Preadhesion Laser Surface Treatment of Carbon Fiber Reinforced PEEK Composite

An excimer UV laser (193 nm) was used for preadhesion surface treatment of PEEK (polyetheretherketone) composite. This method presented an alternative to other limited and polluting conventional surface treatment methods. Experimental results indicated that laser preadhesion treatment significantly improved the shear and tensile adhesion strength of structural epoxy FM 300 2K bonded PEEK composite adherends compared with untreated and SiC blasted substrates. Best results were obtained with laser energies of 0.18 or 1 J/P cm.² Shear strength of laser-treated joints was improved by 450% compared with that of untreated PEEK composite and by 200% compared with SiC-blasted pretreatment at ambient and at extreme temperatures. An order of magnitude of improvement was found in the tensile strength-of laser-treated PEEK composite in a sandwich structure compared with non-treated or abraded sandwich joints. The mode of failure changed from adhesive to cohesive as the number of pulses or laser energy increased during treatment. The latter phenomenon was correlated with surface cleaning as revealed by XPS, with morphology changes as revealed by scanning electron microscopy, and by chemical modification as indicated by FTIR and XPS. The bulk of the PEEK composite adherend was not damaged by the laser irradiation during treatment as indicated by the identical flexural strength before and after laser treatment. It can be concluded that the excimer laser has a potential as a precise, clean and simple preadhesion surface treatment for PEEK composite.     

On the effect of pulsed laser ablation on shear strength and mode I fracture toughness of Al/epoxy adhesive joints

The present work describes an experimental study about the shear strength and the mode I fracture toughness of adhesive joints with substrates pre-treated by pulsed laser ablation. An ytterbium-doped pulsed fiber laser was employed to perform laser irradiation on AA6082-T4 alloy. Morphological and chemical modifications were evaluated by means of surface profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Thick adherend shear tests were carried out in order to assess the shear strength while the mode I fracture toughness was determined using the double cantilever beam. For comparison, control samples were prepared using classical surface degreasing. The results indicated that laser ablation has a favorable effect on the mechanical behavior of epoxy bonded joints; however, while a + 20% increase was recorded for shear strength, a remarkable threefold enhancement of fracture toughness was observed with respect to control samples. XPS analyses of treated substrates and SEM observations of the fracture surfaces indicated that laser pre-treatment promoted chemical and morphological modifications able to sustain energy dissipation through mechanical interlocking. As a result cohesive failure within the adhesive bond-line was enabled under predominant peel loading.     

Experimental study of initial strengths and hygrothermal degradation of adhesive joints between thin aluminum and steel substrates

Growing usage of lightweight materials such as Al and Mg alloys and composites in automotive body manufacturing has come to a point that bonding of dissimilar materials is a realistic problem to address. A significant issue related to the bonding of dissimilar materials is that the differences in substrate surface conditions, substrate chemical and physical properties often lead to bond failure at strength levels far less than the bond strength established by the adhesive manufacturer for a balanced joint. This research experimentally studied several important factors influencing initial shear strengths and hygrothermal degradation of adhesively-bonded single lap shear (SLS) joints. The effects of surface treatments such as lubrication and zinc coating on the substrates were first investigated. It was observed that even a very small change in the amount of lubricant applied to an aluminum alloy affected the initial shear strength. On the other hand, varying the amount of mill oil on a galvanized steel surface had little effect. Next, the comparative study of the initial joint strength between electro-galvanized (EG) steels and hot dipped galvanized (HDG) steels revealed that the two coatings exhibited no difference in terms of the initial strength. Also, various combinations of aluminum alloys and steel substrates were studied to observe the effect of substrate materials. It revealed that the strength of a dissimilar joint constructed of a strong substrate and relatively weak substrate fell below the strength of the like-material joint made of the relatively strong substrate, and was closer to the strength of the like-material joint composed of the relatively weak substrate. Ageing tests were performed on SLS joints at various temperatures with and without humidity. The shear strength barely changed after 60-days of exposure at various temperatures with room humidity, but degraded significantly at high temperature with high humidity.     

Preadhesion Laser Treatment of Aluminum Surfaces

An excimer laser may be used for preadhesion treatment of aluminum alloys. This method presents an alternative to the use of ecologically unfriendly chemicals involved in conventional anodizing pretreatments.

