Making Glue Go Further: Mechanized Foaming of Adhesives

Air, introduced into an adhesive in the form of a finely dispersed foam, has often been considered to have excellent possibilities as an extender. It is cheap and gives the adhesive two characteristics in particular that are often quite desirable in gluing: decreasing penetration and increasing bulk. Arthur D. Little, Inc. working jointly with industry has developed a technique of mechanical foaming that produces stabilizing foams that can be handled in commercial operations without excessive control and without major alteration of application equipment. Specific foam-stabilizing materials, while relatively expensive, affect the final mixed glue cost only slightly because their usage, based on the total mixed glue, is small. Patents have been applied for covering this and other aspects of mechanical foaming. Foaming is continuous, with the rate of foaming adjusted to the approximate rate of adhesive use. Adhesive is foamed to three to nine times its original volume and pumped to the spreader. Though foamed adhesives will not revolutionize the field, better coverage, easier spread control, less wastage, and possibility of bonding extremely porous materal are impressive.

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