Ceramic Repair Guide: Choosing the best Ceramic Glue
Before starting to attempt a repair on any ceramic Glue material, it is necessary to understand the type of ceramic one will be working with. If the ceramic is light and smooth, such as the one used in pottery and other light décor, using a cyanoacrylate based super glue is a smart choice to go with as it is cheap and the application is simple and easy.
Epoxy Based Glues
Epoxies are a great option to fix ceramics due to their ability to fill in the voids and the pores of the ceramic artifacts, thereby enhancing the binding properties. Epoxy resins are also used for filling in the voids of the ceramics. An epoxy glue typically consists of two substances: Resin and a hardener. The resin is used to fill in the void first and then a hardener is used to bind the resin to the ceramic and help it form a strong bond. All epoxy-based glues are used by the same method.
One disadvantage of epoxy resins is that they take considerably longer time to set and dry compared to superglues. However, to compensate for that, epoxy resins are resistant to higher temperatures.
Super Glue
Superglues are ideal for light ceramic Glue and the ones which experiences only the pulling force. Superglue is usually made with a compound called cyanoacrylate. Superglue has several unique properties such as quick air-drying, does not require mixing and longer setting times like epoxy resins. However, they do not fill voids and fail at higher temperatures. Superglue are best suited for artifacts that experience pulling force, whereas epoxy resins are best suited for pressure related forces, such as downward force like experienced by a table.
Fixing Your Flooring
Ceramic chips and repaired flooring are best repaired by epoxy resins owing to the porosity of the ceramics.
Apart from the usual epoxy resins that come with a resin and a hardener, there are also certain epoxy glues that come designated for ceramic repairs. They feature a special composition mixture that has a setting time much like superglue and some may even be suited for smooth, non-porous surfaces. They can be used for gluing soft surfaces such as polished wood etc.
There are certain ceramics adhesives that are specifically designed for indoor applications. For ceramic dinnerware, the glue needs to be dishwasher safe to prevent damage to the dishwasher as well as the glue itself. Before selecting a ceramic glue, it is advised to go through the packaging to know the details of the type of materials it is intended to be used on, setting time, opacity etc. In addition to this, it is also important to know the type of ceramic that you’re working on, to filter the choices accordingly.
Managing the broken pieces
Ceramic repairs are ideal only when there is a simple breakage or a crack or two. Completely shattered ceramics or the ones with a large number of pieces is much more complicated to deal with.