Experimental results indicate that preadhesion laser surface treatment significantly improved the shear strength of modified-epoxy bonded aluminum specimens compared with untreated and anodized substrates. The best results were obtained with laser energy of about 0.2 J/Pulse/cm² where single lap shear strength was improved by 600-700% compared with that of untreated Al alloy, and by 40% compared with chromic acid anodizing pretreatment.

The mode of failure changed from adhesive to cohesive as the number of laser pulses increased during treatment. The latter phenomenon has been correlated with morphology changes as revealed by electron microscopy, and chemical modification as indicated by Auger and infrared spectroscopy.

It can be concluded that the excimer laser has potential as a precise, clean and simple preadhesion treatment of Al alloys.     

Effects of Er,Cr:YSGG laser on repair bond strength of 5-year water-aged and non-aged CAD/CAM ceramics

The aim of this study is to examine the repair bond strength of three different 5-year water-aged and non-aged computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) ceramics (leucite-reinforced, lithium disilicate, and feldspathic ceramic) on which four different surface treatments (bur-grinding, sandblasting, acid-etching, and laser irradiation) have been applied with composite resin. Note that 360 ea. samples have been attained from CAD/CAM blocks. Each CAD/CAM ceramic has been randomly separated into two sub-groups depending on aging procedure. The designed 5-year water-aged and non-aged samples have been separated into four sub-groups. Ceramic surfaces were repaired then the samples have been placed into shear test device. Three-way variance analysis has been used in the comparison of the repair bond strengths depending on the ceramic type, surface treatment, and aging. Results have revealed that the repair bond strength values show differences depending on CAD/CAM ceramic type, surface treatment, and the aging of the surface (p < .001). While the aged and laser-irradiated feldspathic CAD/CAM ceramics showing the highest shear bond strength, the lowest shear bond strength values were in aged and bur-grinded feldspathic CAD/CAM ceramics. Irradiation with erbium chromium: yttrium scandium gallium garnet (Er,Cr:YSGG) laser has significantly increased the repair bond strength in leucite-reinforced and feldspathic CAD/CAM ceramics, acid-etching is suggested surface treatment for the lithium disilicate CAD/CAM ceramics.     

Preadhesion Laser Treatment of Aluminum Surfaces

An excimer laser may be used for preadhesion treatment of aluminum alloys. This method presents an alternative to the use of ecologically unfriendly chemicals involved in conventional anodizing pretreatments.

Experimental results indicate that preadhesion laser surface treatment significantly improved the shear strength of modified-epoxy bonded aluminum specimens compared with untreated and anodized substrates. The best results were obtained with laser energy of about 0.2 J/Pulse/cm² where single lap shear strength was improved by 600-700% compared with that of untreated Al alloy, and by 40% compared with chromic acid anodizing pretreatment.

The mode of failure changed from adhesive to cohesive as the number of laser pulses increased during treatment. The latter phenomenon has been correlated with morphology changes as revealed by electron microscopy, and chemical modification as indicated by Auger and infrared spectroscopy.

It can be concluded that the excimer laser has potential as a precise, clean and simple preadhesion treatment of Al alloys.     

Superhydrophobic graphene/ceramic templates for the preparation of particulate drugs

This paper proposes the use of superhydrophobic graphene/ceramic templates fabricated through laser texturing and patterning for the preparation of particulate drugs. A nanosecond pulse fiber laser was used to texture a graphene film coated on ceramic substrates for obtaining a superhydrophobic surface. Then, laser patterning was conducted on the laser-textured surface to define the diameter of the prepared particulate drugs. Laser-textured graphene/ceramic substrates with a laser areal fluence of 17.51 J/cm² and a hatch distance of 0.01 mm exhibited a maximum water contact angle of 151.5°. This result was obtained because the laser-textured graphene films contained coral reef structures with nanoscale pores. Raman analyses indicated that the intensities of the G and 2D bands gradually decreased after the laser texturing and patterning processes. Moreover, the sheet resistance of the laser-textured and laser-patterned graphene films was larger than that of untextured ones because the thickness of the graphene films was reduced through laser thinning. The maximum heating temperature of the graphene-based heater was 140 °C for an input direct current voltage of 36 V. In addition, graphene-based self-heating devices were developed and successfully used to dry liquid roflumilast.     

