Adhesives

• Copolymer emulsions of polyvinylacetate (PVAc) and acrylic acid create a rubbery adhesive best suited for porous materials such as wood, paper, and textiles. PVAc iterations include sandstone consolidants and the commercial white and carpenter's glues. Cyanoacrylates, a class of adhesives known as instant glues, embody a range of adhesives from medical grade bonding agents to the trade glues Super Glue and Krazy Glue.
  
  

Binders

• Polyacrylate emulsions are useful in pigment suspensions, most notably in latex and acrylic paint applications. Polyacrylate emulsions act as a binder for indoor and outdoor house paints and provide a water-based medium for acrylic artist paints. The properties of polyacrylate emulsion allow acrylic paint to dry faster than oil-based paints yet still retain a high level of miscibility when wet.
  
  

Glass

• Aside from its popular adhesive iterations, polyacrylate is also well known for its break-resistant glass sheeting. Acrylic glass, a synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate, is a transparent plastic commonly sold under the trade name Plexiglas. Acrylic glass can be used for high-strength applications, light redirection through laser surface cutting and for medical technologies such as eye lens replacement and bone cement implants.
  
  

Thickeners / Dispersants

• Sodium polyacrylates are commonly used in consumer products and act as hydrophilic thickeners to increase the viscosity of water-based systems. At low concentrations sodium polyacrylate salts can also behave as dispersants and wetting agents, promoting miscibility in an otherwise unstable dispersion. Alkyl acrylate crosspolymers are also used in a variety of food science, consumer products and cosmetic science fields as rheology modifiers: substances that alter the flow and deformation characteristics of liquids and soft solids.
  
  

Absorbents

• Due to their water absorbing properties sodium polyacrylates are also used as industrial and commercial grade absorbents. The introduction of sodium hydroxide salt to the neutral polyacrylate polymer creates positively and negatively charged groups along the length of the polymer. When exposed to water, a naturally polar substance, the water molecules are attracted to the charged groups and attach themselves to the polymer chain, creating a viscous, gel-like substance. Polymethylacrylates is another class of acrylate polymer that is used specifically in the production of superabsorbent polymer. Sodium polyacrylates and polymethylacrylates can be found in products such as diapers, fire-retardant gels and wound bandages.