhesives and also improve the way information about adhesives is being communicated,” notes Sloan.
 
“The proposed standard will help create credibility for the new adhesive symbol and encourage its use by designers and engineers, primarily in their CAD drawings, worldwide,” says Sloan. “Virtually any engineering drawing that requires bonding would benefit from this symbol and this proposed standard.”

For further technical information, contact Lawrence D. Sloan, The Adhesive and Sealant Council, Inc., Bethesda, Md. (phone: 301/986-9700, ext. 111; Larry.Sloan@ascouncil.org). Committee D14 meets Oct. 15-17, 2007, in conjunction with ASTM International Committee D07 on Wood at Laval Universite, Quebec, Canada. For membership or meeting information, contact Joseph Hugo, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9740; jhugo@astm.org).

Release #7687