User:JohnHawkinson/16 Part Epoxy

16 Part Epoxy

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Title text: Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.

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Explanation

{{incomplete|This page was created by boiling down a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to epoxy — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings, named for the chemical substructure epoxide, which is the precursor component to these substances turning from liquids to solids.

A typical 2-part epoxy applicator.

Many types of epoxy are multi-part (usually two-part), where the components, such as resin and a hardener, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user squeezes out both of the separate chemicals onto the initial surface, or into a container, by depressing both syringes simultaneously. The user then thoroughly mixes the components, as quickly as possible. The mixture is spread over the surface(s) to be joined or protected, and/or into the gaps to be filled, and if there are separate surfaces involved they are quickly positioned and hed in place. The combined epoxy quickly cures, usually within a few minutes. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text, as with a couple of the substances involved, references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on others can also require special techniques or products to gain the best advantage. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. tetrachloroethylene, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also still not adhesing as intended.

Type	Real?	Explanation
	Yes	A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
	Yes	A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
	Yes	An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer. Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
Softener	Yes	The word is probably being used in humorous contrast to the "hardener" component, and perhaps also by analogy with laundry products that contain a fabric softener alongside a detergent. However, plasticizers are often added to polymers to make them more pliable, and thus to increase their impact resistance. These plasticizers tend to be lost over long periods of time (e.g. by evaporation or degradation), which contributes to old plastic becoming brittle.
Rosin	Yes	While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually a different kind of resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin (a kind of 'flux') is one of two parts that make up rosin-core solder, used in electronic work, where the rosin is located in the center (the "core") of the wire-like solder, similar to how graphite is in the core of a pencil. When heated hot enough to melt, it cleans corrosion and oxides from the surfaces of the metal parts to be joined, creating bare metal surfaces that can be 'wet' by the solder. In rosin-core solder, the two substances are touching rather than kept completely separate, since they're both in solid form, and don't react with each other even when they're heated to melt them. In this respect they differ from common combination epoxy chemicals that will be both liquids that cure together on contact even at room temperature. Rosin is also frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" or the folk song Old Rosin the Beau.
Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else	No	One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they are inadvertently applied to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it mostly only really useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.[actual citation needed] This may be a reference to cyanoacrylate adhesives ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin (sometimes to positive effect!) while often failing to bond the target materials.
Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance	Not effective as epoxy	'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable[actual citation needed]. Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces — especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done.
Placebo	Not in the field of adhesives	The placebo effect happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality it has no mechanism of action to produce that effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something, as opposed to simply having a psychosomatic effect. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
Minced duct tape	Not intentionally	Duct tape is widely used as a way to join and/or cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. Randall is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it less effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not bode well for the adhesive.
Acetone fragrance	No	Acetone is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (including nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive smell, and is actually toxic, making fragrance an odd reason for adding it to any product. It would give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds. The use of 'X fragrance' in an ingredient list, instead of simply listing the ingredient X, usually implies that the actual ingredient is some (cheaper) substitute for X with a similar scent. Since acetone is already inexpensive, perhaps some substitute has been discovered that provides the smell without weakening this glue, though that seems unlikely given the context.
Powdered bar magnets	Yes, but not in resin	This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
Polyethylvinylesteracetate	Not in epoxy	This appears to be a reference to Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate), some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode Lucy Does a TV Commercial and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate	Unclear	This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but a name with a "2-" prefix generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a functional group attached to the second position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit.
Salt and pepper to taste	Not for taste, but salt can be useful	Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy that isn't labelled safe-to-eat. However, salt, sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures. But when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas	No[citation needed]	Gorilla Glue is a popular brand of superglue which uses gorillas as its mascot. In this case, the label refers to the blood of a fictional breed of gorillas called “Gorilla Glue” gorillas, implying that Gorilla Glue is derived from or incorporates material taken from these animals. The epoxy ingredient list humorously treats this blood as a real component, despite Gorilla Glue being a modern synthetic adhesive. Although animal products have historically been used in some traditional glues, Gorilla Glue contains no such ingredients. Blood has been historically used in glue, though not typically that of gorillas.
Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours	Probably not	Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.

Transcript

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin (coloured beige)

Hardener (mango yellow)

Filler (darker yellow)

Softener (cream)

Rosin (very light red)

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else (yellow-dark green)

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance (light blue)

Placebo (white)

Minced duct tape (grey with a tint of green)

Acetone Fragrance (beige-yellow)

Powdered bar magnets (brown)

Polyethylvinylesteracetate (blue-white)

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate (blue-white but slightly darker)

Salt and pepper to taste (light grey)

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas (red)

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours (beige)