Adhesives

Adhesives

Contact adhesive
1. Sticks Metals and polymers; unlike materials: e.g. plastic to wood and fabric to most materials
2. Advantages
  1. Able to bond unlike materials
  2. Bond forms very quickly so less need for clamping
  3. Ideal for glueing large sheet material
  4. Sold in metal tubes for easy application
3. Disadvantages
  1. Must be applied to both surfaces and some time must be allowed before they can be pushed together.
  2. Relatively expensive
  3. Solvent-based so contains harmful volatile compounds
Acrylic Cement
1. Sticks Acrylic
2. Advantages
  1. Rapid bonding of acrylics
3. Disadvantages
  1. Can be difficult to apply and give a neat join
  2. Relatively expensive
  3. Solvent based so contains harmful volatile compounds
Polystyrene cement
1. Sticks High impact Polystyrene (H.I.Ps) (not expanded polystyrene)
2. Advantages
  1. Strong bond - melts surface of pieces to be joined and cause them to weld together.
  2. Able to use brush to apply (water-like consistency) and absorbed into joint by capillary action
3. Disadvantages
  1. Relatively expensive
  2. Solvent based so contains harmful volatile compounds
Epoxy resin
1. Sticks most materials including expanded polystyrene
2. Advantages
  1. High performance adhesive giving high-strength bonds
  2. Chemical reaction hardens immediatley
  3. Versatile - can be made flexible or rigid, transparent or opaque/ coloured, rapid or slow setting.
  4. Excellent heat and chemical resistance
3. Disadvantages
  1. Reaches full strength only after a few days
  2. Expensive
  3. Often requires manual mixing of resin and hardener, which can be messy
Polyvinyl acetate (PVA)
1. Advantages
  1. Gives a strong joint
  2. Relatively inexpensive
2. Disadvantages
  1. Surfaces need to be securely clamped together for long period in order for PVA to harden
  2. Generally not waterproof (athough some brands are)
3. Sticks Wood and porous materials

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	Created by Poppy Venables over 11 years ago