Glue
Albanian Saimir Strati glues down a bean onto the outline of the Albanian on a wall in the Hotel Prishtina for his mosaic artwork in Pristina, Kosovo, November 2, 2012. Strati, who has already won six Guinness World Records since 2006 for other mosaic artworks, created the mosaic in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Independence of Albania by putting together approximately 1,350,000 bean grains into a 65-square-meter artwork for which he was awarded his seventh Guinness World Record on November 26. Albanians will celebrate the anniversary on November 28. Picture taken November 2, 2012. Reuters

A new form of adhesive has been invented to function even under wet conditions such as underwater or inside the human body. Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, or NTU, in Singapore have recently developed “Voltaglue,” which can harden when an electric voltage is applied to it.

This latest development, the scientists say, unlocks a host of possible practical and commercial uses for glue, such as making underwater repair works for ships and pipes or joining body tissues during a surgery. It took over a year to develop, according to Assistant Professor Terry Steele, the lead scientist for this project from NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering.

“Most glues in the market don’t work under wet conditions, much like how sticky tapes won’t work if the surface is wet, since the adhesive will stick to the water instead of the surface,” says Steele. Common adhesives harden by utilising methods that are unsuitable in wet environments. Epoxy, usually used in electronic devices, needs to be baked in high temperature, around 150 degrees Celsius. Superglue, on the other hand, only hardens upon contact with air moisture.

“We had to find a way to make glue which cures when we want it without being affected by the environmental conditions, so electricity was the best approach for us,” Steele explains. According to him, Voltaglue’s hardness can be adjusted, depending on the amount of time a voltage is applied to it. This process, called electrocuring, enables the new adhesive to be customised based on the need for it. “For example, if we are gluing metal panels underwater, we want it hard enough to stick for a long time. However, for medical applications, we want the glue to be more rubber-like so it wouldn’t cause any damage to the surrounding soft tissues,” he says.

To create Voltaglue, Steele’s team used hydrogels made of carbenes, carbon molecules which are capable of hooking on to any surface nearby when electricity is applied. The innovation has been patented through NTUitive, the university’s commercialisation arm.

Apart from being able to work in wet conditions, the new glue could be made reversible, meaning it could be cured and un-cured using electricity. Manufacturers, such as automakers, stand to gain from this technology, as it could enable them to assemble and dissemble various parts with less use of bolts, nuts, and screws. Steele says he is expanding research on this particular area, using the competitive research grant amounting to US$670,000 from Singapore’s Ministry of Education.

Steele and his team – composed of 11 researchers – are also looking for ways to improve Voltaglue, with an objective to make it harden faster. The new electrocuring glue currently hardens in about 30 seconds. They are also exploring to make the technology more accessible to more consumers, with the aid of a new start-up or industry partnerships. The research project was recently published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed scientific journal under the Nature Publishing Group.

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