With all those different adhesives lining the shelves of craft stores and home improvement stores, how can know which glue you need? For some surfaces, contact cement is the only effective bonding material.
Contact cement, or contact adhesive, is a neoprene rubber adhesive that creates a fast, flexible, permanent bond. It can be used for almost anything but is especially useful for nonporous materials that other adhesives can't glue together. Contact cement works best on plastics, veneers, rubber, glass, metal and leather. Laminates are hard, thin plastic surfaces glued to countertops with contact cement.
Other glues wouldn't work because they go on wet, and need to dry after the parts are assembled. In nonporous materials, the moisture can't escape once the parts are joined, and the glue either can't dry completely or takes a long time and requires the use of clamps. Contact cement is already dry on contact. Once the solvent evaporates, the cement forms a flexible bond with no residual moisture. There is no need for clamping, so it can be used for gluing floor tiles, as well. Contact cement is different from other adhesives because it needs to air-dry for 15 to 20 minutes before assembling.
The cement needs to be applied to both parts, so that the glue actually bonds to itself. Contact cement is not sticky; the glue itself is a solid substance. The solvent is added for easier application and must evaporate completely before joining the two parts. Solvent-based contact cement releases volatile organic compounds, which are regulated by the U. Environmental Protection Agency because they are toxic and flammable.
Make sure your work area is well ventilated. Newer water-based contact cements are nontoxic and environmentally friendly. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. We've come to our lesson on Rubber Cement and Contact Cement.
In this lesson, I'll brifely touch on the different kinds of cement available, what they are used for, and the kinds of repairs you can make with rubber and contact cement, before we dive into a fun decorative project. Rubber cement is most likely an adhesive that a lot of us have been using since we were kids.
Remember the first time you opened the jar with the cute little brush in the cap, and had the thought "This smells awful! I shouldn't be anywhere near this goop! Rubber and contact cements are so stinky because they are a very specific kind of glue which suspends synthetic rubber polymers in a solvent.
Rubber and contact cement are made from elastic polymers, like latex or neoprene, or some other synthetic rubber, that has been dissolved and suspended in a solvent such as acetone, hexane, toluene, or even water. Keeping the rubber in a solvent solution allows the rubber to remain fluid enough to be spread and used as an adhesive. These cements are considered drying adhesives , meaning that as the solvents evaporate, the "rubber" portion remains behind, ready to form a strong and flexible bonds.
There are many different kinds of rubber and contact cements, some that work as a multi-surface adhesive, others are designed to work on specific surfaces. Always be sure to read the back of the bottle to make sure your surfaces will be able to be mated with the adhesive you are choosing. Lastly, I would say that Rubber Cement is the number one most misused glue. That's right, I'm calling you out - you've been doing it wrong.
But the steps and projects below will cement you back on the right path :D. Rubber Cement is pretty special in that is has the ability to form repositionable OR permanent bonds. If you need to create a repositionable bond I'm lookin' at you, scrapbookers , coat the back of your bobble, and allow the cement to cure completely before applying it to your paper.
If you ever have applied an excess of rubber cement, it can be removed without damaging your bonding surface or wrinkling the sheet of paper by gently pulling it off - they also make handy rubber cement erasers that help lift excess up.
Rubber cement is an adhesive made from elastic polymers typically latex mixed in a solvent such as acetone, hexane, heptane or toluene to keep them fluid enough to be used. Water-based formulas, often stabilised by ammonia, are also available.
Rubber cement can be removed from non-porous materials. So if you apply it to glass or metal, it forms a non-permanent bond with another surface. I used this technique to stick paper to windows for creative signage and decoration.
It usually smells heavily of solvents and forms very permanent bonds. When working with contact cement, it is often suggested to use a respirator and to work in very well ventilated areas.
Contact cement is most commonly used for construction grade laminating, this means adhering countertops to cupboards, and metal flashing onto the sides of buildings. This adhesive is interesting, in that it never fully cures. The solvent completely evaporates, leaving behind a layer of tacky, rubbery glue polymers - ready to grab on to like polymers coated onto another bonding surface. When the surfaces are mated - the bond is instant.
If the contact cement you choose to work with needs to be thinned, be sure you are adding the same solvent the rubber is already suspended in. Removing rubber cement is usually pretty easy, it should just peel back from whatever surface you have applied it to, or you could the aforementioned eraser. This easily removed adhesive property makes rubber cement perfect for masking off metal fixtures when painting.
When the glue dries, it becomes a spongy solid and can be peeled back carefully from the part you were protecting.
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