Commercially available paraloid based adhesives

John Greenwood <john.greenwood [at] canberra__edu__au> writes

>I have recently relocated from the UK to Australia and I am in the
>process of re-establishing conservation laboratories in the
>University of Canberra.  For various reasons, mainly financial, I
>have decided to make up my own Paraloid B72 adhesive rather than use
>the familiar HMG adhesive in a tube.  Whilst becoming increasingly
>sticky I was wondering if any conservators know of other Paraloid
>based adhesives other than HMG that are commercially available from
>hardware suppliers and have similar properties.

I do not know of any other commercially available B-72 adhesive. We
now know that HMG has been including cellulose nitrate in their B-72
HMG (P. Nel and D. Lau, "Identification of a formulation change in a
conservation-grade adhesive", in Holding it All Together, edited by
J. Ambers, C. Higgitt, L. Harrison, and D. Saunders, London:
Archetype Publications Ltd., 2009, pp. 99-106.)  Therefore, it
certainly is a good idea to make up your own.

I suggest that you make the B-72 mixture a little thinner, that is,
evaporate off less acetone when you make it, and you will find it is
much less sticky and less bubbly.  Also, be sure that you add a
small amount of fumed silica, as this also improves the rheology of
the adhesive.  For my latest "recipe" see my paper in the
above-mentioned publication:  Koob, S. P., "Paraloid B-72(r): 25
years of use as a consolidant and adhesive for ceramics and glass",
pp. 113 -119.

Stephen Koob
Chief Conservator
The Corning Museum of Glass
One Museum Way
Corning, NY 14830


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:42
                 Distributed: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
                       Message Id: cdl-23-42-006
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