Experimental Investigation of Epoxy Bonded Polymethylmethacrylate Joints

This paper presents an experimental investigation into various aspects of epoxy-bonded polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and PMMA-to-aluminium joints. The effects of adhesive thickness, overlap area, surface roughness, and environmental exposure on the joint strength were studied. Results indicated that the joint strength was not directly proportional to the overlap area, while sanding had a positive effect on the joint strength. A negative effect was observed when adhesive thickness was increased. The fatigue behaviour of adhesively-bonded joints under dynamic loading was found to be independent of frequency, for the range of values tested; however, it was dependent on the test temperature with greater reduction in fatigue life observed in PMMA-to-aluminium joints at higher temperature. Empirical equations from which the fatigue life of joints can be predicted were obtained by regression analysis. Intermittent fatigue testing of the joints was also performed. The epoxy adhesive tested proved to be a satisfactory choice for outdoor exposure. The rate of degradation of the adhesive was slow with the adherend itself degrading at a faster rate than the adhesive or the bondline.     

Experimental Investigation of Epoxy Bonded Polymethylmethacrylate Joints

This paper presents an experimental investigation into various aspects of epoxy-bonded polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and PMMA-to-aluminium joints. The effects of adhesive thickness, overlap area, surface roughness, and environmental exposure on the joint strength were studied. Results indicated that the joint strength was not directly proportional to the overlap area, while sanding had a positive effect on the joint strength. A negative effect was observed when adhesive thickness was increased. The fatigue behaviour of adhesively-bonded joints under dynamic loading was found to be independent of frequency, for the range of values tested; however, it was dependent on the test temperature with greater reduction in fatigue life observed in PMMA-to-aluminium joints at higher temperature. Empirical equations from which the fatigue life of joints can be predicted were obtained by regression analysis. Intermittent fatigue testing of the joints was also performed. The epoxy adhesive tested proved to be a satisfactory choice for outdoor exposure. The rate of degradation of the adhesive was slow with the adherend itself degrading at a faster rate than the adhesive or the bondline.     

Analysis and design of adhesively bonded joints for fatigue and fracture loading: a fracture-mechanics approach

An experimental–computational fracture-mechanics approach for the analysis and design of structural adhesive joints under static loading is demonstrated by predicting the ultimate fracture load of cracked lap shear and single lap shear aluminum and steel joints bonded using a highly toughened epoxy adhesive. The predictions are then compared with measured values. The effects of spew fillet, adhesive thickness, and surface roughness on the quasi-static strength of the joints are also discussed. This fracture-mechanics approach is extended to characterize the fatigue threshold and crack growth behavior of a toughened epoxy adhesive system for design purposes. The effects of the mode ratio of loading, adhesive thickness, substrate modulus, spew fillet, and surface roughness on the fatigue threshold and crack growth rates are considered. A finite element model is developed to both explain the experimental results and to predict how a change in an adhesive system affects the fatigue performance of the bonded joint.     

Torque Transmission Capabilities of Bonded Polygonal Lap Joints for Carbon Fiber Epoxy Composites

Although carbon fiber epoxy composite materials have excellent properties for structures, the joint in composite materials often reduces the efficiency of the composite structure because the joint is often the weakest area in the composite structure.

In this paper, the effects of the adhesive thickness and the adherend surface roughness on the static and fatigue strengths of adhesively-bonded tubular polygonal lap joints have been investigated by experimental methods. The dependencies of the static and fatigue strengths on the stacking sequences of the composite adherends were observed.

From the experimental investigations, it was found that the fatigue strength of the circular adhesively-bounded joints was quite dependent on the surface roughness of the adherends and that polygonal adhesively-bonded joints had better fatigue strength characteristics than circular adhesively-bonded joints.     

Effect of adhesive thickness and surface roughness on the shear strength of aluminium one-component polyurethane adhesive single-lap joints for automotive applications

Adhesively bonded technology is now widely accepted as a valuable tool in mechanical design, allowing the production of connections with a very good strength‐to‐weight ratio. The bonding may be made between metal–metal, metal–composite or composite–composite. In the automotive industry, elastomeric adhesives such as polyurethanes are used in structural applications such as windshield bonding because they present important advantages in terms of damping, impact, fatigue and safety, which are critical factors. For efficient designs of adhesively bonded structures, the knowledge of the relationship between substrates and the adhesive layer is essential. The aim of this work, via an experimental study, is to carry out and quantify the various variables affecting the strength of single-lap joints (SLJs), especially the effect of the surface preparation and adhesive thickness. Aluminium SLJs were fabricated and tested to assess the adhesive performance in a joint. The effect of the bondline thickness on the lap-shear strength of the adhesives was studied. A decrease in surface roughness was found to increase the shear strength of the SLJs. Experimental results showed that rougher surfaces have less wettability which is coherent with shear strength tests. However, increasing the adhesive thickness decreased the shear strength of SLJs. Indeed, a numerical model was developed to search the impact of increasing adhesive thickness on the interface of the adherend.     

Torque Transmission Capabilities of Bonded Polygonal Lap Joints for Carbon Fiber Epoxy Composites

Although carbon fiber epoxy composite materials have excellent properties for structures, the joint in composite materials often reduces the efficiency of the composite structure because the joint is often the weakest area in the composite structure.

