Casein glue can be classified as a natural paste of animal origin. It is derived from a special milk protein called casein. Hence the name.
How is casein glue synthesized?
It is known that casein glue can be obtained from milk protein. At the beginning of the nineteenth century in Germany and Switzerland, it began to be synthesized on an industrial scale. In the process of making such an adhesive, usually no difficulties arise. For example, for self-preparation of casein glue, you should grind low-fat cottage cheese through a sieve and rinse it in warm water. Then ammonia is simply added to the resulting gruel. The result should be a translucent gelatinous substance. It can be used for carpentry work.
You can synthesize casein glue in another way. Low-fat milk must be filtered using special filter paper. Then the filtrate should be washed over water, placed in a stocking and boiled. By the way, boiling is necessary to remove lipids. It is recommended to dry the resulting mass at normal room temperature. This is how dry casein is made. Then casein is mixed with water and sodium borate. As a result, the substance acquires adhesive properties.
Milk protein glue can also be produced industrially. For this, the so-called rennet is added to skim milk processing products. Interestingly, sometimes lactic acid can be used to synthesize casein glue.
Properties and application of glue
Casein glue must include nitrates, calcium caseinate and milk phosphates. Milk protein does not dissolve in water, but changes its structure during alkaline or acidic exposure. By the way, casein itself contains the entire set of essential amino acids.
Milk protein glue is especially used for gluing cardboard, ceramic, porcelain, leather and plastic products. Also, its use is relevant for faience and polystyrene. It is usually recommended to process wood products with this glue. Due to the unique properties of this substance, the structure of the tree can be significantly improved. That is why casein glue is used in the furniture production process. It contains additional ingredients such as rosin, lime, and copper sulfate. They provide the ability to use the adhesive for different types of wood By the way, furniture made with casein paste is considered environmentally friendly.
