Are you confused in terms of what all of the different types of glue are and what they’re used for? If so, you have come to the right place, because right now we’re here to take an in depth look at the 10 main types of glue out there. Let’s get to it and find out which blue is right for you!
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Super Glue
One the most common and popular types of glue out there is of course super glue. Technically speaking, super glue is a cyanoacrylate adhesive, with cyanoacrylate being the main ingredient in it. Super glue is one of the fastest bonding and curing adhesives out there.
Advantages and Applications
Something important to know about super glue is that it is extremely strong. One of the strongest types of glue out there at this time. Now this is true in terms of its pure weight bearing ability, as super glue can handle several 1,000 lbs per square inch. People tend to like that. Super glue dries very clear.
Keep in mind that super glue is best used for materials such as metals, ceramic, wood, glass, leather, and other porous or semi-porous materials.
Super Glue does not stick well to smooth plastic.
In fact, super glue is not the ideal kind of glue to use for plastic at all, which is ironic, because when cured, super glue is more or less plastic.
Disadvantages
The the problem is that super glue doesn’t have much shear strength or impact resistance. This means that it doesn’t work well for anything that is going to involve impact or moving parts.
Although Super Glue is known for being quite temperature resistant, another problem is that it is not very resistant to moisture, at least not to prolonged exposure. Yes, super glue can handle a splash of water, but it can’t handle being soaked all of the time. Moreover, various solvents such as acetone, which we know as nail polish remover, will dissolve it.
Curing Process
Super glue starts to harden in seconds, and usually only takes a few minutes to form a full cure. Keep in mind that the curing process of super glue starts when the glue is exposed to moisture.
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Hot Glue
The next type of glue you should be familiar with is hot glue. Without getting too scientific about it, hot glue the glue itself comes in the form of a solid plastic cylinder.
Now you can call it an adhesive if you want, but generally speaking it’s more or less just a little plastic cylinder. To be precise, hot glue is known as a hot melt adhesive or as a thermoplastic adhesive.
This plastic cylinder passes through a heating mechanism inside of the hot glue gun. This plastic or adhesive then melts into a liquid form, which can be applied to a surface and within a few minutes it will then dry and harden once again.
For an easy comparison, this is more or less like taking ice cream out of the freezer, letting it melt, and then putting it back in the freezer.
Advantages and Applications
This type of glue is generally used in arts and crafts, as well as for tasks such as putting together boxes and binding books spines together.
What’s convenient is that hot glue does dry and cure quite rapidly.
If you were doing arts and crafts, quick setting hot glue is definitely an option to go with.
Now something that stands out about hot glue is the fact that it has the ability to bond both porous and non-porous surface is something that most adhesives cannot do.
Disadvantages
What you do need to be aware of, however, is that in no way, shape, or form is hot glue heat resistant. Hot glue is waterproof, but it’s not heat resistant, and it doesn’t do too well with solvents either. Not to mention the fact that it’s just not structurally sound and it cannot handle a lot of weight or pressure.
Curing Process
Hot glue begins to harden as soon as it starts to cool down, and this generally only takes a couple of minutes.
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Spray Adhesives
One very interesting type of adhesive is the spray adhesive. As the name implies, this adhesive is contained inside of a pressurized aerosol can. The important thing to note here is that the term spray adhesive is very general because the exact type of adhesive contained inside of a container can differ wildly from one can to another. Some may be just simple adhesive, whereas other may form what are essentially layers of rubber.
Advantages and Applications
Keep in mind that this difference in what adhesive may be contained inside of the can does also affect its weather resistance, temperature resistance, waterproofing, and other such factors. These can all differ wildly from one type of spray, he said to another. However, generally speaking, this type of adhesive is usually used for arts and crafts, collages, puzzle mounting, scrapbooking, and for other such purpose.
Disadvantages
Right off the bat, let’s say that this stuff is very bad for the environment and for human health. In no way shape or form should you ingest or inhale this type of glue. Aerosol plus the various solvents used to keep the adhesives liquid with inside of the can are very poisonous.
Curing Process
Keep in mind that spray adhesives dry and cure as the solvents evaporate out of them, thus just leaving the adhesives behind. Depending on the exact adhesive contained on the inside, drying and curing can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours or even a full day.
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Epoxy
When it comes down to it, perhaps the strongest type of glue out there is epoxy, otherwise known as two component epoxy. What you get here are of course two components, with one being a resin and the other being the harder or curing agent.
Advantages and Applications
All of that said, epoxy is one of the best types of glue out there, and it’s because it has the ability to bond to virtually all materials, both porous and non-porous. Moreover, epoxy is also totally waterproof, it is extremely heat resistant, it is solvent resistant, and it can handle a heck of a lot of weight too. In terms of pounds per square inch of weight bearing capability, epoxy is pound for pound, the strongest stuff out there. Everything from simple repairs to structural work can be done with epoxy.
Disadvantages
Keep in mind that the two components do need to be mixed evenly in order to achieve the best results. If the components are not equally mixed, the results will not be good. Another downside with epoxy is of course that it can be very messy.
Curing Process
The hardener or curing agent, when mixed in equal parts with the resin, is what causes a chemical reaction that changes the chemical structure of the molecules contained within the resin, which therefore causes the resin to become hard. Simply put, when the two mixed together, they form what is essentially plastic.
Yellow Wood Glue
Beware here that when we’re talking about yellow wood glue, we’re talking about what is also known as yellow glue, carpenters glue or aliphatic resin glue. Do not mistake this with PVA or polyvinyl acetate glue as these are not the same things.
Advantages and Applications
The important thing to take note of here is that PVA glue is the original and more basic version of wood glue, whereas aliphatic resin or wood glue is the more modern kind. While original wood glue was not overly temperature or water resistant, this new kind aliphatic resin is designed to be extremely temperature and water resistant.
