How adhesives hold our world together | #6

You think you have nothing to do with bonding technology? Thought wrong! In this newsletter, you’ll find out where we encounter adhesives in everyday life and how they hold our world together as invisible everyday helpers.

🌏 Adhesives in everyday life 🌏

We come into contact with adhesives every day. Hard to believe? To prove it, you just need to look at your own two feet. If you’re wearing shoes, you’ve already come across the first example of adhesives in everday life: the soles of your shoes are most likely glued. And even if you’re not wearing shoes right now. You read this text on a laptop, PC screen, tablet or smartphone. These everyday objects are also usually glued somewhere.

Cars, planes, footballs, refridgerators, toasters – you’re probably already guessing it – contain adhesives. The list goes on forever. Adhesives hold our world together, whether it’s in a big, industrial context or in our own homes. And it’s been that way for thousands of years! But how did the story of adhesive bonding start?

🌳 About mineral pitch, tree resin and glue 🌳

Humans have been making use of the positive qualities of adhesives for thousands of years. It all started with simple adhesives like mineral pitch, birch tar, tree resins and wood tar. They were used mainly to produce weapons, tools or to build dwellings.

Later, the first glues were developed, which were partly of animal origin. These glues were used for carpenter works or bookbinding, for examle. Then, for a long time, nothing happened in terms of the devolpement of adhesives – despite the high demand for them.

It was only towards the end of the 19th century that things started to change. The rapid industrial progress also accelerated the manufacturing process of adhesives – the keyword being mass production. The time had come to develop new and modern alternatives which could meet the growing industrial demands.

Today, many different industrial sectors benefit from the advantages of adhesive technologies – including agricultural and electrical engineering, machine construction, shipbuilding, automotive engineering, and many more.

🙌 Advantages of modern adhesive bonding 🙌

Adhesive bonding is used nearly everywhere today. So the title “How adhesives hold our world together” is in no way just a lofty headline. But why do so many industries rely on it these days? The answer is rather simple: adhesive bonding offers many huge advantages!

✅ Weight reduction: In some fields, like the automotive industry, adhesive bonding is already considered the new welding. In order to achieve particularly lightweight constructions in automotive engineering, the use of adhesives has been the method of choice for years. The lower weight results in a better power-to-weight ratio and, ultimately, also leads to better fuel efficiency.

✅ Unaltered material surface: However, adhesive bonding offers even more advantages compared to other joining technologies. For example, when using the invisible helper, the material surface is not altered as it is during welding or soldering. Moreover, the specific material properties remain unchanged. The curing process after adhesive bonding automatically provides a sealing effect, which prevents fretting and contact corrosion.

✅ Even power transmission: Another clear advantage compared to welding or riveting? With adhesive bonding, stress concentrations in large-surface connections are minimised. That way, peak stresses are reduces, which might otherwise cause damages.

✅ Joining various materials: Adhesive bonding allows for the connection of numerous different materials. Whether it’s wood, metal, plastic, glass, ceramic, paper – the range of materials that can be joined is much wider than it is with welding, for example.

❗ Not all adhesive bonding is the same ❗

Not all adhesives bonding is the same. Bonding different materials, of course, also requires different adhesives. The usual hot glue gun or supposed all-purpose glue won’t get you very far in large industries.

That is why today, there are companies like ours, which have specialised on the production of adhesives and offer custom-made solutions for industrial applications. We have been producing specialty products for various industries since 1947. Our wide product range includes special adhesives and sealants as well as technical sprays, high-performance assembly pastes and greases – which can be used for production processes and repairs as well as maintenance and servicing.

The range of WEICON adhesives includes threadlockers, instant adhesives and adhesive sprays, silicones and assermbly adhesives as well as casting comounds like plastic metal.

But which adhesive is the right one? The selection is wide, the requirements are complex. There are three basic questions that should always be considered when looking for the right adhesive.

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Three basic questions

❓ Which materials need to be joined?

❓ What size is the bonding gap?

❓ What kind of stresses, like heat or moisture, is the adhesive bond exposed to after curing?

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🔎 That’s how you finde the right one 🔎

Should you ever be looking for the right adhesive for your project: Our Adhesive Finder helps you to make the right choice. adhesive-finder.com

Or take a look at this video from our WE explain series. Here, colleague Patrick explains what needs to be considered when choosing an adhesive: