Flex-Seal Super Glue

[Norm Faith Jr.]

Hopefully Brett Buck, or someone, will see this and clarify or even explain the physics, or the mechanical properties behind what I just saw in a "Flex-Seal" commercial about their new "super glue." In the commercial they used one drop of their super glue on what appears to be a polished round "billet slug" attached to the center of a large cargo basket. Suspended from a forklift on a cable, is an identical billet slug. The two slugs are put together with the one drop of glue. The basket is then filled with concrete blocks. The forklift then picks up the whole rig, that weighs well over a ton. I was introduced to Eastman Kodak, Cyanoacrylate in the sixties while working on modifications for the F-4 Phantom wing folds and it was some "stout stuff," but what is being done in the commercial is extraordinary.  Now there are all kinds of super glues out there and I've probably used all of them at one time or another to build my planes. Short of accusing the commercial of "false advertisement," if what they are demonstrating is true...it brings me back to..."explain the physics, or the mechanical properties."
I'm thinking this may be a new Cyanoacrylate product we could find application for in our hobby.
Norm

[Steve Dwyer]

"HI BILL SWIFT HERE" .... Deborah Norville (cute gal) narrates a video of some testing done to evaluate the validity of Flex Glue in several applications. For the most part it seems to stand up to its claims but did fail to keep the land rover together after two attempts. Looking at its MSD Sheet its chemical properties appear to be comprised of ingredients that best employ surface tension bonding and surface engineering adhesion to achieve the results?? I'm not a chemist. One point made was it is recommended to give it cure time for still better results. I think it'd be way to heavy for our application and who knows about fuel resistivity?

I'm not going to hold my breath but it wouldn't surprise me to see Bill Swift offer as part of his "family of products" the newest glue for heart transplants. Bill Swift has always reminded me of the RONCO adds from the 70s, The Miracle Broom, Salad Spinner and Cookie Machine but he does appear to have achieved something unlike the passing through town elixir snake oil salesman of the past. When he's all done he could write a book on product marketing.

Steve

[qaz049]

Hopefully Brett Buck, or someone, will see this and clarify or even explain the physics, or the mechanical properties behind what I just saw in a "Flex-Seal" commercial about their new "super glue." In the commercial they used one drop of their super glue on what appears to be a polished round "billet slug" attached to the center of a large cargo basket. Suspended from a forklift on a cable, is an identical billet slug. The two slugs are put together with the one drop of glue. The basket is then filled with concrete blocks. The forklift then picks up the whole rig, that weighs well over a ton. I was introduced to Eastman Kodak, Cyanoacrylate in the sixties while working on modifications for the F-4 Phantom wing folds and it was some "stout stuff," but what is being done in the commercial is extraordinary.  Now there are all kinds of super glues out there and I've probably used all of them at one time or another to build my planes. Short of accusing the commercial of "false advertisement," if what they are demonstrating is true...it brings me back to..."explain the physics, or the mechanical properties."
I'm thinking this may be a new Cyanoacrylate product we could find application for in our hobby.
Norm

Seems like the CA is used in conjunction with a phenomena called the "Gauge (aka gage) Plate, or Gage Block" effect.  You mentioned that the two surfaces seem to be polished.

The act of joining two such surfaces is called "wringing".

From Wiki:

"Wringing is the process of sliding two blocks together so that their faces bond. Because of their ultra-flat surfaces, when wrung, gauge blocks adhere to each other tightly. Properly wrung blocks may withstand a 300 Newton (67 lbf) pull. The mechanism is a combination of:

    (1) Vacuum applies pressure between the blocks because the air is squeezed out of the joint.
    (2) Surface tension from oil and water vapor that is present between the blocks.
    (3) Atomic attraction (Metallic Bonding?) then occurs when two very flat surfaces are brought into contact; this force causes gauge blocks to adhere even without surface lubricants, and even in a vacuum

The latter is the most important.

The ability of a given gauge block to wring is called Wringability; it is officially defined as "the ability of two surfaces to adhere tightly to each other in the absence of external means." The minimum conditions for wringability are a surface finish of 1 microinch (0.025 μm) AA or better, and a flatness of at least 5 μin (0.13 μm)."

In combination with CA some impressive demonstrations of strength can be made. The one you describe has been used from at least the 1970's.

[Brett Buck]

Deborah Norville (cute gal)

   Agreed, she really got a bad deal when she was on the Today show.

   BTW, while I am flattered, I am far from an expert on material science, and I haven't seen this ad. But as noted above, with a perfect fit, I think you would find that the stress on the joint is not inordinately high, maybe a few thousand PSI at most. 

     Brett

   

[Chuck Matheny]

In 1982 when I was working in Atlas Van Lines Diesel shop in St Louis county,a salesman came in with some super glue not unlike that.. He put one drop on the end of a Cummins piston pin, glued  it to another pin and we could not get them apart. Didn't even wipe the oil off them. Cost, $237.99 per ounce.  We didn't buy any.
The original stuff was part of a design for liquid sights for antiaircraft lens during WW2, this based on a special on the History Channel before they got stuck on alien life forms on earth one million years ago. 

Oh man...just think of all  at all the cracked heads and blocks and transmission gear teeth  you guys could have fixed with that miracle glue...!!