Labels often leave a sticky residue on new items. It takes a lot of scrubbing or special chemicals to get those off. To eliminate this problem the adhesive should evaporate on its own. The label would have a sealing back layer that prevents evaporation, except very slowly at the edges. When the label is removed the adhesive layer that is exposed to air is huge and it evaporates in a few hours or days.-- kbecker, Sep 15 2003 More trash http://www.wired.co...,1412,58906,00.html [kbecker, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] A sticky link for [DN] http://www.loctite....?pageid=11&layout=1You would be scared about all the stuff they glue these days, but it often works better than rivets or bolts. [kbecker, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] So what is this adhesive made out of? Until you can describe it, MFD, magic.-- oxen crossing, Sep 15 2003 A friend just damaged a nice wood carving with solvent because it discolored the wood. The same happened to me at various occasions, and you never know in advance what solvent is safe for a plastic (unless you are the manufacturer). Anyway, why use extra chemicals if you can avoid it?
They can make Cyanacrylate adhesive that is activated by moisture, they can make a DVD that wipes itself (link) so it becomes garbage. It should not be too hard to make something sticky to hold on a label that decomposes to something volatile. We are not talking about a heavy duty adhesive that holds together an airplane.-- kbecker, Sep 15 2003 Airplanes are held together with glue??!-- DeathNinja, Sep 15 2003 Not for very long.-- Detly, Sep 15 2003 [DN] Yes they are, in particular the rudder flaps. See link for a start on more scary stories.-- kbecker, Sep 15 2003 [oxen crossing], this is a valid invention idea and so what if [kbecker] doesn't know the exact chemical makeup of the adhesive. Chemicals that lose their adhesive properties as they oxidize seem well within the realm of the possible to me.-- bristolz, Sep 29 2003 Pending further discussion, MFD removed, for now. If [kbecker] had mentioned //losing adhesive properties as it oxidizes// I would not have mfd'd in the first place. I think evaporation of the adhesive, leaving a perfectly clean original surface is a bit WIBNI, and needs further description to support it. If the idea described [bristolz]s oxidizing adhesive, and a method for removing it (seems unlikely that it would just fall off), then it would seem more reasonable to me.-- oxen crossing, Sep 29 2003 It's an interesting idea. Since plastics can be made from cornstarch, and thus be biodegradeable, perhaps it would be possible to make glues from cornstarch.
Suppose that the glue was soluble in water but the label was made of biodegradeable plastic to protect the glue from premature release. Once you strip the label the glue dissolves.-- Jkirk3279, Nov 12 2003 I find that some labels just peel off really easily, others leave a horrible papery mess that needs a lot of work to get off and yet others won't budge unless you pour a gallon of solvent on them. So, why don't "they" make all the labels out of the stuff that peels off easilly.-- Micky Dread, Nov 12 2003 3M was doing super-strong adhesive development when they invented the adhesive that powers Post-It notes. The particular qualities are there: easy to remove and leaves no residue. Maybe they could market the adhesive without the paper...-- Cedar Park, Nov 12 2003 random, halfbakery