Shear bond strength of PEEK and PEEK-30GF cemented to zirconia or titanium substrates

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of dual-cure resin cement to promote the bonding between a veneering PEEK and zirconia or titanium surfaces.

Materials and methods: The surface of titanium and sintered zirconia disks were gritblasted, ultra-sonically cleaned in distilled water, and dryed by oil-free air. Then, a adhesive system was applied on the clean and dry surfaces. Disks of PEEK or 30% glass-reinforced PEEK were cut from a rod and their surface were acid etched and therefore the PEEK roughness was analysed using a contact profilometer. A resin cement was then applied between the substrates and the veneering PEEK and light cured for 4 Shear bond strength tests were performed on PEEK-cement to zirconia or titanium interfaces. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to evaluate the samples surface, interface and failure mode.

Results: Surface treatment with acid etching decreased the average roughness of PEEK-based surfaces. oMicroscopic analyses by SEM revealed morphological aspects of a poor bonding between the resin-based cement and PEEK. Those aspects could be confirmed by the low mean values in shear bond strength. The fracture analysis showed that the main failure mode was adhesive, which explain the low values of shear bond strength.

Conclusion: PEEK is a promising material for dental applications. However, significant improvements on surface modifications and in chemical composition of the cement are still required for dental applications involving cementation of PEEK or PEEK-30GF to zirconia or titanium concerning a desirable long-term clinical performance of prosthetic structures.     

Effect of Substrate Orientation, Roughness, and Film Deposition Mode on the Tensile Strength and Toughness of Niobium–Sapphire Interfaces

The strength and toughness of interfaces between sputter-deposited polycrystalline niobium films and sapphire substrates with basal and prismatic orientations were measured. The effect of deposition parameters and substrate roughness on these interface properties also was investigated. Substrates of polycrystalline alumina with two different surface morphologies were chosen for studying the effect of interface roughness. The interface strength was measured using a previously developed laser spallation experiment in which a laser-generated compressive stress pulse in the substrate, upon reflection into a tensile stress pulse from the coating's free surface, pulls the interface apart. The interface toughness was obtained using a controlled delamination technique, in which a residually stressed loading layer was used to buckle the underlying test layer from its substrate. The energy balance in the prebuckeled and postbuckled states provided a direct measure of the interface toughness. These values were independently obtained by another experiment in which well-characterized, artificially generated, interfacial flaws were loaded using a stress pulse in the laser spallation assembly. The coating's free surface velocity upon crack initiation was related to the critical energy release rate via a numerical simulation. The results of the two toughness experiments conformed to each other and related fairly well to the independently obtained strength measurements.     

Investigation of thermal residual stresses during laser ablation of tantalum carbide coated graphite substrates using micro-Raman spectroscopy and COMSOL multiphysics

Laser ablation of high-temperature ceramic coatings results in thermal residual stresses due to which the coatings fail by cracking and debonding. Hence, the measurement of such residual stresses during laser ablation process holds utmost importance from the view of performance of coatings in extreme conditions. The present research aims at investigating the effect of laser parameters such as laser pulse energy, scanning speed and line spacing on thermal residual stresses induced in tantalum carbide-coated graphite substrates. Residual stresses were measured using micro-Raman spectroscopy and correlated with Raman peak shifts. Transient thermal analysis was performed using COMSOL Multiphysics to model the single ablated track and residual stresses were reported at low, moderate and high pulse energy regimes. The results showed that the initial laser conditions caused higher tensile residual stresses. Moderate pulse energy regime comprised higher compressive residual stresses due to off centre overlapping of the laser pulses. Higher pulse energy (250 μJ), higher scanning speed (1000 mm/s) and moderate line spacing (20 μm) caused accumulation of tensile residual stresses during the final stage of laser ablation. The deviation of experimental residual stresses from COMSOL numerical model was attributed to unaccounted additional stresses induced during thermal spraying process and deformation potentials in the numerical model.     

