<p dir="ltr">Adhesives surround us on a daily basis without us even being aware. They are the unsung heroes of most commercial products we use. Whether it be the car you drive, the shoes you wear, or the furniture you sit on, glue is keeping everything together. Adhesives have been used since the cavemen utilizing tar for keeping stone tools together. Over time, adhesives have exploded in the scientific landscape through a multitude of chemical pathways. Current products are comprised of epoxies, cyanoacrylates, polyurethanes, and many others. The need for adhesives in the manufacturing of products is consistently increasing over the years in the goal of light weighting without compromising on performance of the final material. However, this comes at the cost of glues being both toxic and nonrecyclable. With this in mind an improvement was needed to address both augmenting the glue strength and improving the sustainability of the adhesive.</p><p dir="ltr">Hierarchical structures can be observed on the micro scale in natural materials. Tree limbs are able to withstand a tremendous amount of force applied from winds, human machinery, and animal life. Why they are so resistant lies in the fact there is an ordered structure of multiple length scales working in tandem upholding the integrity of the limb. The question to ask then relating this to adhesives is if there is a way to create a glue that can disperse the forces amongst the overall material without catastrophic failure. The use of fillers such as calcium carbonate and different adhesive strain rates can be used to mimic this interaction.</p><p dir="ltr">Addressing the sustainability factor of current glues, the need was set to create a more bio-based alternative using widely available materials that are cost effective and do not compromise on overall performance. Competing with or outperforming the current market adhesives was a goal in mind. Two generations of bio-based adhesives were generated through multiple formulations using epoxidized soybean oil as the common factor. Soybean oil is one of the most widely produced vegetable oils in the country. Utilizing the oil in a functionalized way through epoxide rings, the replacement of current epoxy technology was achieved.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/25595547 |
| Date | 12 April 2024 |
| Creators | Clayton R Westerman (18360096) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Hierarchy_and_Sustainability_Investigating_the_Use_of_Adhesives_in_a_Petroleum-Dependent_World_Through_the_Lens_of_Natural_Materials/25595547 |
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