Glass Adhesives

In the context here the word of glass refers to glass in the sheet form, as distinct from the fiber or filament form. The boding of glass fiber in the making of laminates is a different application, about which much has been written.

Epoxy resins were among the first high strength thermosetting adhesives capable of bonding glass, an application which is often of vital importance although the quantity of adhesive used is probably small. It is relatively easy to bond glass to glass but in bonding glass to other materials large differences in thermal expansion may exist. This makes it advisable to cure the adhesive at its operational temperature in order to minimize the risk of the glass breaking as the temperature changes.

Success largely depend on the nature of the glued assembly; if it is fairly massive and is required to operate through a range of temperature, the problem is difficult. The addition of a flexibilizer has obvious advantages, provided a decrease in other properties is acceptable; polysulfide rubbers have been comprehensively studied and probably offer the best solution in difficult conditions.

Although a good deal of the glass bonding done with bisphenol A adhesives is concerned with small objects, there are two large size applications that have been investigated, namely in curtain walling and in double glazed windows.