Molecular sieves may be the original nanomaterial. They have been used for decades by adhesive and sealant formulators to modify compounds on a nano - or molecular level.

The heroic tale of how humble superglue saved lives in Vietnam by providing a quick way to close wounds and stop bleeding is surprisingly widely told – and almost too good to believe...

Natural formulations are a well known stalwart of the adhesive industry, with highly specified applications that include around 30 percent of the market for adhesives that do not use volatile solvents...

Styrene butadiene block copolymers (SBCs) are useful base polymers for the formulation of sealants because of their unique combination of strength and elastomeric properties. Generally, SBC sealants can be formulated with movement capability between +/- 10% and +/- 25%, which places them in the medium to high performance sealant category...

Amongst the many world-changing discoveries made thanks to the journey of Columbus to America, rubber is one of the more overlooked.

Static electricity can be a major problem with certain adhesive products such as pressure sensitive coatings, laminating films, and other sheet or film products. Static electricity generally does not come from the adhesive coating but from a non-conducting substrate such as a plastic or paper web...

Most tests of adhesive strength examine linear or peel stress1, which induce cracking and drive adhesives to the point of failure. When cracks develop either adhesive or cohesive failure can result and over the years extensive mathematical representations have been developed to model this...

Vinyl ester resins are thermosetting resins that consist of a styrene monomer and the addition products of epoxy resins and methacrylic acid. As a result, they are sometimes referred to as "epoxy vinyl esters". They are somewhere between epoxies and polyester in performance properties and price...

When I first learnt about adhesive formulation, one of the less technical rules-of-thumb that I was given compared my employer's processes with cake-baking. Polymer fluids were analogous to milk and water, solid fillers to flour, crosslinkers to egg and catalysts to baking powder.

In the electronics industry thermally-conductive adhesives serve the dual purposes of bonding materials together and transferring heat away from electronics components to printed wiring boards and heat sinks...

Hydrocolloid adhesives are unique in that they can act as an adhesive, and they are also capable of absorbing fluids without losing their adhesion. These are multiphase polymeric structures that consist of a continuous rubbery phase into which is dispersed a particulate absorbent material, which constitutes the discontinuous phase...

Adhesives and sealants that are based on styrene butadiene block copolymers are both useful and unusual. They have the solubility and thermoplastic nature of polystyrene; while at ambient temperature, it has the toughness and resilience of an elastomer...

Silicones have a very particular set of properties that give them an important niche in the adhesive industry. They are chemically resistant, water repellant, stable at temperatures up to 300°C, and physically strong. In comparison to epoxy-based sealants and polyurethane adhesives they are a relatively expensive solution but are familiar to many as bathroom adhesives and also fulfil a number of specialised engineering roles...

Solar power remains a technology of the future, despite more than thirty years having been spent on its development. Throughout its lifetime, questions have been raised about how applicable adhesives are to the assembly of these advanced products, yet such doubting solar scientists underestimate adhesives' versatility...

In this latter class, performance does not come necessarily from formulation additives, but rather from the choice of monomers used to make the base polymer (although conventional formulations ingredients can also be used). These are sometimes referred to as "synthetically" designed hot melt adhesives.

The endless variety and adaptability of polyurethane (PU) along with its continued contribution to our daily lives, makes its importance and hence demand to increase in comparison with other thermosetting polymer materials. Polyurethane plays a vital role in the coating industry...

Although the general public may not realize it, they come into contact everyday with one of the most demanding applications for adhesives – books. Adhesives are used in the manufacture of books principally for the binding, but they are also used in the manufacture of the covers of hardbound books...

As Lewis acids, organotin (IV) compounds have been a popular choice to perform the catalysis common to a number of adhesive polymerisation systems. Silicone and epoxy systems alike rely on the right pH to elicit their respective hydrolytic and ring-opening polymerisations at an appropriate speed...

Modern packaging materials make possible distribution, extended storage, and convenient sale of food products. The increasing use of adhesives in packaging has focused attention on the potential effect that these materials or their components might have on the contents of the package and on the health of the consumer...

The shoe industry demands an impressive array of adhesives due to variations in materials, processes, types of footwear, and seasonal design changes. Equally impressive is the performance demands placed on adhesives in this industry...

