Cyanoacrylate in Foot & Nail Care Guide

Cyanoacrylate is a tenacious adhesive, particularly when used to bond non-porous materials or those that contain minute traces of water. It is also very good at bonding body tissue, and while this can be a bothersome (or even dangerous) side effect during everyday use, it has been exploited for the benefit of suture-less surgery.

Cyanoacrylate glue has a low shearing strength, which has also led to its use as a temporary adhesive in cases where the piece can easily be sheared off at a later time. Common examples include mounting a workpiece to a sacrificial glue block on a lathe,[citation needed] and tightening pins and bolts.

Cyanoacrylates are used to assemble prototype electronics (see wire wrap), flying model aircraft, and as retention dressings for nuts and bolts. Their effectiveness in bonding metal and general versatility have also made them popular amongst modeling and miniatures hobbyists.[citation needed] They are used to re-harden the boxes and shanks of ballerinas' pointe shoes as well.

Cyanoacrylate glue's ability to resist water has made it popular with marine aquarium hobbyists for fragging corals. The cut branches of hard corals such as Acropora can be glued to a piece of live rock (harvested reef coral) or Milliput (epoxy putty) to allow the new frag to grow out.[citation needed] In fact, it is actually safe to use directly in the tank, unlike silicone, which must be cured to be safe.[citation needed]

Standard cyanoacrylate adhesive does not bond well to smooth glass, although there are special formulations which are more suitable. A mechanical adhesive bond may be formed around glass fibre mat or tissue to reinforce joints or to fabricate small parts.

When added to baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), cyanoacrylate glue forms a hard, lightweight filler/adhesive (baking soda is first used to fill a gap then the adhesive is dropped onto the baking soda). This works well with porous materials that the glue doesn't work well with alone. This method is sometimes used by aircraft modelers to assemble or repair polystyrene foam parts[citation needed]. It is also used to repair small nicks in the leading edge of composite propeller blades on light aircraft. Note that the reaction between cyanoacrylate and baking soda is very exothermic (heat producing) and also produces noxious vapors. See Reaction with cotton below.

Cyanoacrylate is used as a forensic tool to capture latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces like glass, plastic, etc.[1] Cyanoacrylate is warmed to produce fumes which react with the invisible fingerprint residues and atmospheric moisture to form a white polymer (polycyanoacrylate) on the fingerprint ridges. The ridges can then be recorded. The developed fingerprints are, on most surfaces (except on white plastic or similar), visible to the naked eye. Invisible or poorly visible prints can be further enhanced by applying a luminescent or non-luminescent stain.

Thin CA glue is also used as a wood finish, particularly among woodturners.[citation needed] It can give a fast drying, glossy finish to wood.

Some rock climbers use cyanoacrylate to repair damage to the skin on their fingertips. Similarly, stringed-instrument players can form protective finger caps (in addition to calluses) with cyanoacrylates.[citation needed]

Superglue was in veterinary use for mending bone, hide, and tortoise shell by at least the early 1970s.[citation needed] The inventor of cyanoacrylates, Harry Coover, said in 1966 that a superglue spray was used in the Vietnam War to retard bleeding in wounded soldiers until they could be brought to a hospital. As it can irritate the skin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not approve superglue's civilian medical use until 1998 when a variant called 2-octyl-cyanoacrylate was developed.[citation needed]

Some glues are 100% ethyl cyanoacrylate,[citation needed] but other glues may be have a mixed composition (e.g., 91% ECA, 9% poly(methyl methacrylate), <0.5% hydroquinone, and a small amount of organic sulfonic acid).[2]...