Stickier adhesives discovered at Surrey
Physics researchers from the University of Surrey have discovered that adding a small amount of clay to adhesives makes them stick better. The clay was combined with soft plastic to make nanoparticles, which have a size that are more than 200 times the width of a human hair. When the nanoparticles were added at very low concentrations to normal adhesives, more energy was required to pull the adhesive off of surfaces. Applications for this type of adhesive include tapes, labels, and decals but also high performance areas such as in the aerospace and automobile industry.
The right arrangement of the clay in nanoparticles was needed to improve the adhesive's performance. If the clay was added to an adhesive without being included in a nanoparticle, there was not a large effect on the stickiness. Plastic nanoparticles without clay likewise were not effective. The researchers found that only the combination of the clay and the plastic in the nanoparticles used higher energies when the adhesive was being pulled off surfaces.
The research was carried out by Dr. Tao Wang, who recently completed his PhD degree, under the supervision of Professor Joe Keddie, in close collaboration with a group at the University of Warwick, led by Dr. Stefan Bon. Funding for Dr. Wang's study was provided by a University Research Scholarship and an Overseas Research Student award.
The results were reported in Soft Matter.
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