Boat building was the first industry that started to use composites and to assemble it by bonding, starting in the fifties and sixties in USA...

Water borne adhesives, derived from emulsion polymerization processes, are particularly susceptible to performance loss on exposure to high humidity conditions. The achievement of performance properties similar to solvent-based adhesive has for a long time been the “holy grail” of water borne adhesive formulators...

Generally, discoloration is not a critically important criterion for adhesives since the bond line is often unseen and hidden within a joint design. However, in certain applications discoloration is very detrimental and a difficult challenge to overcome...

Admixtures for mortar and concrete consist of chemicals, minerals (fly ash, slag, etc.), and particulates (principally organic fiber). These admixtures are generally added to mortar or concrete materials before or during mixing for the purpose of improving workability or physical properties once the mixture sets...

Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesives have become one of the most important adhesives in the woodworking industry. Commonly known as "white glue", this adhesive's many advantages include low cost, fast set, high dry bond strength, simplicity of application, and minimal harmful environmental effects...

Mortar and concrete made with Portland cement have been popular construction materials for housing and infrastructure for over 170 years. At first glance their longevity and popularity seems obvious...

Polyisobutylene can be used as either a base polymer or as a modifier in a variety of adhesive or sealant formulations. Polyisobutylene is a synthetic hydrocarbon that is manufactured by polymerizing isobutylene...

Heat-sealing adhesives are thermoplastic materials that can be coated onto substrate surfaces and later reactivated by heat and pressure. They differ from conventional hot melt adhesives that are applied in the molten state and cooled between substrates in a single step...

A release liner is a critical element in a pressure sensitive adhesive product – perhaps as important as the adhesive itself. Pressure sensitive tapes, labels, and transfer films must be protected from accidental contact with other surfaces...

Choosing an adhesives supllier with strong regulatary expertise helps converters and end-users meet food contact regulations...

Emballage 2006 was again a major international exhibition for Packaging machines, techniques and materials. With 2200 exhibiting companies and more than 100 000 visitors it is considered as the largest packaging show in 2006, worldwide...

Hot melt adhesives are increasingly becoming popular because of their fast setting speed, relatively low cost (materials and processing), and low environmental impact...

With so many products to choose from, making sure you select the proper sealant is especially important. Selecting the wrong industrial sealant, or applying the correct sealant in the wrong manner, can have serious consequences...

Epoxy resins are valuable to the adhesive formulator because they can create useful mixtures with many other polymers. Acrylate resins are only one of several families that are compatible with epoxy chemistry...

Under constant pressure to improve manufacturing processes, manufacturers face the challenge of selecting from an array of sealing technologies...

Two component (2K) polyurethanes have an established position as high performance adhesives, sealants, and coatings. However, 2K systems may be inappropriate for a given application because of metering and mixing equipment costs or because of impractically short pot life...

During the last two decades, significant advances have been made in the development of biodegradable polymers. These materials have been developed in a variety of forms, and thus have potential uses in a range of industries...

It's a competitive time for specialty tape makers, with many companies jockeying for position as innovation and customer cost pressures usher in new opportunities...

In previous chapters we have studied several types of adhesives for composites: epoxies, polyesters, structural acrylics… We are now studying other types available...

Innovative raw materials developed by Bayer MaterialScience AG make possible the formulation of thermoactivated adhesives for an extended range of applications - and they also join metal and plastic better than ever before thanks to a waterborne dispersion layer...

The completely cured adhesive or sealant is generally considered to be safe and non-toxic, although caution must be exerted when machining, grinding, etc. joints due to the proliferation of air-borne particles...

In this section, we will study several types of structural adhesives which are used for the assembly of composites: Acrylics, Polyesters, and others...

As we will see, when choosing an adhesive for a given composite material, the first idea that comes to our mind is to select a chemical type which is the same as the resin used as the matrix...

An important and often overlooked function of polymeric adhesives is their ability to restore worn or damaged structures to their original integrity...

The ability of adhesives and sealants to bond to concrete surfaces has become a subject of renewed interest. This has been due to several reasons...

Since the introduction of waterborne sealants in the 1960s, acrylic emulsion formulations have matured commercially as intermediate performance architectural sealants...

