Adhesive

For a general and scholarly article about Adhesives see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhesives

DIY adhesives

By Purpose

Wood

• PVA
• Animal
• Resin
• Polyurethane
• Acrylic

Metal

• Epoxy
• Polyurethane
• Contact

Plastics - PVC, ABS

• Solvent glues
• Solvents
• Gloss paint glues pvc

Plastics - hard

• Epoxy
• Polyurethane
• ...

Plastics - polyethylene, nylon

• nothing :-)
• some glues can adhere flamed polythene and nylon

Fabric

• Latex, eg Copydex

Paper & Card

• PVA
• Gum
• Glue sticks (eg Pritt-stick) (PVA or PVP)
• Spray-type photo fixing etc
• Wallpaper paste
• Starch

By Type

2-part epoxy ("Araldite" etc)

• Tough
• chemical resistant.
• Some types are heat resistant, some not. The ones that aren't may claim they are on the basis that they survive heat, even if they do lose all strength when hot.
• Grey liquid steel types from car accessory shops are much tougher than Araldite etc.
• Available as liquid resin tubes, putty sticks, or in standard building cartridges with automatic mixing nozzles.

hot-melt glue

• Almost instant setting
• Handy for creating structures where glue needs to set at each stage before the next can be glued
• not the strongest most durable glue

PVA liquid

PVA has a wide range of uses in building and DIY.

Caulk

Caulk is a flexible acrylic formula

Wallpaper Paste

how long will it store once mixed?

Starch

• Basic wallpaper and card/paper glue.
• To make starch glue, boil some starch (eg flour, oats, etc). Add a little alum to prevent mould if you're not using it immediately.

Adhesive Selector Grid

Which adhesive is best for any 2 given materials?

http://www.elessar.org.uk/adhesives.pdf

See Also

PVA