"Glue for Styrene to Polyurethane Foam?" Topic

The polyurethane foam I'm talking about is the fairly coarse, rigid, very hard to compress, white foam used as the basis for making surfboards, flotation in water/boats, and as protection when shipping heavy objects. It is very tough foam, not easily compressible, or torn/damaged, and has a coarse, open cell, outer structure.

It is not the cheap, smooth, white, compressed styrofoam made of pellets that can easily be destroyed at the slightest touch, nor the really compressible foam used for topping bedding.

I've found that Liquid Nails glues the poly foam to itself quite nicely, since it is coarse, and open celled.

However, when attempting to glue a bit of styrene sheeting to it, the results were less than satisfactory, using the same glue. I suspect it is due to the smooth finish of the stryene sheeting, and the fact that the Liquid Nails did not melt the styrene at all.

So, I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with this?

I suspect a good epoxy glue might work, since that's what they use for making surfboards, but would prefer something inexpensive, somewhat flexible, less toxic, and easy to apply to the foam and styrene, if possible.

I was thinking that perhaps Contact Cement might work, but am not really sure.

Ideally, if I can find a single glue that works on styrene plastic, polyurethane foam, and extruded polystyrene foam too, that would be superb.

From the bit of info I have been able to find, I know I need to avoid petroleum-based glues.

Based upon this guide, it appears Contact Cement may be the answer:

link

So, has anyone used Contact Cement to glue rigid foams to styrene plastic, with success?

I usually use 3M Styrofoam spray adhesive ( for styrene sheet to extruded polystyrene. Works very well. I have stuff that is at least six years old with no delamination.

But, it is spray adhesive, so you will need to manage the overspray.

For gluing advise I often send people to:
thistothat.com

Some notes. The common way to glue styrene is solvent welding. The "glue" melts a bit of the plastic of the two parts and they flow together. This is NOT an option here. So avoid any glue for styrene.

You need a glue that forms a bond to both parts. Your foam is easy, as you have discovered. But sheets of styrene can be difficult. You must clean and prep your styrene. Wash with warm water and a small amount of detergent to remove oil that comes from the making of the sheet. Roughen the surface to be glued. Sand-paper or steel-wool will work.

Now, any reasonable glue should work. A spray glue like 3M 80, Photo-Mount… is most likely the best pick if the parts all fit together well. If you have voids that need to be filled during the gluing, I suggest an epoxy. The smell is bad, but epoxy glue is NOT very toxic.

Another good option is to go to this LocTight site:
link
This will lead you to a product such as: LoctiteŽ Stik'n SealŽ Extreme Conditions. This is an epoxy with fillers to allow it to enhance its void filling and durability.

Dyehard,

That was the very link I was going to post. Glad I read your post first.

Thanks for the replies, links, and info.

I really appreciate them.

I purchased Hat #8229 and was advised to use testors polystyrene glue to bond the extremely soft plastic. It's been a total fail, any suggestions. Thanks