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Global Experts Unite:
Advancing the Future of Structural Adhesives at ASC 2026.
On April 20–22, 2026, more than 700 leaders from across the adhesives, automotive, EV, composites, and industrial sectors gathered in Nashville for the ASC Annual Convention & EXPO — the largest and most influential event in the adhesives industry.
L&L Products scientist Dr Ziyan Li presented groundbreaking research on how to engineer ambient‑curable, crash‑toughened structural adhesives that approach the performance of heat‑activated systems — a challenge long considered very challenging not to say impossible due to fundamental chemical limitations.
Her work explored why ambient‑cure adhesives traditionally underperform heat activated adhesives, how formulation strategies such as using reactive and non‑reactive diluents, phase‑separated tougheners, elastomeric adducts, and chain extenders can overcome these barriers, and how these innovations unlock OEM‑level crash performance at room temperature.
Global Expert Unite
Advancing the Future of Structural Adhesives at ASC 2026
On April 20–22, 2026, more than 700 leaders from across the adhesives, automotive, EV, composites, and industrial sectors gathered in Nashville for the ASC Annual Convention & EXPO — the largest and most influential event in the adhesives industry.
L&L Products scientist Dr Ziyan Li presented groundbreaking research on how to engineer ambient‑curable, crash‑toughened structural adhesives that approach the performance of heat‑activated systems — a challenge long considered very challenging not to say impossible due to fundamental chemical limitations.
Her work explored why ambient‑cure adhesives traditionally underperform heat activated adhesives, how formulation strategies such as using reactive and non‑reactive diluents, phase‑separated tougheners, elastomeric adducts, and chain extenders can overcome these barriers, and how these innovations unlock OEM‑level crash performance at room temperature.
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A Global Gathering for Adhesive Innovation
ASC 2026 brought together executives, R&D scientists, OEM specialists, formulators, and materials engineers for three days of technical sessions, innovation showcases, and strategic discussions.
Topics spanned: next‑generation structural adhesives | EV battery bonding | sustainability and low‑energy manufacturing | digital R&D and AI‑driven formulation | advanced surface engineering | crash‑toughening mechanisms | lightweighting and composite bonding
The L&L Touch: Advancing Ambient‑Curable Structural Adhesives
During the convention, Ziyan Li presented L&L’s latest advancements in 2K ambient‑curable, crash‑toughened structural adhesives — a technology designed for automotive, EV, marine, commercial vehicle, and repair applications. Her presentation addressed a central industry challenge:
How can ambient‑curable adhesives with moderate viscosity that is easy to dispense
achieve the strength, toughness, and crash-resistant performance of heat‑activated systems —
without the high‑temperature bake?
Drawing from extensive formulation studies and side‑by‑side testing, she demonstrated how the right combination of tougheners, diluents, and polymer architectures can deliver: high impact peel strength and energy, excellent adhesion to oily metals, strong environmental resistance, high fracture toughness, OEM‑level crash performance, consistent fatigue resistance.
Key Insights
- Why traditional ambient‑curable adhesives underperform heat-activated adhesives
- How high‑temperature curing drives excellent mechanical strength and toughness
- The role of phase‑separated tougheners
- How reactive + non‑reactive diluent combinations dramatically increase impact energy
- How to achieve strong adhesion on oily surfaces
- Environmental durability: humidity and salt spray performance
- Side‑by‑side comparisons with heat‑activated adhesives
- Application relevance: EVs, repair, marine, commercial vehicles and construction
About the Author
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DR. ZIYAN LI
Scientist
Dr Ziyan Li is a Scientist at L&L Products, where she develops ambient-temperature curable structural adhesives and sealing materials for automotive and industrial applications. Her work focuses on formulation design, rheology control, and structure–property relationships to address challenging performance trade-offs such as impact toughness, fatigue resistance, environmental durability, and processability under real-world repair conditions. She leads multiple material development programs spanning formulation, processing, mechanical testing, and failure analysis. Ziyan earned her Ph.D. in Polymer Engineering from The University of Akron, where her research emphasized morphology–property relationships in polymer blends, smart materials, and rheological behavior. She also holds a Master’s degree in Polymer Engineering doing research related to synthesis and formulation of a high-temperature application powder coating. Her technical expertise includes X-ray scatterings, thermal and mechanical characterization, processing and advanced rheological analysis. Ziyan has presented her research at many national conferences and brings a strong combination of fundamental polymer science and applied materials engineering to structural adhesive development.
About the Author
L&L Expert Talks
Stay tuned for our next topic
"*" indicates required fields
DR. ZIYAN LI
Scientist
Dr Ziyan Li is a Scientist at L&L Products, where she develops ambient-temperature curable structural adhesives and sealing materials for automotive and industrial applications. Her work focuses on formulation design, rheology control, and structure–property relationships to address challenging performance trade-offs such as impact toughness, fatigue resistance, environmental durability, and processability under real-world repair conditions. She leads multiple material development programs spanning formulation, processing, mechanical testing, and failure analysis.
Ziyan earned her Ph.D. in Polymer Engineering from The University of Akron, where her research emphasized morphology–property relationships in polymer blends, smart materials, and rheological behavior. She also holds a Master’s degree in Polymer Engineering doing research related to synthesis and formulation of a high-temperature application powder coating.
Her technical expertise includes X-ray scatterings, thermal and mechanical characterization, processing and advanced rheological analysis. Ziyan has presented her research at many national conferences and brings a strong combination of fundamental polymer science and applied materials engineering to structural adhesive development.