PCB Accessories
Products (2)
LOCTITE 518 - Anaerobic Flange Sealant for Aluminum | Henkel
Henkel LOCTITE 518 is a single-component, medium-strength, anaerobic form-in-place flange sealant supplied in a 300 mL package, designed to cure between close-fitting metal surfaces and seal rigid flanged joints immediately after assembly. An anaerobic flange sealant is a type of adhesive sealant within the broader industrial gasketing and fluid-sealing hierarchy. Unlike pre-cut gaskets, a form-in-place sealant is dispensed as a liquid onto one flange face and cures in the absence of air once confined between close-fitting metal mating surfaces, conforming exactly to the joint geometry and eliminating gasket inventory and compression-set problems. Key features of LOCTITE 518 include its primerless curing capability, meaning no activator is required on most substrates; its semi-flexible cured film, which tolerates minor flange movement and micro-motions without losing the seal; and its thixotropic non-slump consistency, which reduces migration of the liquid product after application to the substrate. It also cures robustly even in the presence of minor surface contaminants, improving reliability in real production environments. Technically, LOCTITE 518 is formulated as a general-purpose anaerobic gasketing material for rigid iron, aluminum, and steel flanged mating surfaces, and is specifically highlighted by Henkel as ideal for aluminum substrates. It provides immediate resistance to low pressures after flange assembly, allowing downstream pressure testing or operation without extended cure waits. Its medium cured strength permits disassembly with standard hand tools, unlike high-strength retaining compounds that require heat. Typical applications include pump housings, gearbox and transmission covers, valve bonnets, compressor flanges, and engine timing or bearing-cap joints where machined metal flanges replace cut paper gaskets. Aluminum gearbox covers are a particularly common use case given the product's substrate affinity. Design consideration: keep the flange gap within the recommended range (typically below 0.25 mm for anaerobic cure on machined faces) and apply a continuous bead across the flange width; heavy contamination or oversized gaps slow the anaerobic cure. This page synthesizes distributor pricing, cross-referenced alternatives, and practical design notes not found in the manufacturer datasheet.
Taconic TLC - Low Cost RF Microwave Laminate Substrate | Taconic
The Taconic TLC is a low-cost, glass-reinforced PTFE (woven glass / ceramic-filled PTFE) microwave laminate engineered as a cost-effective substrate for a wide range of RF and microwave applications. It offers superior electrical performance compared to thermoset laminates such as FR-4, PPO, BT, polyimide, and cyanate ester, while retaining exceptional mechanical stability. A microwave laminate is the dielectric substrate on which high-frequency printed circuit boards are fabricated. In the PCB material hierarchy, TLC sits above standard epoxy-based FR-4 (which exhibits high dissipation factor and unstable dielectric constant at GHz frequencies) and below premium PTFE-ceramic products, occupying the value segment of the RF substrate market defined by manufacturers such as Taconic and Rogers. Key features of TLC include a stable PTFE-based dielectric system suited to microwave frequencies, mechanical construction that tolerates shearing, drilling, milling, and plating using standard PCB fabrication processes, and a cost profile aimed at volume production. Because the resin system is PTFE-based, dielectric loss remains low where FR-4 loss would dominate above approximately 1 GHz. TLC is fabricated with conventional FR-4-grade processing equipment: standard drilling, standard metallization, and standard multilayer lamination flows, which reduces fabrication cost versus exotic substrates requiring specialized handling. The laminate construction also provides dimensional stability across temperature and humidity excursions, supporting consistent impedance-controlled designs. Typical applications include microwave communication boards, RF power amplifiers, antennas and feed networks, passive components such as filters and couplers, and general RF interconnect circuitry where a cost-effective substrate is required. When designing with TLC, confirm the specific thickness and copper cladding variant (for example TLC-30 or TLC-32 designations refer to laminate thickness options) and verify the dielectric constant and dissipation factor at your design frequency from the Taconic datasheet before impedance modeling. This page synthesizes distributor availability, datasheet references, alternative substrate options, and practical PCB fabrication notes not consolidated in the manufacturer datasheet.