Adhesive Removal Question

I know some of you are chemists and engineers, and hope you can help. Short form question: how do you remove spray adhesive residue from plastic?

I have a have a roof top kayak rack with some plastic bits that make contact with the boat's fiberglass hull and leave marks. So I used some Loctite Spray Adhesive to glue some closed cell foam pads to those plastic bits. I learned this week that the glue doesn't like blistering heat and sunlight and now the foam is peeling off, leaving behind the adhesive residue. As such I want to remove the residue and try another solution.

The Loctite website mentions everything from cooking oil, to vodka to using a heat gun and scraper. I want to get the residue off efficiently and without damaging the plastic bits on the rack. Any thoughts/experience in this area?

Also, now that I know Loctite is not a solution, what other adhesive should I try for round two? It has to be something that can withstand being outside, on the roof of a car.

Thank you.

I’ve had good luck with goof off. It’s gentle on plastics too.

For cement—try barge cement. It’s what many folks use to attach closed cell foam pads to their kayaks.

an orange degreaser works really well too. We use it for removing vinyl vehicle wrap residue. Isopropyl alcohol also works really well. 70% max as 90 and above still leaves a residue that you have to clean off.

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Originally Posted by COVRTDESIGN

an orange degreaser works really well too. We use it for removing vinyl vehicle wrap residue. Isopropyl alcohol also works really well. 70% max as 90 and above still leaves a residue that you have to clean off.

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Ah, that's clever! And I have some of that stuff.

I used Isopropyl, followed by cooking oil and it got the worst of it off. The plastic is still a little tacky; hopefully, it will dry out.

Furniture Polish(oil,alcohol and wax in one) will work also. Use a lot of it on a rag and when it starts to smear, spray a clean section of the rag and keep repeating until gone.

According to this paper contact adhesive has Hansen Solubility Parameters around (16, 4, 4) so the best solvent matches are things like di-isobutyl ketone (16.0, 3.7, 4.1) or cineole (16.7, 4.6, 3.4); cineole (the main constituent of eucalyptus oil) will be easier to get.

This gives a distance in Hansen space of 1.6 so it should be well inside the solvation radius of the adhesive.

Limonene (orange oil) is closely related to cineole and has parameters of (17.2, 1.8, 4.3)so the distance in Hansen space is slightly larger at 3.3 but that should still be inside the solvation radius. Methyl oleate is also close at (16.5, 1.5, 4.6) so biodiesel would be worth a shot.

No alcohols will work well, eg isopropanol is (15.8, 6.1, 16.4) so way off.

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Originally Posted by Mark Kelly

According to this paper contact adhesive has Hansen Solubility Parameters around (16, 4, 4) so the best solvent matches are things like di-isobutyl ketone (16.0, 3.7, 4.1) or cineole (16.7, 4.6, 3.4); cineole (the main constituent of eucalyptus oil) will be easier to get.

This gives a distance in Hansen space of 1.6 so it should be well inside the solvation radius of the adhesive.

Limonene (orange oil) is closely related to cineole and has parameters of (17.2, 1.8, 4.3)so the distance in Hansen space is slightly larger at 3.3 but that should still be inside the solvation radius. Methyl oleate is also close at (16.5, 1.5, 4.6) so biodiesel would be worth a shot.

No alcohols will work well, eg isopropanol is (15.8, 6.1, 16.4) so way off.

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NERD! Haha, just kidding. That is actually really cool to read.

I know that isopropyl doesn't work the best, but for when I needed it for wrap removal residue, it worked well enough. It was on a painted and cleared vehicle, so you could put a little more elbow grease into it.

This works for gooped on VHB tape remnants.
https://www.amazon.com/Remover-Remov...919090740&th=1

Medical adhesive remover pads. Go ahead and laugh, but try them. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING AFTERWARDS until you've cleaned your hands with alcohol.