Re: dielectric strength of hot glue was Re: Longitudinal Waves

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

I'd be interested to know... If it is truly dissolved, then it's probably
pretty good. If it is a "gel" then it's not so wonderful (because of the
particles).  I'd think that it's probably the former.

I too have lots of stuff assembled with hot glue.  My problem is that if
you leave it in the sun, or under hot lights, it melts... There is a higher
temperature stuff made for industrial use, but it takes a much more
expensive gun (the glue is still pretty cheap) which runs a lot hotter and
has much better temperature regulation. It's probably a more rugged piece
of gear, as well, since it's made for manufacturing use.. 8 hours a day,
everyday.

Personally, I use silicone a lot... but it IS a pain to remove it.

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
> 
> Hi Jim,
> 
> At 06:26 AM 2/15/2002 -0800, you wrote:
> >I seriously doubt that hot glue would have anywhere near the breakdown
> >strength of a sheet of acrylic plastic the same thickness.  While you might
> >not see bubbles, they are probably there.  Also, I think most of the hot
> >glues are a composite of several substances: binders/fillers/etc. which does
> >not bode well for breakdown strength.
> >
> >Also bear in mind that thin sheets of a material typically have a much
> >higher breakdown strength (in a kV/cm sense) than thick sheets.
> >
> 
> I "think"* hot glue is polypropylene dissolved in paraffin wax.  It may
> indeed have very good voltage standoff.  I have never had a problem with it
> breaking down or tracking sooner that it should.  But different
> manufacturers may do very different things too.
> 
> *I checked some MSDS sheets for it but they only list paraffin and they
> seem to hide the ingredients...  They probably want to keep it a 'secret'
> like the manufactures of carbonated flavored sugar water :-)))  I supposed
> there is a patent for hot glue that tells all...
> 
> I note that in another post today Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz calls hot
> glue an "excellent insulator" so maybe he knows what it is.
> 
> I don't mean to get a big thread started on hot glue, but it does hold a
> few of our coils together ;-))
> 
> Cheers,
> 
>         Terry