Three Common Adhesives from an Inchoately Experimentalist née Armchair Pyrotechnist

Several common adhesives are easy to make, amongst which there are two,
and a third which alludes me and might not be so easy:

1) Mucilage: Composed of Acacia Gum Arabic + Dextrin, equal
proportions, soaked in water overnight, and boiled/simmered for 15
mins, adjusting consistency as required and when cool adding several
drops of Clove or Wintergreen Oil to prevent spoilage. For Gums,
Oils, Clays, Waxes, and Herbs see excellent & gracious
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

2) Nitrocellulose Lacquer: Composed of Nitrocellulose, 12% (packed
moist to prevent gradual decomposition) and solvent. For one litre
good concentration, to be thinned as required, dry out Nitrocellulose
on Aluminium foil or pan in slightly warm oven for several hours,
~150°F (65°C); place in flask or jar (Mason canning jars being
wonderfully useful for myriad purposes); add 800ml Acetone + 200ml
Alcohol (Ethyl, denatured); cover, agitate; set overnight, and agitate
again. A clear, stable viscous adhesive results, good as any bought
pre-mixed. (Note: Gun Cotton is much more highly nitrated, at some
17%).

3) Waterglass, Sodium Silicate Solution: Not so easy -- please help !
(Frederick Collins gave offered the idea in Boy Chemist, 1924, p. 249)

SiO2 + 2NaOH = Na2SiO3 + H2O
Calculating from the Periodic Table, we find:
SiO2 60.1g + NaOH 80g = Na2SiO3 122.1g + H2O 18g
Na2SiO3 is Sodium Metasilicate.
Collins prescribes adding in a beaker equal parts of NaOH (Lye, Caustic
Soda) & Silicon Dioxide (Silica, fine crystalline sand) and pouring on
sufficient boiling water to dissolve; this is inaccurate and produces
highly alkaline thin milky liquid, which is clearly not Waterglass, and
copious silt.
Lye is extremely caustic to nitrogenous compositions (such as human
skin) and metals like Aluminium, and will etch glass. Therefore, care
is necessary to prevent damage such as permanent blindness(!), and I
donned polycarbonate goggles and gloves. To equal parts Lye & Silica I
very slowly poured in a thin stream of boiling water, whilst stirring
with a glass rod. After covering to contain the caustic vapours and
allowing to set overnight, I again stirred the contents and allowed to
stand several hours. The Silica was only slightly dissolved, leaving a
thick white sediment, and the resultant liquid, though slightly
viscous, was still extremely caustic (as I type, tongue still stinging
from a cautious taste!). Evidently at the least, insufficient heat was
evolved to perform the reaction. The result was, therefore, obviously
useless as a pyrotechnic adhesive.
As this procedure violated the maxim of adding 'Water to Acid and Base
to Water' -- I did not replicate the experiment using a greater,
stoichiometric proportion of NaOH. Also, I did not trust the amount of
heat generated with processing in a Glass container -- and not having
borosilicate pyrex glass available presently either. (This most
valuable of laboratory staples is 'on my list', as I begin cautiously
to move out of the "armchair-pyro" category into the experimentalist.)
"Tom Dimoc" here posts that 1 1/2 lbs of fine Silica is added to 2 lbs
Sodium Hydroxide, baked red hot in an iron pot for several hours, and
the resultant dry Natron Silicate hydrated with water to produce
Waterglass. He
(http://groups.google.com/group/rec.pyrotechnics/browse_frm/thread/970e1cdcd58195e7/f974b5e750c82f55?q=make+waterglass+2&rnum=1#f974b5e750c82f55).
One of several commercial processes is said to perform Collins's wet
process above under pressure, for maximal reaction heat; this procedure
cannot be performed safely in my kitchen (err... lab) and n.b., both
Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Silicate cannot be stored in Aluminium as
it attacks this metal (and Tin, Zinc, & their alloys) to produce
flammable Hydrogen gas!
Sodium Orthosilicate (NH4SiO4) is available online at Denver's The
Chemistry Store for $12.75 per US Gallon ( + s/h
(http://www.chemistrystore.com/sodium_silicate.htm).
The creator of a precision universal Conversion Utility used at the
International Space Station, Josh Madison, has made it available to
download gratis at: http://joshmadison.net/software/.

Like "Tom Perigrin" says, it must be easier to buy than to make
Waterglass. Still, if anyone can help me to make it safely, esp. using
other than the red-hot heat method, please chime in.

Enthusiastically Green, Edward

.

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