OSU researchers stumble across new adhesive

The researchers who developed it believe that it may revolutionise the tape industry since it is an environmentally benign product that works very well and costs less than existing adhesives based on petrochemicals.

The new adhesive can be produced from a range of vegetable oils and may find applications in duct tape, packaging tape, stick-on notes, labels, even postage stamps - almost any type of product requiring a pressure-sensitive adhesive.

The discovery was made essentially by accident while OSU scientists were looking for something that could be used in a wood-based composite product - an application that would require the adhesive to be solid at room temperature and melt at elevated temperatures. For that, the new product was a failure.

’We were working toward a hot-melt composite adhesive that was based on inexpensive and environmentally friendly vegetable oils. But what we were coming up with was no good for that purpose, it wouldn’t work,’ said Kaichang Li, a professor of wood science and engineering in the OSU College of Forestry.