Author: Anjela

Reversible, Renewable, Recycled Adhesives Have To Be The Future

The buzzwords for my generation (people try to put us down!) are of course sustainability, renew-ability and recycle-ability. Things are running out.   Every time I hear them mentioned I become the warrior woman Boadicea, I want to wage war on anyone who isn’t embracing this issue at full throttle.  However trying to explain the mega importance attached to the dynamics of recycling to my kids, who lets face it, are going to be the unenviable beneficiaries of an earth literally devoured by generations of wasters, users and resource chomping monsters is like banging my head against my green recycling bin, all pain and no gain!

My day began with a ‘can you please put the heating on its cold?’ ‘No’ I said in unison with my husband, (a rare show of mutual defiance) ‘put another jumper on and think of the worlds depleting resources!’ I shouted as if my life depended on it.  But it fell on deaf ears, so whilst my kids were shoveling porridge into their mouths, I asked my kids to think about waste, and was promptly met with ‘I’ve changed my mind about this porridge, I don’t want it’ from my 12 year old….aarrgh!!!!  Unthwarted I decided to take my soapbox to work and continue there.

The topic of resource efficiency is looming like the biggest tropical storm cloud to brace this side of the Universe. We have all heard of endangered species but what of our endangered resources? Raw materials are becoming more and more difficult to source, the bigger companies holding the monopoly and in the process throwing their millions at everyone in the vain hope of securing it all.  Where does that leave us, the SME’s trying our best to survive in what can only be described as a double hit….he uncertainty of business AND resources….how do you come back from that?  Things are running out (reiterated to mark the gravity of this fact), touch phone mobiles use an element called Indium, a rare earth metal, resources of this are finite along with the forty nine other elements used in mobile phones, including Gold.  Wind turbines use magnets containing Niobium (rare as hens teeth my Senior Chemist informs me!).  Recycling processes could allow Industry to reclaim these and many more endangered elements and allow them to be reintroduced at the manufacturing stage. All a bit too easy peasy you would think.  Suddenly, the ear-worm planted by my 12 year old found its way to my brain, ‘mum can you recycle glue?’ A reversible, renewable, recycled adhesive….now that can’t be bad idea.  Stick close.

Is Glue Ear, Glue For Your Ear?

When faced with the question ‘is glue ear, glue for your ear?’ from my ever questioning 10 year old, my prompt reply was an emphatic ‘no!’.  This did not subdue his enquiry but served to then prompt a formal systematic questioning about glue, testing my patience to its limit.  Now the idea that your ear could produce a glue like fluid was almost like telling my son an alien life form had landed in our back garden. He refused to believe me, but was so intrigued, he wanted to know more.  So I thought I would enlighten him further, and hopefully quell this new found need for interrogation that wouldn’t be out of place at our local police station!  His jaw dropped as I told him that years ago cyanoacrylate was invented as a medical adhesive, used to bond cut skin and tissue together.  Of course, we have all reached for it when we have smashed the family heirloom (albeit on purpose), needed to mend or stick all manner of things, ranging from handles back onto mugs or a last minute ditch at fixing your false nails (I speak from firsthand experience of the latter when I was a poor Industrial Design student!).  All of you in the world of adhesives realise that cyanoacrylates are commonly known as superglue! But is there such a thing as a Super Glue?

Super Glues are like superheroes, there are many and all claim to yield different powers, we all have our favourites, the only difference being that the former exist.   I, at present am becoming increasingly interested in the notion of powerful adhesives that can fix or bond anything together, but to my disdain there are still the non believers… and boy have I come across a few recently.  Sticking (excuse the pun) to an idea that is traditional is not always the best course of action.  I say make way for the old and let in the new, adhesives can replace the need for rivets and welding (labour intensive and expensive to boot) for example but there are traditionalists out there refusing to give them a chance. At Structural Adhesives Ltd we have a superb range of products that can eliminate the need for mechanical fixing….to me this is truly super glue technology at its finest.  After all the talk of glue ear, my young son is now left wondering if any of the other orifices of his body also produce sticky substances…….hmm I think that this is a subject I will not be addressing anytime in the near future! Stick close.