Glue Material Compatibility Reference

Each material in the temperature guide carries a heat-sensitivity score from 0 (tolerates high heat with no risk) to 10 (melts, scorches, or warps readily under a high-temp nozzle). Wood, metal, ceramic, and glass sit at the tolerant end and land on high-temp with a strong bond. Silk flowers, ribbon, craft foam sheet, and styrofoam sit at the sensitive end and land on low-temp with a moderate bond — the guide would recommend low-temp for any pairing that includes one of these, even against a sturdy material, because the more sensitive side always governs.

The set-time and full-cure columns come from a second, independent factor: whether the material is porous or nonporous. Porous, fibrous materials — wood, paper, cardstock, felt, cork, leather, fabric, silk flowers, ribbon — wick heat out of the glue as it beads, so they set faster than nonporous, closed-cell, or smooth materials like metal, ceramic, glass, plastic, and the two foams, which hold onto that heat longer. That's why, for example, wood and metal both land on the same high-temp, strong-bond recommendation but wood sets in 84 seconds against metal's 120 — the temperature call and the timing call come from two different pieces of the same underlying model.

Styrofoam and craft foam sheet look similar at a glance — both low-temp, both moderate bond — but they still separate on timing exactly the way the porosity model predicts for two nonporous materials sharing a low-temp recommendation. Read the "Notes" column literally: it's the exact explanation the temperature guide would give you for that specific material, not a paraphrase.