Section One Introduction to Joining

Section One Introduction to Joining

Section One Introduction to Joining

Humans have benefited from joining materials for thousands of years. The technological leaps made to create tools and structures gave early humans an important survival advantage by saving time and energy and increasing productivity and efficiency. From the earliest example of joining stone and organic materials, such as those illustrated in Figure 1, to today’s high-tech adhesives, humans have continually advanced the art and science of joining materials with a variety of techniques.

Figure 1 A primitive weapon made by bonding two different materials (wood and stone) using a primitive adhesive and mechanical reinforcement with a string of natural material
Figure 1 A primitive weapon made by bonding two different materials (wood and stone) using a primitive adhesive and mechanical reinforcement with a string of natural material

Archaeologists found the first evidence of adhesives in a 70,000-year-old burial site where broken pottery vessels had been repaired with sticky tree resins. Babylonians used a tar-like adhesive almost 6,000 years ago to glue ivory eyes into statues. Paintings and murals from around 1500 to 1000 B.C. depict the details of craftsmen gluing wood. Many cultures throughout the centuries employed glues made from animal hide, bones, milk, beeswax and grains in furniture, veneering and marquetry, and ship and weapon building. The treasures of the Egyptian pharaohs, including those discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, were joined with animal-based adhesives.

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