Why has animal glue been replaced by synthetic adhesives in many applications?

While animal glue remains useful for specific applications like woodworking and sandpaper manufacturing, it has been largely replaced by synthetic adhesives due to the superior performance and versatility of the latter.12

Synthetic adhesives are preferred for several key reasons:

• Uniformity and Supply: Unlike natural products, synthetic adhesives can be produced in a constant supply with highly uniform properties.3
• Performance and Versatility: Synthetic resins and rubbers can be modified and combined to achieve specific characteristics, such as high structural strength, flexibility, or resistance to heat, solvents, and fatigue.34
• Industrial Demands: The growth of the aerospace industry and other high-tech sectors created a demand for adhesives capable of withstanding severe environmental conditions and heavy loads, which natural glues could not consistently meet.54
• Customization: Synthetics can be engineered as thermoplastics or thermosets to suit precise application requirements, offering advantages like quick assembly or permanent, insoluble bonding.3

While natural adhesives are often less expensive to produce, the ability to tailor synthetic systems to modern industrial needs has made them the standard in most critical applications.3