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Adhesives Information



Adhesives are as commonplace in today’s everyday life as the materials they bond together. Generally speaking, adhesives are substances that effectively stick to the surface of another substance. When two such surfaces are brought together with an adhesive in the middle, they are bonded together.



Adhesives were historically derived from animal materials, such as the gelatin that was rendered from the prolonged cooking of hides, hooves, or bones by extracting any connective tissue. Native Americans are said to have used the gelatin extracted from buffalo hooves as a strong adhesive. On the other side of the coin are plant materials, which are also used for adhesives; natural gums, resin semisolids, and glutinous mucilage have long since found their uses in the paper and textile industries.



Other forms of adhesives are those that operate mechanically, such as by interlocking two materials. The process of sewing together two pieces of cloth, for example, is a method of mechanical adhesion. Another such methodology is the use of velcro, quite possibly the most famous mechanical adhesive known to humankind. Other forms of adhesives that have enjoyed much advertising are the substances made from cyanoacrylate: today they are marketed as Superglue or Krazy Glue.



Most of us remember the commercial of the car glued to the metal beam with an innocent looking drop of this colorless liquid, yet few of us realize that its applications have been found as far as the operating rooms of today, where suture-less surgery is becoming more the norm than the exception. Another type of glue that is used more and more, yet very rarely receives the accolades it deserves is “sticky tak,” a gum-like reusable substance that allows for the tape-less adhesion of paper and even heavier objects to walls, boards, doors and other such surfaces. The bonding occurs when pressure is applied, and it is loosened by simply separating the gum from the surface.