Researchers have created a new class of ultra-strong adhesives that can haul a full-size car using nothing more than a thin strip of material, turning what sounds like a party trick into a serious glimpse of the future of glue. By rethinking polymers at the molecular level and even starting from kitchen waste, scientists are pushing past the limits of traditional epoxies and superglues and edging toward adhesives that behave more like structural components than sticky coatings.
What is emerging is not just a stronger way to stick two things together, but a potential shift in how we design products, repair infrastructure, and reuse waste. I see this work as part of a broader race to build glues that are not only powerful enough to tow vehicles, but also precise, recyclable, and tuned for demanding jobs from aerospace to electronics.
From kitchen waste to car-towing glue
The most striking development is that scientists have managed to turn common kitchen waste into a polymer so strong it can pull a car like a tow strap. Instead of relying on petroleum feedstocks, they started with used cooking oil and other vegetable oil waste, then transformed those leftovers into a plastic-like material that behaves much like polyethylene in strength and flexibility. In tests, this waste-derived polymer formed an adhesive bond robust enough to drag a vehicle, demonstrating that a substance born from fryer residue can rival industrial glues in raw performance.
Reporting on this work notes that the resulting material mimics the mechanical strength, flexibility, or rigidity of conventional plastics, yet it originates from discarded oil that would otherwise be thrown away, a detail highlighted in coverage of how vegetable oil waste was converted into a superglue-like substance. A separate account describes how scientists turned this common kitchen waste into glue strong enough to tow a car, emphasizing that the same waste stream that once coated frying pans can now anchor metal plates together with enough force to move a vehicle, as detailed in coverage of how scientists turn common kitchen waste into a high strength adhesive.
How the ultra-glue actually works
At the heart of this ultra-glue is a clever piece of polymer chemistry that turns messy triglycerides from used oil into long, ordered chains that can lock surfaces together. The researchers first modify the fatty acid components so they can be linked into a network that resembles familiar plastics, then tune the crosslinking so the final material can flow when applied but harden into a tough, load-bearing solid. Once cured between two metal plates, the adhesive layer behaves less like a brittle glue line and more like a thin sheet of structural plastic that shares the load across its entire area.
Chemists have compared the new material to low density polyethylene, or LDPE, noting that while LDPE is a hydrocarbon made only of carbon and hydrogen atoms, the waste-oil-based polymer incorporates additional chemical groups that can later be broken and remade, which opens the door to recycling. One report explains that the resulting adhesive behaves like polyethylene in mechanical tests, yet, unlike LDPE, it can be depolymerized and later remade back into plastic, a key distinction highlighted in coverage of glue strong enough to tow a car made from used cooking oil. That recyclability means the same chemistry that lets the adhesive tow a car could also let manufacturers unstick and reprocess it at the end of a product’s life.
Chinese teams push polymer strength even further
While the kitchen-waste adhesive shows what is possible with greener feedstocks, Chinese researchers have been pushing the raw strength of synthetic polymers to new extremes. A team in HANGZHOU reported weaving a tiny polymer that is capable of towing a car, creating a material so thin it can be described as a fiber yet so strong it can pull a vehicle when properly anchored. The work underscores how much performance can be packed into a narrow strip of engineered polymer when its internal structure is carefully controlled.
Coverage of this development describes how a team of Chinese scientists developed a new polymer with a unique microstructure that allows a very thin sample to withstand the forces involved in towing a car, and notes that the scientific development is expected to be used in a range of industrial applications, as detailed in a report on how Chinese scientists weave tiny polymer capable of towing a car. A related account explains that Chinese scientists created a thin polymer capable of towing a car and stresses that the material is being positioned for a wide range of industrial uses, from cables to safety gear, as described in coverage of how Chinese scientists create thin polymer capable of towing a car.
How this compares with record-breaking industrial glues
Ultra-glue that can tow a car might sound unprecedented, but it arrives in a landscape where industrial adhesives already hold some eye-popping records. In one widely cited demonstration, DELO used a specialized epoxy to lift a 17.5 ton truck, suspending the vehicle from a crane using a bonded joint instead of a mechanical hook. That feat was recognized as a Guinness World Record for lifting the heaviest weight with glue, and it showcased how a carefully formulated epoxy can act as a structural element in its own right rather than a mere helper for bolts and welds.
