A designer is making a protective display case from clear acrylic (PMMA) sheet to house a model aircraft in a museum. (a) Name the type of adhesive used to ...
Question 1 Report
A designer is making a protective display case from clear acrylic (PMMA) sheet to house a model aircraft in a museum.
(a) Name the type of adhesive used to join two pieces of acrylic sheet together. [1]
(b) Describe how this adhesive creates a bond between the acrylic pieces. [2]
Answer Details
(a) The adhesive used to join two pieces of acrylic sheet together is solvent cement (also known as Tensol cement or acrylic cement). [1] This is a specialised adhesive based on dichloromethane that works specifically on acrylic (PMMA).
(b) The solvent cement is applied along the joint edge using a fine brush or syringe applicator. The solvent chemically dissolves the surface of both acrylic pieces at the joint line, softening the polymer chains in both faces. [1] As the solvent evaporates, the dissolved surfaces fuse together at the molecular level, creating a bond that is almost as strong as the original material. This is not a conventional adhesive bond where a separate material bridges two surfaces; instead, the two pieces effectively become one continuous piece of acrylic at the joint. [1]
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