Product details
| Grade | Loctite 401 |
| Strength | High strength |
| Colour | Clear / colourless |
| Family | Instant adhesives |
| Brand | Loctite (Henkel) |
| Stock | Held in Dubai — buy one or bulk |
Pack sizes
Prices on request. Tell us the quantity you need.
Check stockWhat Loctite 401 is for
The general-purpose cyanoacrylate and the one most workshops keep on the shelf. It fixtures most substrates in under five seconds and bonds an unusually wide range — metals, plastics, elastomers, and porous materials that defeat many adhesives: wood, paper, leather and fabric. Henkel positions it for difficult-to-bond materials needing uniform stress distribution and good tensile or shear strength.
Key features
- Fixtures in under 5 seconds on steel, aluminium, ABS, PVC, nitrile and neoprene
- Bonds porous materials — wood, paper, leather, fabric
- 20 N/mm² lap shear on grit-blasted steel
- ≥6.9 N/mm² tensile on Buna-N after just ten seconds
- One part, no mixing, cures on ambient moisture
- NSF registered Category P1 for food processing areas (a regional approval)
- Gains strength in ethanol and isopropanol over 1,000 hours
Typical applications
- Rubber and plastics
- Porous materials
Technical data
Uncured material
| Technology | Cyanoacrylate |
| Chemical type | Ethyl cyanoacrylate |
| Appearance | Transparent, colourless to straw-coloured liquid |
| Components | One part — no mixing |
| Cure | Humidity (atmospheric moisture) |
| Viscosity, cone & plate 25°C | 70–110 mPa·s at 3,000 s⁻¹ |
| Viscosity, Brookfield LVF 25°C | Spindle 1 at 30 rpm: 100–120 mPa·s |
| Viscosity class | Low |
| Specific gravity at 25°C | 1.1 |
Fixture time by substrate
At 22°C and 50% relative humidity — time to develop 0.1 N/mm² shear strength.
| Substrate | Fixture time (seconds) |
|---|
| Steel | <5 |
| Aluminium | <5 |
| Neoprene | <5 |
| Rubber, nitrile | <5 |
| ABS | <5 |
| PVC | <5 |
| Phenolic | <5 |
| Paper | <5 |
| Chipboard | <5 |
| Wood (balsa) | <5 |
| Polycarbonate | 5 to 10 |
| Fabric | 10 to 20 |
| Wood (pine) | 15 to 20 |
| Wood (oak) | 15 to 30 |
| Leather | 15 to 30 |
Lap shear strength, cured 72 hours
* substrate failure — the material broke before the bond did.
| Substrate | N/mm² | psi |
|---|
| Steel (grit blasted) | 20 | 2,900 |
| Aluminium (etched) | 12.4 | 1,800 |
| Phenolic * | 12.6 | 1,820 |
| PVC * | 10 | 1,450 |
| Polycarbonate * | 9.6 | 1,400 |
| ABS * | 7.5 | 1,090 |
| Zinc dichromate | 2.5 | 360 |
| Nitrile * | 1.2 | 170 |
| Neoprene * | 1.1 | 160 |
Block shear and tensile
| Test and substrate | N/mm² | psi |
|---|
| ABS * (block shear, ISO 13445) | 23 | 3,340 |
| Phenolic * (block shear) | 21.3 | 3,090 |
| Polycarbonate (block shear) | 11 | 1,600 |
| PVC (block shear) | 2.6 | 380 |
| Buna-N, 72 h (tensile, ISO 6922) | 13.7 | 1,900 |
| Buna-N, 10 seconds (tensile) | ≥6.9 | ≥1,000 |
Chemical resistance — grit-blasted steel
As a percentage of initial strength. Heat ageing data is published at 60, 80, 100 and 120°C.
| Environment | °C | 100 h | 500 h | 1,000 h |
|---|
| Motor oil | 40 | 115% | 85% | 85% |
| Unleaded petrol | 22 | 85% | 90% | 95% |
| Ethanol | 22 | 100% | 110% | 130% |
| Isopropanol | 22 | 115% | 100% | 120% |
| Water / glycol | 22 | 85% | 75% | 65% |
| Water | 22 | 75% | 80% | 75% |
| 98% relative humidity | 40 | 80% | 65% | 65% |
How to use it
- Bond areas must be clean and free from grease — clean with a Loctite cleaning solvent and allow to dry.
- On low-energy plastics, a Loctite Primer improves bonding. Do not over-apply; let it dry.
- A Loctite Activator may be used where needed. Apply to one surface only, and not to a primed surface. Let it dry.
- Apply adhesive to one surface — not the activated one. Do not spread it with tissue or a brush.
- Assemble within a few seconds and locate accurately: the short fixture time leaves almost no room to adjust.
- Hold or clamp until fixtured. Activator can be sprayed on excess product outside the joint to cure the fillet.
- Allow full strength to develop before applying service loads — typically 24 to 72 hours.
Handling and storage
- Not recommended for pure oxygen or oxygen-rich systems.
- Not a sealant for chlorine or other strong oxidising materials.
- Store at 2°C to 8°C — cyanoacrylates want refrigeration, unlike the anaerobics which prefer 8–21°C. Outside that range the product properties can be affected.
- Full functional strength comes quickly, but chemical and solvent resistance keeps developing for at least 24 hours.
- Do not return decanted product to the original container.
Which instant adhesive?
401 is the default: fastest across the widest range, and the only one here that handles porous materials like wood, leather and fabric. Choose 406 for plastics and rubbers, where it is thinner and made for the job. Choose 454 when the surface is vertical or overhead and a liquid would run — it is a gel. Choose 480 when the joint will be shocked, peeled or vibrated, because a standard cyanoacrylate cures brittle and 480 is rubber toughened.
Always read the current technical and safety data before use —
ask us and we'll send it with your quotation.
