• • • DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY • • •
ADHESIVE SELECTION FOR DEFENCE ELECTRONICS RELIABILITY
Low outgassing manages contamination risk
BY BEN SWANSON,
JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERTRONICS
T
otal worldwide defence spending reached $2.63 trillion in 2025, a real terms 2.5 per cent increase that reflects the spiralling challenge to the global order of the post-Cold War period.
In an era where greater onus is placed on the quality and reliability of defence and aerospace products, adhering to industry manufacturing standards is more important than ever. Here, Ben Swanson explains how the new Dymax 9773 adhesive addresses key defence and aerospace electronics adhesion reliability needs. The U.S. Department of Defense notes in its Electronic Reliability Design Handbook, “Reliability is a discipline that continues to increase in importance as systems become more complex, support costs increase, and defence systems are required to operate for longer periods in more hostile environments.”
In defence and aerospace electronics, reliability is often quantified in FIT (Failures in Time), referring to failures per billion operating hours. The European Space Components Coordination Basic Specification No. 26000 defines space component failure rate levels down to 0.001 per cent per 1000 hours (Level S), corresponding to roughly 10 FIT. This margin shows how little room there is for degradation in any part of an electronic system.
Adhesives play a crucial role in achieving this reliability. Although their primary function is mechanical, managing chemical interactions with their environment over product lifetimes requires careful design. Several properties must be tightly controlled to meet the exacting standards of safety-critical industries such as these.
36 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING •MARCH 2026
One key property for adhesives in sensitive electronic systems is low outgassing. This refers to the release of vapour and volatile species, often under vacuum or heat, which migrate and condense on nearby surfaces. These residues can degrade optical performance, alter thermal control surfaces, and compromise sensitive electronics over time.
ASTM E595 is a NASA-developed standard and test method that determines the volatile content of materials when exposed to a vacuum environment. NASA’s Materials and Processes Technical Information System (MAPTIS) is a combination of internal and industry databases. It provides high-fidelity material properties to aerospace designers and engineers for all the agency’s major space programs.
These reliability indicators demonstrate that any volatiles released under vacuum are limited and poorly prone to re-condense, with behaviour that has been measured, documented and accepted for use in contamination-controlled programmes. For engineers responsible for optics, sensors, thermal surfaces, or sensitive electronics, this removes a significant qualification barrier.
Electrical stability provides
long-term reassurance Under elevated temperature and sustained electrical bias, ionic species within the bonding agent can migrate. Over time, this ionic migration may form microscopic conductive pathways within the adhesive, reducing insulation resistance and allowing unintended current leakage. In high-reliability electronics, this can lead to signal drift, timing instability, or increased electrical noise. In defence and aerospace systems, where performance must remain predictable over long deployments, even subtle changes in electrical behaviour can compromise sensing, communication, or control functions.
MIL-STD-883 Method 5011, the military standard electrical test method standard for microcircuits, focuses specifically on polymeric materials. Electronics engineers rely on the kind of behavioural evidence provided by this electrical stability performance testing under thermal ageing conditions.
Balancing process and
reliability considerations Traditional constraints of strict contamination and reliability requirements have meant slow, multi-part heat-cured epoxies or silicones with long cure times and limited process flexibility.
There are now single-component, UV and visible light-curing adhesives that cure on demand, providing manufacturers with rapid handling and higher throughput capabilities. These characteristics are important for compatibility with automated dispensing and jetting, which supports modern, scalable production environments, where efficiency, throughput and cost control increasingly matter. Stacie Pettyjohn, the director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, suggested that the current conflict in the Middle East could be decided by the various combatants’ access to weapons and interceptor systems. In this context, defence manufacturers are being pushed to rethink long- standing production practices that may be creating bottlenecks.
As defence spending trends upwards and
military procurement seeks greater reliability in their investments, the chosen adhesives of the future will meet the stringent criteria that govern full product lifetimes. Dymax 9773 has low Total Mass Loss and very low Collected Volatile Condensable Material under ASTM E595, is MAPTIS-listed, passes MIL-STD-883 Method 5011, and meets the process considerations that facilitate efficient manufacturing throughput.
https://www.intertronics.co.uk electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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