loctite 270 bottle gone hard overnight!

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

I opened a new bottle of 270 sunday night, used it and when i came to it last night the entire contents had gone solid. Now i dont understand how or why. I also dont understand what causes it to set in the first place – simply saying it goes off under anaerobic conditions cant be correct as everything in the bottle except the air is subject to this effect? any ideas? stored in workshop with all other loctite which has never gone off.

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I have heard that if you get a small amount of metal like brass or copper in it it can catalyse the setting.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 12/07/2016 18:25:43:

I have heard that if you get a small amount of metal like brass or copper in it it can catalyse the setting.

.

'tis true

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by fizzy on 12/07/2016 18:20:26:

… I also dont understand what causes it to set in the first place –

.

Nor do I … But this, from Wikipedia is a glib summary:

Most thread-locking formulas are methacrylate-based and rely on the electrochemical activity of a metal substrate to cause polymerization of the fluid.

The anærobic environment for setting is, I think, more like 'necessary but not sufficient'.

MichaelG.

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

I think the presence of metal is actually more important than the absence of air. I had some leak onto some tools including a rule on the bench once, and it glued them all together quite effectively. This was ordinary threadlock, not retainer, and it stuck them together about as well as if I had spilt epoxy in the same way.

Don't ever use anything like a nail to block the hole in the bottle, or to dip it out to put on a job…if you need to do that use a wooden toothpick.

Generally it will last a long time in the bottle, years in my experience.

John

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

I think you will find if you manage to get a bit to set on say the end of the nozzle or in the cap. It can cause the rest to set.

Much the same as super glue. Some setting can cause all to set so keeping the cap and spout clear and clean is important.

Make sure that any excess is sucked back into the bottle. That just means not releasing finger pressure until the bottle is vertical or squeezing again when it is vertical which will always blow a bit out and clear the nozzle when it's released.

All of my Loctite is well out of date but still runs and still works. You wouldn't believe just how much out of date one bottle is. Maybe it doesn't set as strongly as it did but I've seen no signs of any problems.

John

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[Richard MarksParticipant @richardmarks80868]

If it's made by Henkel let them know, I had a bottle of their ordinary super glue go hard after the first use and they replaced it, send them all the batch numbers and dates on the bottle and see if their interested.

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