The primary composite materials are made by different techniques: lay out, impregnation, molding, infusion, filament winding, pultrusion… All these methods consist in impregnating fibers with a polymer resin ( epoxy, polyester, etc…), the manufacturer may start with prepregs where the fibers are already impregnated with resin, shaping the parts in various ways and then curing the polymer by heat and pressure...

Commonly known as "water-glass", soluble sodium silicates are colorless low cost inorganic materials. When used as adhesives, liquid silicates offer significantly low cost, versatility, and ease of handling. Their main use is to bond porous substrates such as paper and cardboard where an inexpensive, fast processing adhesive is required.

Adhesives formulators and product managers in the nonwovens industry are increasingly concerned by the cost and viability of their existing nonwoven adhesive formulations. The continued rising cost of petrochemicals and their derivatives, coupled with a series of raw-material shortages, have forced the industry to identify short-term formulation alternatives to meet customer needs.

Rubber-to-metal bonding is a term that is generally used to describe the process of establishing an adhesive bond between a metal substrate and an elastomer simultaneously with the cure of the elastomer itself. In other words, the elastomer molding operation and the metal bonding operation are combined in the same process. This, of course, differs from post-vulcanization bonding of rubber, which employs previously cured elastomer and conventional adhesives (epoxies, urethanes, etc.) to make the bond...

Aluminum is an almost ideal substrate for adhesives. It has a high surface energy and is very resistant to most environments. It is also a material with good formability and high strength-to-weight ratio that can benefit greatly from properties offered by adhesive joining. As a result, adhesive bonded aluminum joints are commonly used in the aircraft and automotive industries as well as in a multitude of other structural and non-structural applications.

All these techniques are used to decorate wood-based panels or even wood (such as cheap wood) in order to obtain the aspect of true and expensive woods by using nice wood veneers or decorative films and laminates.

Certain epoxy adhesives are capable of being “B-staged”. A B-staged resin is one in which a limited reaction between the resin and hardener has taken place so that the product is in a semi-cured state. This partial reaction can occur either at room or elevated temperature depending on the formulation. In the B-staged state, the polymeric adhesive is generally a brittle, glass-like solid. However, it is still fusible and soluble in conventional epoxy solvents. On additional heating, the adhesive will progress from the B-stage to a fully cured or crosslinked state. This will usually be accompanied by moderate flow and wetting of the substrate.

Silicone polymers display an exceptionally wide range of chemistries and physical properties. These polymers can be low viscosity liquids, crosslinkable elastomers, or hard solids. Adhesives and sealants represent only one major class of commercial silicone products. These versatile materials were introduced approximately 30 years ago and many of the original formulations are still utilized.

We start now to study Furniture adhesives and bonding techniques.The first step in Furniture manufacturing is to decorate panels by bonding a decorative veneer ( true wood veneer ) or film or other laminates to the base panels which may be: wood, particle board, plywood or MDF.

Bitumens or asphaltic materials have been used as adhesives and sealants for many centuries. Modern formulations utilize both thermosetting and thermoplastic resins to improve their properties. These adhesives are generally supplied as solvent-diluted, emulsion, or hot poured forms. Two-part, chemically activated asphalt modified adhesives and sealants are also available.

Dihydrazides are represented by the active group: where R is can be any polyvalent organic radical, preferably one derived from a carboxylic acid.

Polymers have been used as additives in cement mortars and concrete since the 1920s when natural rubber latex was added to road paving materials. Since then, there has been considerable development of polymer modification for cement and concrete. Commercial products, called cement admixtures, are used in many applications in the construction industry from sea walls to roads. A significant volume application for polymer modified Portland cement is adhesive and grout for attaching ceramic tiles to walls and flooring.

Although the idea of environmentally conscious building is as old as architecture itself, people tend to associate the concept with a lifestyle radically different from the mainstream. Green building is, however, a growing trend and does not have to mean living in a cave or building with hay bales.

Non-uniform stresses within the adhesive joint can significantly reduce the maximum strength of the joint. Non-uniform stress distributions generally cannot be eliminated, but they can be reduced through proper joint design and selection of certain design variables. There are a large number of variables affecting stress distribution, even in the most common joint designs. The following are most important.