Morphology,structure and density evolution of carbon nano-structures deposited by N-IR pulsed laser ablation of graphite

Carbon films were deposited by pulsed laser ablation on Si <100> substrates, heated at temperatures increasing from RT to 800 °C, from a pure graphite target, operating in vacuum (~ 10^− 4 Pa). The laser ablation was performed by an Nd:YAG laser, operating in the near IR wavelength (λ = 1064 nm).Micro-Raman and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction analysis (GI-XRD) established the progressive formation of ordered nano-sized graphitic structures, increasing substrate temperature. The surface morphology is characterised by macroscopic roughness (SEM, AFM) while the low temperature samples are characterised by very smooth surface. The film density, evaluated by X-ray reflectivity measurements, is also affected by the substrate temperature. This structural property modification induces relevant variation on the emission properties of carbon films, as evidenced by Field Emission measurements. The film structure and texturing is also strongly related to laser wavelength: the low energy associated to the IR laser radiation (1.17 eV) causes an early aromatic cluster formation at T = 400 °C associated to a sensible increase in the aromatic plane stacking distance (d₀₀₂ ~ 0.39 nm), compared to graphite. These density decrease shows a direct correlation with the electron emission properties. Roughness and presence of voids play a negative role both on the threshold electric field E_th and enhancement factor (β) The density decreasing and graphitic layer widening are notably to be ascribed to the very fast out-of-equilibrium growth and to the presence of large activated carbon species in the “plume”.     

Experimental investigation into the effect of adhesion properties of PEEK modified by atmospheric pressure plasma and low pressure plasma

High performance polymer, Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) (service temperature ?250°C to +300°C, tensile strength: 120 MPa) is gaining significant interest in aerospace and automotive industries. In this investigation, attention is given to understand adhesion properties of PEEK, when surface of the PEEK is modified by two different plasma processes (i) atmospheric pressure plasma and (ii) low pressure plasma under DC Glow Discharge. The PEEK sheets are fabricated by ultra high temperature resistant epoxy adhesive (DURALCO 4703, service temperature ?260°C to +350°C). The surface of the PEEK is modified through atmospheric pressure plasma with 30 and 60 s of exposure and low pressure plasma with 30, 60, 120, 240, and 480 s of exposure. It is observed that polar component of surface energy leading to total surface energy of the polymer increases significantly when exposed to atmospheric pressure plasma. In the case of low pressure plasma, polar component of surface energy leading to total surface energy of the polymer increases with time of exposure up to 120 s and thereafter, it deteriorates with increasing time of exposure. The fractured surface of the adhesively bonded PEEK is examined under SEM. It is observed that unmodified PEEK fails essentially from the adhesive to PEEK interface resulting in low adhesive bond strength. In the case of surface modified PEEK under atmospheric pressure plasma, the failure is entirely from the PEEK and essentially tensile failure at the end of the overlap resulting in significant increase in adhesive bond strength. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

The effect of different surface pretreatments on the bond strength of veneering resin to polyetheretherketone

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different surface pretreatment methods on the bond strength of veneering resin to polyetheretherketone (PEEK) based aesthetic frameworks. Five hundred and forty PEEK disks were fabricated and divided into 6 pretreatment groups (n = 90); (C) untreated control group, (B) airborne-particle abrasion, (S) silica coating, (L) etching with Er:YAG (erbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet) laser, (LB) etching with Er:YAG laser and airborne-particle abrasion and (LS) etching with Er:YAG laser and silica coating. After topographical surface examinations, specimens were conditioned with adhesive and veneering resin was polymerized onto the PEEK specimens. Twenty-four hours after veneering, specimens were subjected to thermal aging. Afterwards, shear bond strength (SBS) tests were performed and the obtained data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Tukey test at a significance level of α = .05. Group B (1.58 ± 0.15 μm), Group L (1.79 ± 0.29 μm), Group LB (2.20 ± 0.23 μm) and Group LS (2.31 ± 0.52 μm) demonstrated significantly higher surface roughness (SR) values compared to Group C (1.03 ± 0.11 μm). Group B (10.97 ± 2.88 MPa), Group S (12.07 ± 2.82 MPa), Group LB (12.09 ± 2.08 MPa) and Group LS (13.14 ± 1.45 MPa) demonstrated significantly higher SBS values compared to Group C (6.35 ± 1.21 MPa). Airborne-particle abrasion, silica coating or their combined use with Er:YAG laser system establish durable bond between PEEK and resin; however, only Er:YAG laser treatment has no positive effect on resin-PEEK bond.     

