Bonding epoxy resin to sterling silver?

[Ceangal]

Hello RA forums! I'd be super grateful if you could lend some advice on a problem I've been having.

I'm a jewelry maker specializing in embedded object resin jewelry. Recently I tried making rings.



The rings were made from a length of sterling silver bezel soldered to a ring base of sterling silver half round wire and attached to the resin "bullet" via an adhesive; initially, that adhesive was just more of the embedding resin applied liberally between the resin component and the silver (I usually took some sandpaper to the back of the silver so the surface wasn't so slick).

Initially everything seemed fine; I did some test batches, wore some rings around for a while normally, and didn't have any issues whatsoever, so I put them up for sale. However, a not insignificant amount of people who bought the rings started coming back to me saying that they had broken shortly after putting them on. The resin components were falling out of the silver, leaving just the silver band behind.

After switching to that "Goop" glue, and then to Loctite Superglue and experiencing more of the same, I finally had to take them off my shop.

Given the fact that I can't seem to reproduce the same issue with any of the rings I make, I came to assume that maybe it was the expansion and contraction of the materials separately as it went through the trauma of international travel that was causing the issue.

So, does anyone have any advice on adhesive with enough flexibility to withstand the expansion and contraction of the two materials, but still be strong enough to be worn around? Or an adjustment to the design to make the rings more stable? Or are the rings a hopeless project?

[mangozac]

Hi Ceangal, welcome to RA! My girlfriend is a jeweller so she will find this interesting

It looks here as if the ring has arms going part way around the resin piece to hold it? I agree that your inference of the join failing due to wide temperature changes is very plausible. I would be inclined to work out a way to embed some part of the silver into the resin pour, giving a proper mechanical bond and not relying on adhesives. Is that possible?

[follox]

E6000 glue, for everything It has some flexibility and is incredibly strong, so well worth a try I reckon.

[Ceangal]

[follox]

Good luck, I hope it helps - I use it for attaching all my findings to resin (and resin to resin). It's a stunning ring, I hope you can find a solution!

[mangozac]

No problem. Keep us posted!

[Ceangal]

Well, the initial test with the E6000 glue seem to have gone well; I made a few and the resin components don't seem to wiggle at all within the bezel wire even with considerable force against them, so that's good news. The glue has that elasticity that the "Goop" glue had whilst still being apparently strong.

I made one for myself and have been wearing it with a vengeance, being as rough with it as I think even the clumsiest of ring-wearers would be; washing my hands with it, laying down with it, plunging my hand into my pocket and getting it snagged, etc. So far, it's held up very well, but, of course, that was never the main problem.

I've entreated some acquaintances on other sides of the country to take a free ring in exchange for telling me if it held up in the mail. So, if every one of my test recipients reports that the ring stayed in tact, I'll consider it a success and re-list my rings. I'll keep you posted!

Thank you again for all the suggestions!

[mangozac]

Great to hear!

You should try alternating it in a warm oven and a freezer a few times to give it some really hard core thermal cycling.

[follox]