10 Industrial Applications of Adhesives

Adhesive bonding is a fastening technique that joins two surfaces using epoxies, glues, or sealing agents to produce a smooth and finished bond. They are super-stress bearing components that distribute the stress load on a wider area and reduce the stress on joints. 

Adhesives can bond metal to metal, glass, plastic, rubber, ceramic, or any other material with better durability and reliability. We use adhesives for a wide range of purposes in our daily life like sealing pipes, binding books, mending shoes, and so on. Apart from these, adhesives have a significant role in all kinds of industries, small or heavy.

 Here are the top 10 applications of adhesive bonding in various industries:

1. Construction

Adhesive bonding is found most useful in the field of construction. You can use them for laying carpets and floor tiles. Adhesives are mixed in the cement used for joints. Interior designers use adhesives to decorate the interiors of buildings. It can be used for sticking wallpapers, bonding panels, fixing drywall laminations, and in manufacturing prefabricated housing. Adhesive gels like Loctite 229732 Prism 426 can be used for bonding porous surfaces and vertical overhead applications while designing the interiors.

Image from px fuel

2. Ceramic and leather industries

Ceramic and leather industries normally use cyanoacrylate adhesives. Leather articles and footwear use them for bonding leather with dissimilar materials like cotton fiber, nylon, polyester, etc. These adhesives bind rapidly and form a dry, clean, and sturdy bond. Tensile applications require low impact strength of glues that makes these adhesives a perfect choice in the leather industry. 

Image from Unsplash

3. Carpentry

Carpenters rely on adhesives, particularly resins for bonding furniture parts and laminating wood. They use adhesives for edge finishing, fixing plywood, finger jointing, veneer processing, and flat lamination. Hot melts are used for assembly work and bonding decorative edging. Wood glues are specially designed water-based adhesives for wood. Contact adhesives are solvent or neoprene-based adhesives used for assembling furniture.

Image from Needpix

4. Automotive industry

Nowadays, adhesives are a crucial element of automotive manufacturing. They are used in motor vehicles ranging from sports cars to heavy trucks. These adhesives are capable of holding metal, glass, plastics, rubber, and a variety of fabrics to themselves, to each other, and painted surfaces. They are used in structural, holding, and sealing applications. Adhesives have replaced the mechanical joining methods and have simplified the assembly process. 

5. Package industry

Both natural and synthetic glues are used in the packaging industry. The paper industry uses water-based and hot melts adhesives for packaging. Adhesives are also used for the recycling of paper. Dextrins, starch, or emulsion adhesives are some of the water-soluble adhesives used in this industry. Pressure-sensitive adhesives that stick to the surfaces under pressure are used in labels and tapes. 

Image from Pexels

6. Mattresses

Adhesives are very important in the manufacturing of mattresses as they help to hold the layers of the mattress together. There are three types of adhesives used for mattresses. 

• Solvent-based mattress adhesives are the most traditional form that provides strong bonds. 
• Water-based mattress adhesive is environmentally friendly, flexible, and odorless. 
• Hot melt is the newest and most efficient mattress adhesive on the market. It has the fastest curing process and least risks as it involves neither solvents nor water.

7. Photography

Spray adhesives are used for sticking fabrics or photos to a foam board back. These adhesives must be used in a well-ventilated room. You must be careful before using the spray adhesives as it is not possible to reposition the substrates once the surfaces are bonded. Spray adhesives can be used with foam board, paper, felt, and photo. Contact adhesives are used when wood, plastic sheets, and metal are to be bonded.

Image from Needprix

8. Medical uses

Adhesives are gaining popularity in the medical fields due to their capability for wound management. Adhesives tend to reduce healthcare costs. They are easy to use and curb the risk of bleeding. They significantly reduce the time spent in surgery. Adhesives are being used as a replacement for sutures and staples. It saves the patients from the pain inflicted while being stitched for external wounds. Loctite Prism 4061 is one of the adhesives used in the assembly of disposable medical devices.

9. Office and Stationery use 

Low bonding adhesives are used for office and stationery use. These glues can be used on different types of papers like cardboard, poster board, and foam board. Adhesives like white craft glue are used in lightweight materials like cardboard, paper, cloth, and kid's crafts. They are low in toxicity and easier to clean as their carrier is usually water. 

Image from pixabay 

10. Paint industry 

Adhesives are employed as additives in paint formulations and as primers on glass and metal substrates to improve moisture resistance, reduce the potential of corrosion at the interface, and to promote adhesion. Adhesives tend to fill pores, holes, crevices, and micro-voids on the substrate. They are one of the most important agents that bind the paint to the surface. 

Image from Unsplash