Adhesives

An adhesive is a compound that adheres or bonds two items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. Some modern adhesives are extremely strong, and are becoming increasingly important in modern construction and industry. more...

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History

The first adhesives were natural gums and other plant resins. Archaeologists have found 6000-year-old ceramic vessels that had broken and been repaired using plant resin. Most early adhesives were animal glues made by rendering animal products such as the Native American use of buffalo hooves. Native Americans in what is now the eastern United States used a mixture of spruce gum and fat as adhesives and as caulk to waterproof seams in their birchbark canoes. During the times of Babylonia, tar-like glue was used for gluing statues. Also, Egypt was one of the most prominent users of adhesives. The Egyptians used animal glues to adhere tombs, furniture, ivory, and papyrus. Also, the Mongols used adhesives to make their short bows. In Europe in the Middle Ages, egg whites were used to decorate parchments with gold leaves. In the 1700s, the first glue factory was founded in Holland, which manufactured hide glue. Later, in the 1750s, the British introduced fish glue. As the modernization continued, new patents were issued by using rubber, bones, starch, fish, and casein. Modern adhesives have improved flexibility, toughness, curing rate, temperature and chemical resistance. (HSL)

Categories of adhesives

Natural adhesives

Adhesives based on vegetable (natural resin), food (animal hide and skin), and mineral sources (inorganic materials).

Synthetic adhesives

Adhesives based on elastomers, thermoplastic, and thermosetting adhesives.

Drying adhesives

These adhesives are a mixture of ingredients (typically polymers) dissolved in a solvent. Glues such as white glue, and rubber cements are members of the drying adhesive family. As the solvent evaporates, the adhesive hardens. Depending on the chemical composition of the adhesive, they will adhere to different materials to greater or lesser degrees. These adhesives are typically weak and are used for household applications. Some intended for small children are now made non-toxic.

Contact adhesives

Contact adhesive is one which must be applied to both surfaces and allowed some time to dry before the two surfaces are pushed together. Some contact adhesives require as long as 24 hours to dry before the surfaces are to be held together. Once the surfaces are pushed together the bond forms very quickly, hence it is usually not necessary to apply pressure for a long time. This means that there is no need to use clamps, which is convenient.

Hot adhesives (thermoplastic adhesives)

Also known as "hot melt" adhesives, these adhesives are thermoplastics; they are applied hot and simply allowed to harden as they cool. These adhesives have become popular for crafts because of their ease of use and the wide range of common materials to which they can adhere. A glue gun, pictured right, is one method of applying a hot adhesive. The glue gun melts the solid adhesive and then allows the liquid to pass through the "barrel" of the gun onto the material where it solidifies.

Read more at Wikipedia.org