For many applications, such as flexible packaging, the use of a single material may not satisfy all of the properties demanded of the product. In these cases, a composite consisting of two or more layers of material may provide the desired performance. A particularly common means of creating such a composite is to laminate various polymeric films to other films, foils, papers, etc. with a polymeric adhesive.

In a recent article presented in SpecialChem4Adhesives the future evolution of pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes was discussed. This current article is a companion piece on the winds of change that may affect the pressure sensitive label industry. The major trends in material and process developments as well as advances in new label applications will be discussed.

This article studies the bonds and products which require resistance to humidity and water, such as doors, windows, sandwich panels, exterior panels for wood houses, and also some products which are made in primary woodworking plants such as laminated parquets.

It is important to monitor the winds of change that are occurring in the pressure sensitive adhesives area. For those who pay attention, this course of action offers new business opportunities, and those who pay no attention risk business failure. This article will examine the future evolution of pressure sensitive adhesive tapes.

The transportation market is one of the larger markets employing adhesive bonding. A subset of that market segment is the marine industry. Although adhesive bonding has been slower to develop in boating or shipbuilding than in aircraft or automotive applications, it has started to become a significant joining process. This article gives an overview of the use of adhesives and sealants in the marine industry. State-of-the art structural and non-structural adhesive systems as well as sealants will be reviewed. The effects of substrate materials, processing requirements, and environmental stresses common to the marine industry are also addressed.

Nonwoven fabrics are fibrous webs where the individual fibers are bonded together. The bonding process replaces the weaving that is used to manufacture traditional woven textiles. By virtue of the variety of materials and processing methods available, low cost nonwoven fabrics have found their way into many every-day commodities. This article will focus only on binders and the adhesion processes that are used to manufacture the nonwoven itself. It will concentrate on the most popular polymer latex binder materials, consolidation processes, and the properties that they produce.

This article specifically discusses the use of organosilane adhesion promoters as additives in epoxy and polyurethane adhesive / sealant formulations. Although this method of application may not be the most optimal from a performance standpoint, it is of interest to many formulators looking to increase the value of their product...

This article, sixth in its series, studies some bonding operations which are made in primary and secondary woodworking jobs. Secondary woodworking includes millwork ( I beams, doors and windows ), manufacture of decorative panels and sandwich panels...

Plastisols are liquid dispersions of a finely divided thermoplastic resin, generally polyvinyl chloride, in a plasticizer. These resulting pastes are highly viscous mixtures that on heating become homogenized so that a single solid phase results. When cooled the plastisol provides a tough material with good physical characteristics. Over the years these inexpensive materials have become popular as both adhesives and sealants. This article highlights the importance of PVC plastisol adhesives along with their properties and applications.

In certain applications, such as those that exist in the electrical and electronic industries, adhesive systems must have a certain degree of electrical and / or thermal conductivity. Electrical conductivity is, of course, important in adhesives that must make an electrical interconnection between components and in adhesives that must provide electromagnetic or radio frequency interference (EMI and RFI) functions. This article discusses the ways to improve the thermal and electrical conductivity of adhesives.

This article studies the first series of applications and end uses of woodworking and furniture adhesives i.e; panels manufacturing and primary woodworking. Primary woodworking encompasses adhesives and binders for the production of various types of boards and panels...

The use of waterborne adhesives, especially synthetic emulsions, has grown enormously in recent times. This has been driven primarily by the need to find alternatives for solvent based adhesives due to their adverse environmental consequences. This article will concentrate mainly on the more popular and higher-volume emulsion grades of waterborne adhesives. The mechanism of film formation will be described and several factors that are known to influence setting speed and the rate of film formation will be reviewed. This includes factors such as the presence of certain additives, the latex particle structure, and the ambient conditions surrounding the conversion of the product from a bulk liquid into a continuous film.

Foaming is a problem that plagues many industries from food processing to adhesives. Waterborne adhesives are especially prone to the troubles and expensive consequences created by foaming. This article will first explore the chemical nature of foaming and the various methods that are available to control this problem. Since antifoam technology is system specific, the various types of foam control agents commonly used with waterborne adhesives are described, and conditions are given to their optimal selection and use.