An adhesive is any substance applied to the surfaces of materials that binds them

together and resists separation.

The term "adhesive" may be used interchangeably with glue, cement, mucilage, or paste.
Adhesives may be found naturally or produced synthetically.
When the Romans and Greeks developed the art of veneering and marquetry in 1-500
A.D., the making of animal and fish glues were refined and other types of adhesives were
developed, such as an adhesive from egg whites. In addition to egg whites, other natural
ingredients were used to prepare glue, such as blood, bones, hide, milk, cheese, vegetables,
and grains.
About 1750, the first glue patent was issued in Britain for a fish glue. Patents were then
rapidly issued for adhesives using natural rubber, animal bones, fish, starch, and milk
protein (casein).
In the 1900s increases in adhesive use and discovery were relatively gradual. Development
of synthetic adhesives accelerated rapidly, and innovation in the field continues to the
present.
Sealants are products used to seal surface of different materials against water penetration
or other liquids or prevent seepage. Its adhesive qualities plus the ability to fill the surface
pores to form a continuous skin on a surface are important.
Caulking is a process used to seal the seams in boats or ships in order to make them
watertight.
Sealants were first used in prehistory. Mud, grass and reeds were used to seal dwellings
from the weather such as the daub in wattle.
Natural sealants and adhesive-sealants included plant resins such as pine pitch and birch
pitch, bitumen, wax, tar, natural gum, clay (mud) mortar, lime mortar, lead, blood and egg.
In the 17th century, glazing putty was first used to seal window glass made with linseed oil
and chalk, later other drying oils were also used to make oil-based putties which were often
referred to as caulks.
In the 1920s polymers such as acrylic polymers, butyl polymers and silicone polymers
were first developed and used in sealants. By the 1960s synthetic-polymer-based sealants
were widely available

One- and Two-Component Sealants, Sealant Tapes

Sealants are commonly classified is by their physical form. The three major classes are:
1. One-component sealants: Packaged in a cartridge. No special equipment is required to
apply one-component sealants; chemical technologies include acrylic solvent-based, butyl
solvent-based, latex water-based, silicone and urethane;

2. Two-component sealants: Composed of two parts a base component and an activator

component. The activator is typically added to the base component and mixed for a set
period of time before application. Two-components require bulk guns and mixing equipment
to prepare and apply the sealant, and are typically packaged in separate buckets; chemical
technologies include epoxy-penetrating solvent-based (supplied as two-comopnent highsolid compounds), silicone, and urethane;
3. Sealant tapes: Similar to their PSA Tape "cousins", sealant tapes are supplied as sealant
on a flexible backing; types include butyl and silicone tapes (both preformed shape) and
urethane tape (supplied in a compressed state).

Adhesion is the adhering of similar or different types of materials to each other. Cohesion
is the inner strength of a material, such as the adhesive in this case.
The adhesive interactions between an adhesive and a substrate not only concern the actual
area of contact (adhesion zone) of the adhesive and substrate but also concern the state of
the adhesive in the vicinity of the surface of the substrate (transition zone).
In the cohesion zone, the adhesive is present in its normal state.
In the adhesion zone, the adhesive has a modified structure and composition due to its
adhesion to the surfaces of the substrates. This structure and composition is different from
the state in the cohesion zone. As a result, the macroscopic properties of the adhesive in the
adhesion zone are also altered.
The structure, composition and macroscopic properties of the adhesive continuously change
in the transition zone between the adhesion zone and the cohesion zone. There may for
example be separation of the components of the adhesive due to diffusion of the small
components of the adhesive into surface pores. The optimum composition of the adhesive is
hence adversely affected.