Microstructure Characterization of Laser Treated Surfaces

Excimer laser UV radiation presents a new technology for preadhesion surface treatment of various material adherends. The application of an ArF Excimer laser (193 nm) for surface pretreatment of polycarbonate, polyetherimide, PEEK composite, glass reinforced epoxy composite, aluminum, copper, magnesuim. PZT and fused silica was investigated. Experimental results indicated that UV laser surface treatment improved the adhesional strength significantly compared with conventionally-treated substrates for all the materials tested. The improved adhesion correlated with changes in morphology of the irradiated surface, chemical modification and removal of contaminants, which contributed to a strong and durable adhesive bond. This paper will concentrate only on the connection between the mechanical and morphological effect. The most common microstructure features on the surface after laser irradiation (examined by SEM and AFM) were small conical structures randomly distributed on the irradiated areas. Other features were periodic surface ridges or flat smoothened areas with spread arrays of microcracks. All these morphologies increase the roughness of the surface, enabling mechanical interlocking of the adhesive. It should be noted that the roughness is micronsized, and uniformly spread on the surface, which presents an advantage over abrasive treatments. The distribution of the features and their size were dependent on the laser parameters (intensity and number of pulses). Some mechanisms are presented, and these interesting phenomena are discussed.     

Radiation-induced graft polymerization of functional monomer into poly(ether ether ketone) film and structure-property analysis of the grafted membrane

Radiation-induced graft polymerization of sulfo-containing styrene derivatives into crystalline poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) substrates was carried out to prepare thermally and mechanically stable polymer electrolyte membranes based on an aromatic hydrocarbon polymer, so-called “super-engineering plastics”. Graft polymerization of the sulfo-containing styrene, ethyl 4-styrenesulfonate (E4S) into a high crystalline PEEK substrate (degree of crystallinity: 32%) hardly progressed, whereas graft polymerization into a low crystalline PEEK substrate (degree of crystallinity: 11%) gradually progressed, achieving a grafting degree of more than 50% after 72 h. Oxygen radicals appeared in the ESR spectra of irradiated PEEK films, indicating that graft polymerization initiates from the phenoxy radicals generated by scission of PEEK main chains and proceeds so as to yield block type grafts. The PEEK-based polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) converted by aqueous hydrolysis of grafted films exhibited mechanical strength (100 MPa), being 88% of the original PEEK substrates. These mechanical properties of PEEK-based PEM are much higher than those of graft-type fluorinated PEM reported previously and almost three times higher than that of Nafion (35 MPa). Wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS and SAXS) indicated that the graft polymerization was accompanied with recrystallization of the amorphous phase of PEEK substrate, the well known solvent-induced recrystallization of amorphous PEEK solids, to form a weak lamellar structure with 8 nm spacing. Complementary SAXS and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) observations clearly showed that the graft-type PEEK membranes possessed ion channel domains with the average distance of 13 nm, being larger than that of Nafion. Furthermore, there was a micro-structure in the ion channels with the average distance of 1.8 nm.     

Enhancement of adhesive joint strength by surface texturing

Proper substrate preparation is an indispensible step for achieving strong adhesive joints. One consequence of such surface treatment is the enhancement of degree of mechanical interlocking between polymers and substrates, which, according to the literature, seems to increase the strength of the joint. A novel method based on photolithography is developed to texture aluminum oxide surface by controlling the pit size and its spatial distribution. Surface profile, surface physical chemical properties of this sample, and the lap shear strength of epoxy adhesive joints are compared with those of the phosphoric acid anodized (PAA) sample. It is shown that the lap shear strength of the textured sample is superior to that of the PAA sample. Surface profile data and mathematical analysis suggest that the inferiority of the PAA sample is probably due to the trapped air in the large pit in the surface resisting the penetration of adhesives. It also concludes that the high surface area provided by the multitude small pits in PAA sample is far from being fully utilized. This study opens up a new avenue to rationally improve the strength of adhesive joint by controlling the surface profile, the surface chemical properties, and the pressure during bond formation.     

