New glue is powder beads until smashed

When it comes to the glue we use in school or around the house, the stuff is ruined when it dries out. Scientists from Osaka Institute of Technology in Japan have developed new type of glue that is almost the opposite of current glue. With the new glue, the adhesive starts out as dry beads and doesn't turn into a liquid glue until it's squished.

The powder is made of something called liquid marbles, which are beads of liquid coated in solid particles that trap fluid inside, those spheres are made of liquid latex in this case. That latex layer is then rolled in a layer of calcium-carbonate particles.

The result are little spheres that are a few millimeters wide and are easy to pour into the area where adhesion is desired. When the particles need to be activated, all the user has to do is put them under pressure for a few seconds to expose the liquid to the surface.

In testing, the new dry glue was found to form stronger bonds than pressure sensitive adhesives like those used on sticky tape. The glue is able to adhere to substrates like rough wood, something that is hard for tape to do.

SOURCE: New Scientists