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Posted

I was wondering if anyone knew if there where any incompatibilities with cyanoacrylate adhesives i.e. Super glue and the chemicals used in pyrotechnics. I use mostly Elmers glue all and hot melt but there have been a few times that I would like to use these fast curing adhesives. I often mix them with sodium bicarbonate to fill gaps and form small parts. I know of the exothermic reactions with cotton and a few other organics that are possible. There are also activators that promote fast curing, I do not know there composition so I was wondering about them also. I would be grateful for any help as I am fond of my digits and would like to keep them.

Posted
Anything with a lot of hydroxyl groups is the issue for cyanoacrylates and their tendency to heat up and potentially ignite. I would avoid contact with sugars,like lactose, for this reason. I'd also be careful around phenolic resin. You might want to do some small scale tests.
Posted
I've mixed phenolic resin dissolved in alcohol with superglue once before. It was like mixing oil and water. The superglue took forever to cure and was week when it did. I didn't notice any heating issues.
Posted

Anything with a lot of hydroxyl groups is the issue for cyanoacrylates and their tendency to heat up and potentially ignite. I would avoid contact with sugars,like lactose, for this reason. I'd also be careful around phenolic resin. You might want to do some small scale tests.

Would this apply to them in their uncured state or both cured and uncured? Thank for your help.

Posted
Just uncured as far as I know.
Posted

Potential risk is only with uncured glue.... as mumbles said the polymerization reaction (technically also a crystallization) is super exothermic. Being a crystallization, there are many things that can act as a catalyst and force the glue to cure faster which builds up heat is a much shorter period of time.. the obvious catalyst is accelerant sold in spray bottles, the next are FINE POWDERS fine powder creates nucleation sites for crystallization to occur and potentially speed up the reaction and build up excess heat.. in small quantities it doesn't produce a ton of heat.. We commonly use hot glue which is a lot hotter than I've seen super glue get.. I've gotten Burns on my hands from curing super glue, but never as bad as fresh hot glue.. but there's always that chance it the unknown that we don't foresee...

 

The last thing to consider is that super glue with fails in high temperature situations.. even mild heating can cause it to fail.. depended on application it could fail as an adhesive.

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Posted

Thank you for your insight.

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