Talk:Adhesive

Science of the bonding properties

I was looking for an explaination/understanding of the science of how the glue adheres to the surfaces being glued, ie is it surface tension, chemical bonding, electostatic forces or what. This could be good information for understanding why different adhesives work with different materials and why they may fail. I know nothing on the subject so really needs some expert/chemist with some time to write something. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.51.39.214 (talk) 01:20, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Oreo example

What's with the Oreo example? That isn't international - Oreos are generally confined to the US of A. Mort42 (talk) 19:51, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

BP?!?

OK, so a bunch of new-world order types don't like AD/BC and instead insist on CE/BCE. Now, WTF is BP supposed to stand for in the way it is used in this article? First guess was "before people" but that doesn't really make any sense given that the article is about glue. Might have worked in an article about dinosaurs tho.

Can someone in charge just make up their f'n mind about what standard we are going to use, and then make sure we stick to it? I grudgingly accepted the idea that authors of articles about non-christian religions and cultures might want BCE/CE, but am lost as to what BP might mean here. "Before Petroleum"? Except that would be wrong, since tars have always been available on certain sandy beaches ... Zaphraud (talk) 22:41, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Note .. if it is "before people", the idea that obviously intelligent non-homo sapiens should not also be considered "people" in terms of discussing the accomplishments of their civilization is at least as offensive to the ideals of equality as any religion-based date system ever was - at least AD/BC doesn't re-classify members of any civilization as animals. Zaphraud (talk) 22:45, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

It means "before present"; in other words it's synonymous with "ago". Ewulp (talk) 23:36, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Plastic Wrap

"Plastic wrap displays temporary adhesive properties as well." Really? So does jelly but that doesn't make it an adhesive. Shouldn't this be removed? Shepherdtech (talk) 23:07, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up. I've removed it. Wizard191 (talk) 23:34, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Polyvinyl acetate

Isnt polyvinyl acetate a thermoplastic? It appears as thermosetting in the article? Sturgman (talk) 18:10, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Yup, I fixed it. Thanks! Wizard191 (talk) 23:20, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Birdlime

How well does traditional birdlime stand up against adhesives on the modern market? (I ask because I can't picture capturing birds on the branch using any of the usual stuff) Wnt (talk) 21:34, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

History

The history section presents a somewhat misleading picture.

• The way the section is structured, it implies that animal glues were strictly prehistoric; in reality, animal-skin-derived glues were in widespread use throughout the pre-modern period until the more convenient bottled stuff replaced them in all but the most specialized applications. (Reproduction furniture makers, for example, still use rabbit skin glue.)
• Egg whites (glair) were commonly used as a binder for paints, but make a less satisfactory gold size than a proper gesso, made with some sort of animal glue plus a 'body' agent such as slaked plaster. Other gold sizes (which give a more flat/matte effect then the mirror-finish of gesso) include garlic juice or gum ammoniac.
• I believe at least one of the medieval artists instruction manuals mentions milk glue, well before the 19th century.

141.151.82.232 (talk) 00:01, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Animal glue

At least in the mid-20th century, and perhaps even at present, hot animal glue was preferred by luthiers for joining the top plate (front) (and, probably, the back) of a violin (and other similar stringed instruments) to the ribs (sides). It can be cracked apart for repairs with minimal or no damage to the wood. As well, it was the adhesive/sealant of choice for pipe-organ building and repairs, at least by some workers in that field. I can remember as a child in the 1940s watching my parents heat up brown translucent flakes of animal glue in a hot pot (water-jacketed)? It was applied hot, and perhaps bonded well as soon as it was cool; I'm not sure. It had a distinctive odor.

It would not be surprising to find that animal and fish glues are still used by some makers of folk instruments worldwide. Nikevich (talk) 14:59, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Sex and glue

The first line of the second paragraph begins "Adhesives are used for adventurous sex positions, gluing you genitals to a wall ;)". No citation is given and wink makes me suspicious. Orangutanlibrarian (talk) 10:42, 25 November 2011 (UTC)Orangutanlibrarian

Fixed. Grantmidnight (talk) 16:23, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

"Glue" vs. "Adhesive"

I was rather disappointed, although I'm not an expert, by what seems to be lack of rigor in the use of these terms in what, on the whole, strikes me as an excellent article. While I'm no professional in the field, I have been quite interested in adhesives for just about all my life (I'm almost 76).

There's no denying that common usage (in English) prefers the term "glue"; it's monosyllabic, and universally understood. "Adhesive", imho, can run the risk of seeming pedantic. Several decades ago, I read that the term "Adhesive" is generic, and "glue", strictly speaking, is one type of adhesive (probably defined as primarily earlier technology, and probably/typically composed of animal/fish-derived substances). Until I read this article, I have kept that distinction*. It seems that the usage of "adhesive" and "glue" in the article is somewhat inconsistent, but considering that my belief is that of an amateur, I haven't changed any text. Nevertheless, I hope to see a clarification in the lead sentence [s] of the article regarding common usage and (versus?) the exact definition of "glue".

• Much as I still maintain that soap is no longer in common use, and plain soap is hard to find; "soap", these days, implies detergent, but, technically, differs chemically. Soap was notorious for forming insoluble curds when used with hard water. Nevertheless, I'll accept "soap" as common usage to mean "detergent". Brevity is often a virtue.

Best regards, Nikevich (talk) 15:19, 5 January 2012 (UTC)