Adhesive: What is it?
Adhesives are chemical compounds that is generally used any surface to another, one object to another and even an object to a surface. The main of it is to bind them and make their separation difficult. There are variety of industrial adhesives, being highly effective and efficient, that are being used for a wide variety of industrial applications. It is important to understand the classification of adhesives based on their compositions, hardening mechanisms (usually called curing) and their applications. This makes it easy for one to select and sort adhesives based on one’s preference as well as needs.
Types of Adhesives
There are a variety of adhesives on the market and each have unique properties, which makes them suitable for certain applications. The spectrum ranges from products that bind paper to adhesives that hold metal together.
- Resins are synthetic polymers that can be mixed and moulded into respective shaped, filling gaps etc. They are versatile and are available in both thermosetting and thermostatic conditions, offering a buyer a choice that better suits him.
- Contact spray adhesives are one of the most user-friendly adhesives on the market. They can be used to bond surfaces both permanently and temporarily. They even work on uneven, porous surfaces offering great flexibility in its applications. They also can be adjusted by modifying the influencing parameters, thereby offering changeability.
- Acrylic based adhesives generally contain two components. The components engage in a bonding reaction when mixed, hence acrylic adhesives require a setting time. The spectrum of the setting time is not as wide as epoxy resins, but they still offer quite a band that makes them quite versatile in its application.
- Hot melt is a temperature sensitive adhesive that offers a lot of flexibility and changeability. They can be softened and hardened with the application and removal of heat. They offer excellent binding properties.
- Epoxy adhesives, much like acrylic adhesives contain two components: Resin and a hardener. However, unlike acrylic adhesives, epoxy resins offer a big band of curing time for its products, Therefore, one can choose from quick setting epoxies that cure within minutes to slower setting resins that take up to hours to cure. Sometimes, a longer cure time is desired when working on large surfaces as epoxies tend to develop air bubble within the coat and one needs sufficient time to eliminate them.
- Pressure adhesives are well known and have good binding properties. They simply require pressure to hold and bind surfaces together.
- Anaerobic adhesives are most generally used industrial adhesives. They do not require special conditions such as the presence of light, oxygen etc. unlike other general and photosensitive adhesives. They can set and cure even in dark and has excellent binding and environment resistant properties.
- Conductive adhesives are used in many industries to avoid electrical interferences and discharges, which is extremely usual.
- Capable of being both thermoplastic and thermosetting plastics, urethane adhesives offer the greatest versatility in glues.