Aliphatic resin wood glue does have very good bond strength and it has the ability to bond porous pieces of wood to one another as well as some other materials as well. Although yellow wood glue can bond to various other materials besides what it is of course designed exclusively for. If you do want to bond it with other materials, they must be porous.
The bottom line here is that yellow wood glue is heat resistant and water resistant, plus it features good bonding strength as well.
Disadvantages
It will not bond to non-porous materials, and although this type of glue is very water resistant, it is not 100% waterproof.
Curing Process
In terms of drying and clamping, expect this type of glue to take around one hour to set and around a full 24 hours to cure. Also keep in mind that this type of glue cures when mixed with moisture. Yes, this type of glue needs to be exposed to moisture in order to begin curing.
Polyurethane
This type of glue is often called PU glue or adhesive. This is another type of thermoplastic glue, one that contains replicas of organic chain units linked to urethane links, with main thing to take note of here is that polyurethane glue is based on polymers.
Advantages and Applications
In terms of overall bond strength, temperature resistance, solvent resistant, UV resistance, and water resistance, it is one of the best options out there. There is also the fact that depending on what other additives are contained in the specific adhesive, the flexibility and rigidity of the final glue can differ.
The point here is that this is one of the strongest and most flexible glues out there, which is why it is often used in applications that require lots of strength. Although it may be used for basic purposes, this is a construction adhesive at heart.
Disadvantages
This type of glue requires moisture to cure, it has a short shelf-life, and cleaning it up is not easy either.
Curing Process
You can expect PU glue to take 24 to 48 hours to fully cure, depending on the conditions. Isocyanate and polyol are the two main components that create a chemical reaction that then forms into a solid adhesive. This process requires moisture to begin, as well as heat. The more moisture and heat is present, the faster and better the cure will be.
White Craft Clue
White craft glue, as the name implies, is the type of glue generally used for most basic arts and crafts. When it comes to the best white craft glue, Elmer’s is always a brand to keep in mind.
Advantages and Applications
This type of glue is designed to bond fairly porous materials that are generally used in crafts. Things like cloth, felt, cardboard, and paper. Beware that white craft glue is of course water based, which means that it is very easy to clean up.
Moreover, even when it is already dry, there are variety of solvents, even something as simple as water, that can get rid of dried white glue. The good thing about this type of glue is that in most cases, it is also nontoxic, which is why children are allowed to use it. White craft glue although not always the case, usually dries clear, and is generally quite flexible.
Disadvantages
This type of glue does not have the ability to bond nonporous materials. Moreover, keep in mind that while white craft glue is fine for bonding very lightweight, porous materials, but it does not have much of a weight bearing capability. White craft glue is not something you can use or anything that needs to be structurally sound.
Curing Process
You can expect this type of glue to take about one hour to set with curing taking place within around 24 hours after application.
Fabric Adhesives
The next type of glue that needs to know about is the fabric adhesive. Now what needs to be said is that this is not really a type of glue to be exact, as there are a variety of glues that may be used as fabric glue. The word fabric glue is really just a general definition for any kind of glue that can bond fabric together.
One type of glue that you can use as a fabric adhesive is normal white polyvinyl acetate or PVA glue. Super glue and epoxy can both bond fabric as well.
Therefore, when you are buying a product that is labeled as fabric glue, make sure to take a look at what the actual adhesive contained inside of it is. This is important because if you are working with fabric, it means that you may have to throw that stuff in the laundry machine.
Well, not all adhesives can handle being in the laundry machine. Of course, as the name of this product implies, it is obviously designed specifically for fabric bonding purposes, which could be for the purpose of making or fixing clothes, or for arts and crafts too. Of course, exactly how fast the adhesive in question cures and what the curing process is like is going to depend on the exact adhesive.
Glue Sticks
Glue sticks are commonly used in arts and crafts. Unless you are gluing paper together, or maybe some paper to felt or a porous fabric, this is not a type of glue you want to use. Sure, it’s easy to use because it comes in a stick, but that said, this glue has virtually no holding power or benefits at all. It is not temperature, UV, water, or solvent resistant. This is children’s glue that is generally designed to be non-toxic.
Pressure Sensitive Adhesives
The tenth type of glue we want to quickly mention is the pressure sensitive adhesive. These generally come in the form of dots or pieces of tape. One or both sides of the tape or dots may have adhesive contained on them. This is usually covered up with some kind of covering, like a piece of plasticized paper that does not bond to the glue or cause it to dry.
Once the cover is taken off and the item is applied to a surface, and pressure has been applied, the glue will adhere. The exact way in which pressure sensitive adhesives work is way too complicated to explain in just a couple hundred of words. But the fact here is that when pressure is applied, the glue sticks. Most common examples of pressure sensitive adhesives in uses for children’s stickers and for sticky notes.
What is the World’s Strongest Adhesive?
At this time, the strongest adhesive in the world is DELO industrial adhesive. DELO is a German-made adhesive, and yeah, we all know the Germans always make quality products. People, just a little bit of this glue, three grams of it, has enough hold to lift a 17.5 ton truck. Mind you, those are metric tons, not imperial! That is of course nothing short of impressive.
How Big is the Glue Industry?
Although one would not think so, the glue industry is a massive one indeed, with the United States alone dealing with more than 11 billion dollars’ worth of glue per year. Interestingly enough, the most expensive glue in the world comes from none other than DELO.
What Has Glue Historically Been Used for?
Well, the first written record of glue being used for anything comes from Ancient Egypt, where the tombs of pharaoh’s were often glued shut. Even before that, evidence suggest that humanoid hunters tends of thousands of years ago used natural forms of glue to bind arrow and spearheads to their shafts.
