In the Lab with LOCTITE® - Methyl Methacrylate Adhesives [MMA] vs Elastomeric Adhesives: Overview

Host Phil Godeck and Henkel Engineer, Chris Burke, demonstrate the advantages of flexible LOCTITE® elastomeric adhesives versus more rigid materials like epoxies and Methyl Methacrylate Adhesives [MMA] when it comes to thermal shock resistance and repairability.

[@AudioFileZ]

MMA can be very flexible and resiliently strong in mixture. I'm a third-generation shoe repairer as since 1946 we have maintained a separate shoe repair facility from our shoe retail store. I've had to attempt to learn about many synthetic sole materials and still feel a bit miffed at times. Anyway...Renia (A German Corp.) makes an adhesive called Colle de Cologne which by what detective work I can do (they don't won't to tell their proprietary mixture even if they have to state the constituent ingredients) seems to be MMA with a drying agent of Ethylacetate and a thinning agent of Xylene. This glue does very well with most rubber and nylon sole materials, to the point that after 48-hrs the bond may exceed the strength of the actual rubber sole's material. The tricky part is when you try to use it with PU (poly-urethane), TR (thermoplastic rubber), and PVC (poly vinyl chloride plus similar plastics) I almost feel that I haven't "cracked the code" yet on these materials. It is my belief these three materials, in order for a secure adhesive bond to form, must be prepped beyond the usual sanding. Each material likely requires a unique to that material regimen of some kind of chemical preparation before applying adhesive. Of course this depends very much on actually identifying the correct material. Some of the above, when sanded, melt like candle wax...others particle out like fibrous wood. Looks can be deceiving. Then, every once in a while I come upon a shoe/boot sole made of a very durable synthetic rubber (now off patent) originally concocted by The Shell Oil Company. That would be Kraton®rubber. I've never found a glue that won't let go (mostly sooner) from these soles. Whenever we get one of these we use ShoeGoo. Oh, JOY, JOY...the world of bizarre shoe and boot sole materials. I'm convince the only reason tires aren't made from cheap PU is that within a decade earth's population would be negative. PU's fail and fail catastrophically in a normal regime, therefore nothing which is critical to life's safety and well-being should ever include anything made in even the smallest part of PU. I want to start a "I ABHOR PU" association. LOL.

[@carpenter3069]

Would have been nice to see how the MMA did in the liquid nitrogen.

[@parkerbirch1475]

I live in southern California and i cant tell you how many times its been as cold a liquid nitrogen.here its good to know l'll be ready.

[@flfl186]

Fahrenheit - archaic!

[@leebannister3759]

So are MMAs better then crazy glue (cyanacrylate) and epoxy at repairing broken glasses (metal frames) at the point of failure?

[@garyvanremortel5218]

I think a crystal clear UV cure material would be best for glass repair and silver soldering for metal frames.