What properties necessitate the seemingly endless array of adhesives available? It seems like one good glue should be fine for everything. Can someone help me break them down into categories?

Question

I do construction and the number of adhesives is mind boggling. Really, the only glue that seems to bond anything is plumbers goop.

I guess I somewhat understand the concept of “solvent welding” in that certain glues melt some of the parts their bonding. But often, say with general construction adhesive, it’ll just not stick to plastics at all and you can peel it off after it dries.

Is there an easy way to understand all these things without pouring over the fine print of all the sundry tubes of stuff?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

I don’t think you will get a simple sum up. Adhesives are in active research and got a lot better in recent years. We discover more and more well working formulas each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

What surface they are good with depends on effects on the molecular level, so you won’t really find a one-size-fits-all solution or even simple categories.

Alone the molecule size in relation to each other can determine if it tends to crack at the interface when drying, causing a bunch of seemingly random compatability issues.