Epoxy adhesives is one of the game changing inventions from the turn of the century. Although adhesives go as far back as to ancient Egyptian times. When you think of epoxy just imagine some Pharaoh way back in the days of the pyramids with one of those stick things that broke and he says "FIX THIS!!!" and some genius comes back with some type of epoxy solution that guy is the man.

Fun little back story however, the uses of epoxy adhesives has changed drastically since that time now it's used in practically everything due to it's low cost and easy of application. Automobiles, airplanes, spacecrafts and common home appliances use epoxy adhesives. So it's no surprise that there are so many adhesive manufacturers in current day. A common application for modern day epoxies is silver adhesive which is an electrically conductive epoxy. This is used when there is a need for a continuity of conductivity. If you have for instance a printed circuit board where you need to continue a circuit. You can use silver epoxy and or nickel epoxy as a cold solder replacement. This is great when you're working with heat sensitive components. That way you don't run the risk of damaging them with hot solder.

Alternatively, another application I've seen electrical epoxies used for is RFI and EMI shielding. This is block out electromagnetic and radio frequencies if you have a component which is sensitive to such things. Coating the outer shell of the material with some type of conductive epoxy i.e. carbon epoxy will prevent the waves from penetrating through to the internal components and damaging them.

Communication industries also use a great deal of epoxy for their fiber optic lines and also for their electromechanical components. Epoxy is used as a rigid and low cost replacement for most materials with a high cost factor. Epoxies can be used as a dependable replacement as it offers a high adhesion performance module as well as an ease of application. Just imagine if you will for a moment that you were tasked with fusing 2 pieces of metal 300yds long each to each other. You have the following options available to you (welding, riveting or epoxy adhesive). So now let's go through each option to see which presents the best solution on a Pros and Cons basis:

Welding - This will offer a very strong bond. There is a high risk factor for whoever is doing the welding not only of burns but also of damage to the eyes. So you most likely would have to hire a professional. This will accumulate to a costly task so we can safely wipe that one off the list.

Riveting - This will offer a strong bond. Not quite as significant as welding however, you also will have a high cost factor with this because you need to provide the rivets, you also would have to supply all the rivets. There is also a risk of injury when applying these as well. I've never heard of anyone riveting themselves inadvertently but I'm sure it's happened.

Epoxy Adhesive -  This will offer a very strong bond that will which will rival welding. Low cost factor (this depends on what type of epoxy you purchase however for this instance we will just assume it's a general workhorse epoxy). Very low risk of injury. The worst thing that can happen to someone with epoxy for a one time use is they will get their clothes dirty (note: there are some studies which show that 1% of the world's population can sometimes have an allergic reaction to epoxy, this however is a dermal reaction and not really significant) perhaps they may glue themselves to something as well. That is more or less your own fault for hiring an idiot. The cost factor will be extremely low because you can hire any idiot to glue things together. We've all done it think back to Kindergarden that little turkey hand thing you made where you glued the fuzz balls on the paper. Please note that prolonged usage of epoxy adhesives has been shown to possibly cause respitory issues however, this can be mitigated by working in a well vented area.

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