Wettability modification of zirconia by laser surface texturing and silanization

This paper presents the modification of wettability by nanosecond laser surface textured followed by silanization to fabricate the superhydrophobic zirconia surface. Surface modification by varying the pitch between channels leads to micro-channel and micro-grid pattern with different surface roughness. The generated morphological and metallurgical modifications of the surface are measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Numerous micro-pits and cracks in the laser-treated areas can be observed from SEM, which indicates crack propagation dominating the process of laser ablation of zirconia. The surface is superhydrophilic with laser-texturing instantly, whose wettability is modified over time. By analyzing the XPS, carbon content, especially C-C (H) groups, is important for the time-dependent wettability. The hydrophobicity of all laser-textured surfaces is improved after silanization. Laser texturing with smaller pitch (50 μm and 70 μm) leads to superhydrophobic surfaces after silanization, which may be due to the modification of physicochemical properties of substrate by very rapid local heating and cooling on the thick surface layer. Overall, the investigations indicate that wettability modifications can be attributed to the surface's microstructure, which depend on laser processing parameters, and chemical composition, especially in terms of −CF₃, −CF₂, and C-C (H).     

Effect of Surface Texture on the Adhesion Performance of Laser Treated Ti6Al4V Alloy

The growing demand in lighter and safer structures generates the requirement of lighter joining strategies, particularly for lightweight metal alloys, composites, and also joining dissimilar materials together. Titanium alloys stand out as the conventional choice for materials for light weight structures. Adhesive bonding of titanium is an appealing route for joint design, also for the possibility of joining it with dissimilar materials. The realization of a strong joint depends not only on the joint design and type of adhesive, but also on the preparation of the adhering surface. Laser texturing presents advantages compared to common surface preparation processes in terms of eco-compatibility, energetic efficiency, ease of manufacturing, and repeatability. This work presents a preliminary investigation on laser texturing of Ti6Al4 V alloy with a pulsed fiber laser source with the aim to increase surface adhesion for bonding. Particularly, different surface textures are proposed, and laser machining strategies are developed. The results showed that laser texturing provided up to eightfold and 30% higher shear strength compared to plain and sand blasted surfaces, respectively. Failure analysis showed that a margin of improvement is still possible by adapting the surface texture for better cavity filling and reducing surface damage caused by the laser treatment.     

Frictional properties of diamond-like carbon, glassy carbon and nitrides with femtosecond-laser-induced nanostructure

This paper reports macro and micro frictional properties of DLC, TiN, CrN films and GC substrate of which surfaces are nanostructured with femtosecond (fs) laser pulses. The friction coefficient μ of the nanostructured surface was measured at a usual load with a ball-on-disk friction test machine. The results have shown that carbon materials of DLC and GC provide lower values of μ than TiN and CrN, and μ of DLC and TiN measured with a hardened steel ball decreases with an increase of the laser pulse energy. On the other hand, μ of nanostructured surfaces of thin films monotonously increases with an increase in laser pulse energy, which was measured with a micro-scratch test at an ultralight load of 1.5 mN utilizing a diamond tip. The friction coefficient of the GC substrate irradiated at a low fluence around the ablation threshold has shown a lower value than that of the non-irradiated surface.     

Effects of Cyclic Loading,Freeze-Thaw and Temperature Changes on Shear Bond Strengths of Different Concrete Repair Systems

An experimental study was performed to evaluate the residual shear bond strengths between different cementitious and resinous repair materials and substrate concrete after being subjected to cyclic loading, freeze-thaw, and temperature changes. In this paper, techniques and results of test methods that induce shear along the repair/concrete interface are discussed. In addition to the effect of surface preparation on the strength of the old concrete surface, which proved the saw cut surface as the most suitable substrate concrete for shear bond strength assessment, by means of cylindrical shear and friction-transfer methods, the effects of cyclic loading, freeze-thaw, and temperature changes on the shear bond strengths of six different repair systems are illustrated. Analysis of the results indicated that: in order to avoid fatigue failure, the maximum safe stress level to be applied should be between 20 to 40% of the original shear bond strength of the repair system, and the critical stress level differs for different repair materials; 300 freeze-thaw cycles can reduce the shear bond strength of a resin mortar by up to about 80%; and 200 cycles, of temperature changes can reduce the original shear bond strength of a cementitious mortar by up to about 90%.