Article: DuPont Provides Lightweight Bonding Solutions for Aston Martin’s First-ever Luxury SUV

Project 

The introduction of the DBX marks a milestone in the 107-year history of Aston Martin because it’s the luxury car manufacturer’s first venture outside the traditional sports car look. To build an SUV with the performance and handling worthy of the Aston Martin name, their engineers relied on DuPont lightweight bonding solutions.

Powered by a 4.0-litre V8 engine that goes 0-62 mph in 4.5 seconds, the new DBX body is manufactured with a fully-bonded aluminum structure supported by DuPont expertise and solutions. As with all Aston Martin cars, BETAMATE™ and BETASEAL™ adhesives were critical for creating a body structure for the DBX that’s bonded not just for strength and toughness but ultra-lightweight too.

Challenges

For over 25 years, DuPont has supplied Aston Martin with structural adhesive solutions, however, the DBX posed new challenges. The design required bonding a broad range of materials including electro-coated aluminum and steel; anodized aluminum extrusions, castings, and sheet; carbon fiber and glass-fiber reinforced composites as well as glass bonding applications.

Excellent processability was critical. Customized DuPont™ BETAMATE™ and DuPont™ BETASEAL™ adhesive solutions needed to meet a wide range of open- and cure-time requirements to ensure manufacturing efficiency.

Production of the DBX takes place at an all-new production and technology center in Wales (UK) where Aston Martin converted three former military super hangars into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. DuPont experts worked closely with Aston Martin engineers to reinforce their understanding of how BETAMATE™ and BETASEAL™ adhesives work with new robotic application equipment. DuPont also supported the training and education of operators working with the materials for the first time. 

Solution

Thanks to the strong and long-standing technical relationship and trust between the two companies—along with DuPont’s proven ability to formulate the right adhesive solutions to meet Aston Martin’s needs—the DBX is a structural and elastic bonding success story.

It contains an impressive total of 23 kg of DuPont adhesives, of which 15 kg is for structural bonding alone! This is equivalent to 277 meters of applied adhesives. BETAMATE™ and BETASEAL™ are key to the DBX’s body stiffness and high-performance driving experience.

In terms of application, including open- and cure-time requirements, DuPont’s technology made it easy for Aston Martin to implement the BETAMATE™ and BETASEAL™ adhesives at their new plant. Continuous bond lines also contribute to durability, crashworthiness, as well as damping vehicle vibration for a quieter ride.

In addition to structural bonding solutions with robust adherence to different substrates, DuPont provided education and training to ensure high performance, manufacturing efficiency, and the quality of fit and finish.

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