Author: sally

New Video demonstrating the use of S-2300E to bond Corium Brick Slip Corners

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Legislation to improve the environment people live in is becoming increasingly common in our modern age. Awareness of the hazards of living with chemicals has grown, and increased the need for safer alternatives to the products that have been used for years.

Reactive acrylic bonding based on Methyl Methacrylate is an industry standard product that has been used since the 1970’s; but Methyl Methacrylate is highly flammable, extremely smelly, narcotic, sensitising and a respiratory irritant. Yet the industry has found it difficult to move away from this monomer because the adhesives made from it are high in strength and very reactive.

Many alternatives lack the bond strength or reactivity of Methyl Methacrylate based products. Also adhesive stability can be an issue, reactive systems are complex mixtures and it is always a balance between effectiveness and stability.

Like other adhesives, the baby has often been thrown out with the bathwater, in the name of health and safety. Well, this is my personal opinion although I do understand current trends are leading towards a safer environment for all.

We are left with the dilemma “how to make things safer without compromising the products performance?” We at Structural Adhesives Limited are dedicated to improving our products in line with current thinking and customer safety is a major concern for our development team. We developed low odour, safer alternatives in the 1990’s products such as S-605/01A and S-608/88A, and we are continuing out research to the present day with new products coming onto the market in 2019.

News recently reached earth from the international space station of a leak in a Russian Soyuz space craft. A collision with a micrometeorite caused a hole 2 mm in diameter which lead to a drop in pressure inside the space craft. The astronauts aboard the space station were in a position of needing to repair the leak to prevent oxygen concentration in the cabin falling over time. With guidance from the flight controllers in Huston and Moscow and the limited resources available the astronauts successfully sealed the hole. This repair work was carried out using epoxy resin and gauze tape carried in the maintenance kit aboard the space station. The epoxy resin used was a regular epoxy resin sold commercially in stores according to a retired Russian astronaut.

This news from outside our atmosphere highlights yet another, probably little-known application for epoxy resins. The use of epoxies in space demonstrates their ability to thrive even in harsh environments. Epoxy resin was the solution to repairing the international space station and may very well be the solution to thousands of problems still faced by architects and engineers.

A Blog is Born

One of the many jobs arising from being a Director of an adhesive manufacturing company like Structural Adhesives Ltd, is to be able to translate and communicate the business effectively. I have been given, what can only be described as the loathsome task of doing this via the land of technology, but which bit, eh? ‘Obviously she picked a Blog’, I hear you all say, however not without engaging in what can only be described as a sit-down pros and cons shortlist which I have always retained for projects of a serious nature. However ‘Social Media Platforms’ are serious business and I have actively sought advice about them from my teenage daughters, who are highly knowledgeable in its usage, functionality and very clear to highlight the importance of ones profile photo? Here we go…

Facebook (it used to be a no-go for those of us who have well and truly left their formative years. However it has become the first port of call for many a person who can remember the terms ‘floppy disk’, and other vintage technologies, and ‘its so you mum!’, I hear my daughter yell (thanks for that) then there’s linkedin the home of the ‘angry’ profile picture, twitter (a never-ending beep of tweets haunts my day from start to finish), snapchat (I am literally a ‘Grandma’ in comparison to its average user age), pinterest (artsy fartsy) tumblr, and a whole assortment of social media tools which seem to enjoy irritating me by leaving the letter ‘e’ off their title.

So here we are, at the Blog, the choice of millions and me.? I think this is supposed to be the point where I talk about the business but as this is my maiden voyage with my blog, (hopefully I won’t end up like the Titanic), I will leave you with an interesting fact about adhesives……..

You can make your own glue and you can eat it!? (personally I am not endorsing this, although it would add to your 5 a day!) vegetable glue is a simple recipe: starch and water, (flour or cornflour will do) et voila!

Now, for lessons in how to formulate, manufacture and supply adhesives, that’s an altogether different story and something that I will try and get to grips with (sorry, I really couldn’t resist!) over the life of this blog….adieu for now