53 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
53 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
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World's Most Powerful Glue
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First Published by Information Unlimited
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Transcribed to the electronic media for you by Thallion of WUFO MCMXCIV.
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Glues, or adhesives, have always been based on such natural
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products as horse hoofs and plant dextrans, (gums). These glues left much
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to be desired and in many cases were replaced by purely chemical materials
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like epoxies. These, however, require the use of two components, mixing
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etc. and are in many ways messy and inconvenient.
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Eastman Chemical Company some years ago synthesized a simple
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chemical called Methyl-alpha-Cyanoacrylate. This colorless liquid belongs
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to a class of organic chemicals called acrylate or acrylic monomers.
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O
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CH O-C-C=CH <- Methyl-alpha-Cyanoacrylate
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3 | 2
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CðN
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Workers with this material were expecting to convert it into a
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polymer (like fiberglass) by reacting it with a catalyst. They were
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surprised to find, however, that it was very reactive and polymerized very
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readily in the presence of a little oxygen.
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...----CH----------CH---------CH---------CH---------CH--------...
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| O | O | O | O | O
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| | | | |
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HC--C-OCH HC--C-OCH HC--C-OCH HC--C-OCH HC--C-OCH
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| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3
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CðN CðN CðN CðN CðN
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The acrylate polymer.
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This polymer proved to be an extremely effective adhesive, so
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powerful that it could bind together almost any two materials (such as
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wood, leather, glass, metal etc.) The adhesive could be stored in tubes as
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the monomer and drops could be placed anywhere to polymerize and leave a
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very tough bond.
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Because the final adhesive is a polymer, the bond formed is
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extremely though. Single drops of the monomer have been able to support
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the weight of elephants. The glue is so powerful that care has to be taken
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to avoid getting any between the fingers, as it is almost impossible to get
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them apart. This material comes under many tradenames, including Eastman
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410.
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