Hardly anything is possible today in engineering without adhesives. They are even competing with rivets and screws. Cars and airplanes are now built with the smart joining technology of “bonding.” But the success of adhesives stands and falls with the development of appropriate raw materials tailored to their substrates in the best way possible. Rubber and glass are as different as night and day in this regard.

Engineers have developed ultra-strong adhesives that hold even steel girders together, but now there is increasing demand for products that are intended to bond only temporarily and can then be removed without leaving any residue behind. These days, anyone can make adhesives stick. The challenges now faced by chemists tend to be found on the other end of the adhesion scale — in letting go again. “Low Tack is High Tech”: this slogan summarizes the latest research efforts of LANXESS in this field.