You live in a brave new digital world of endless possibilities and continual developments. While you may have ceased to be amazed by the ongoing evolution of “the internet of things,” clever gadgets and smartphone apps, it might surprise you to learn one thing that almost all your space-aged devices have in common: they are laminated. Virtually every newly developed item produced by digital-age industries has some form of lamination. Being laminated means that they are made of at least two substances fused together. For instance, the windshield of your car is a laminate of two layers of glass with a layer of plastic between, specially designed to crumble when broken.
Most Industries Build With Laminated Products
From rockets shot into orbit to medical devices implanted in your body, today’s products are developed with laminated goods. Dozens of laminates go into every new vehicle. Graphic arts, paper goods and even your eyeglasses are chocked full of laminated goods. Have you noticed how many different types of laminated adhesives there are? Regardless of what you are binding to what, there is a special adhesive substance that will work as exactly as you want it to, from note pads to Hi Cube adhesives. Tremendous amounts of research go into the development of adhesive laminating substances. Virtually all major industries rely on some type of adhesive that did not exist a few decades ago.
History’s Most Powerful Early Laminate
While it is surely the case that researchers will continue to perfect many types of laminated substances, you may be interested in reexamining the story of one of history’s first and most powerful laminated objects, the Hebrews’ Ark of the Covenant. Many stories—and even some movies—about the Ark have depicted it as an item of tremendous power. This power was assumed to come from the fact that it was a sacred artifact, thus divinely powered. Engineers who have read the details about the manner of the Ark’s construction have pointed out, however, that the acacia wood laminated in gold with cherubim as contact points meant it was actually a large electrical capacitor, capable of emitted a shock of 10,000 volts. Lamination creates some powerful products.
More Recent Laminate Developments
Various industries continue to come up with multitudes of marvelous new laminated devices. To be sure, some of them might seem mundane: cabinetry, flooring, construction material and so forth. Others, however, are sure to astonish you with their creativity and functionality. For instance, some of the newest laminate devices are “in-glass laminate displays.” You may have seen vehicle windshields that actually have data displayed from within the glass, so you do not have to look away from the road to check your speedometer or gas gauge.
You may wonder, with all these new gizmos, who is keeping an eye on what sort of substances are being utilized to make these laminates. Actually, the EPA has a certification process. Any developer who wishes to use some type of chemical or plastic in a new commercial product must have it approved by the federal government.