Chemistry educators point out that DELO MONOPOX, produced by the German adhesives company DELO, currently holds the Guinness World Record for the heaviest weight lifted by glue, underscoring how far industrial formulations have already pushed the limits of adhesion, as explained in a discussion of what is the world’s strongest glue. Earlier, DELO’s own announcement described how DELO’s Epoxy Adhesive Sets Guinness World Records for Lifting Heaviest Weight and specified that the epoxy adhesive was used to lift a 17.5 ton truck, a detail captured in coverage of how DELO’s Epoxy Adhesive Sets Guinness World Records for Lifting Heaviest Weight. Those records set a high bar, and the new car-towing glues are now vying to match that level of performance with more sustainable or more flexible chemistries.
Superglue’s earlier Guinness moment
Before these polymer breakthroughs, cyanoacrylate superglues had already proven that a few drops of adhesive can move serious metal. In a Guinness-recognized stunt, engineers used a small amount of Loctite Super Glue to lift a vehicle, relying on a tiny bonded area to carry the entire weight of the car. The demonstration was designed to be dramatic, but it also illustrated how thin adhesive layers can distribute stress so efficiently that the joint fails only when the underlying material gives way.
Accounts of that record emphasize that just nine drops were sufficient to convince the jury that the adhesive could handle the load, and note that the Guinness World Record for the heaviest vehicle lifted with glue went to a specific Loctite Super Glue Brush-on product, as described in a report explaining that just nine drops of glue were used. When I compare that feat with the new car-towing adhesives, what stands out is not only the raw strength but also the shift from one-off stunts to materials that are being engineered for repeatable, industrial use.
Why car-towing strength matters beyond the spectacle
It is tempting to treat a glue that can tow a car as a viral curiosity, but the underlying performance metrics have real engineering value. If a thin strip of polymer can safely pull a sedan, then a slightly thicker or wider version could replace metal brackets in consumer products, lighten components in electric vehicles, or simplify how batteries are mounted in a Tesla Model 3 or a Ford F-150 Lightning. The same adhesive that hauls a car in a lab test could, in principle, hold together the composite panels of a wind turbine blade or the structural joints in a passenger train carriage.
One report on the waste-oil-based adhesive notes that two metal plates stuck together with the new polymer could later be separated and the material remade back into plastic, a property that hints at easier disassembly and recycling for complex products, as described in coverage of how two metal plates stuck together with the adhesive can be unbonded. When I think about the life cycle of a modern smartphone or an electric SUV, the ability to both hold components firmly in place and later unstick them without shredding everything around them could be as transformative as the headline-grabbing towing demonstrations.
From lab bench to factory floor
Turning these ultra-glues into everyday tools will require more than a few dramatic tests with cars and trucks. Manufacturers will want to know how the adhesives behave after thousands of heating and cooling cycles, whether they creep under constant load, and how they respond to moisture, salt, and UV light. A glue that can tow a car once in a controlled experiment is impressive, but a glue that can hold a battery pack in a 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 for fifteen years of real-world driving is a different challenge entirely.
Reports on the new polymers already hint at industrial ambitions, noting that the scientific development from Chinese teams will be used in a wide range of industrial applications and that the kitchen-waste adhesive behaves like a conventional plastic that can be processed and recycled, as described in accounts of both the thin polymer capable of towing a car and the waste-oil-based glue. Another report on the car-towing adhesive underscores that scientists have made glue so strong it can tow an entire car and frames the work as a step toward an absurdly strong polymer that could be tuned for different uses, as described in coverage headlined that scientists made glue so strong it can tow a car. Those hints suggest that the leap from lab to factory is already part of the research agenda.
The next frontier for ultra-strong, sustainable adhesives
What ties these stories together is a convergence of strength, sustainability, and precision. On one side, there are record-setting epoxies like DELO MONOPOX that can lift a 17.5 ton truck and hold the Guinness World Record for the heaviest weight lifted by glue, as noted in educational material on DELO MONOPOX. On another, there are experimental polymers spun in HANGZHOU that can tow a car while remaining thin and flexible, and waste-derived adhesives that start life as used cooking oil and end up strong enough to drag a vehicle down a test track.
As I look across the reporting, the trajectory seems clear: future glues will not just be stronger, they will be smarter and more circular. A glue that can tow a car today might, in a few years, be the same material that lets a wind farm operator unbolt and recycle a turbine blade, or that allows an automaker to bond and later separate the structural battery pack in a next generation Chevrolet Equinox EV. The spectacle of a car dangling from a bonded joint or rolling behind a strip of polymer is only the opening act for a much larger shift in how we think about sticking the modern world together.
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