In this paper, the effects of the adhesive thickness and the adherend surface roughness on the static and fatigue strengths of adhesively-bonded tubular polygonal lap joints have been investigated by experimental methods. The dependencies of the static and fatigue strengths on the stacking sequences of the composite adherends were observed.

From the experimental investigations, it was found that the fatigue strength of the circular adhesively-bounded joints was quite dependent on the surface roughness of the adherends and that polygonal adhesively-bonded joints had better fatigue strength characteristics than circular adhesively-bonded joints.     

Investigation of optimal surface treatments for carbon/epoxy composite adhesive joints

Although an adhesive joint can distribute the load over a larger area than a mechanical joint, requires no holes, adds very little weight to the structure and has superior fatigue resistance, but it not only requires a careful surface preparation of the adherends but also is affected by service environments. In this paper, suitable conditions for surface treatments such as plasma surface treatment, mechanical abrasion, and sandblast treatment were investigated to enhance the mechanical load capabilities of carbon/epoxy composite adhesive joints. A capacitively coupled radiofrequency plasma system was used for the plasma surface treatment of carbon/epoxy composites and suitable surface treatment conditions were experimentally investigated with respect to gas flow rate, chamber pressure, power intensity, and surface treatment time by measuring the surface free energies of treated specimens. The optimal mechanical abrasion conditions with sandpapers were investigated with respect to the mesh number of sandpaper, and optimal sandblast conditions were investigated with respect to sandblast pressure and particle size by observing geometric shape changes of adherends during sandblast process. Also the failure modes of composite adhesive joints were investigated with respect to surface treatment. From the peel tests on plasma treated composite adhesive joints, it was found that all composite adhesive joints failed cohesively in the adhesive layer when the surface free energy was higher than about 40 mJ/m², because of high adhesion strength between the plasma treated surface and the adhesive. From the peel tests on mechanically abraded composite adhesive joints, it was also found that the optimal surface roughness and adhesive thickness increased as the failure load increased.     

Study on the fatigue strength of AA 6082-T6 adhesive lap joints

A research study on the fatigue behaviour of aluminium alloy adhesive lap joints was carried out to understand the effect of surface pre-treatment and adherends thickness on the fatigue strength of adhesive joints. The adherend material used for the experimental tests was an aluminium alloy 6082-T6 in the form of thin sheets, and the adhesive used was a high strength epoxy (Araldite 420 A/B). The surface preparation included an abrasive preparation (AP joints) and sodium dichromate–sulphuric acid etch (CSA joints).A maximum fatigue strength was obtained for the CSA surface treatment with a 1.0 mm adherends’ thickness. The fastest fatigue damage was related with a high surface roughness and a high stress perpendicular to adhesive surface, which helps to promote the adhesive failure. A numerical analysis was also performed to understand the effect of the adherends thickness on the stress level. Results showed an increase of the out-of-plane peak stresses with the increase of adherends thickness.     

The effects of surface roughness and bond thickness on the fatigue life of adhesively bonded tubular single lap joints

Since the surface roughness of adherends greatly affects the strength of adhesively bonded joints, the effect of surface roughness on the fatigue life of adhesively bonded tubular single lap joints was investigated analytically and experimentally by a fatigue torsion test. The stiffness of the interfacial layer between the adherends and the adhesive was modelled as a normal statistical distribution function of the surface roughness of the adherends. From the investigation, it was found that the optimum surface roughness of the adherends for the fatigue strength of tubular single lap joints was dependent on the bond thickness and applied load.     

Improvement of impact fatigue strength of adhesive joint by CTBN modification

Impact fatigue behaviors of the steel/CTBN-modified adhesive/steel butt joint were investigated. The adhesive butt joint specimens used in the present work were bonded with epoxy–polyamide and CTBN-modified epoxy–polyamide adhesives. Fatigue tests were also conducted under nonimpact stress conditions to compare with the results from the impact fatigue test. The experiments showed that for the joint specimen from the adhesive modified with the CTBN the fatigue strength becomes higher under both of the stress conditions. In particular, the fatigue strength was improved remarkably under impact stress condition, that is, the distinct stress cycles dependence of impact strength was decreased by modifying the adhesive with CTBN. Furthermore, the effect of adhesive thickness on the fatigue strength was also discussed for the adhesive joint modified with CTBN. Under impact stress conditions, the relation between the fatigue strength and the adhesive layer thickness is different from that under the nonimpact one.     

Static and fatigue behavior of adhesive joints in SMC-SMC composites

This paper discusses the static and fatigue behavior of adhesively bonded single lap joints in SMC-SMC composites. Effects of lap length and adhesive thickness on the static and fatigue strength of SMC-SMC adhesive joints are studied. Effects of SMC surface preparation and test speed on the joint performance are evaluated. Finally, the effect of water exposure on the joint durability is also investigated. Results show that the static behavior of adhesive joints in SMC-SMC composites is significantly influenced by the lap length and adhesive thickness. With an increase in lap length from 12.7 mm to 38.1 mm, the joint failure load increases by 37%. The joint failure load also increases with the adhesive thickness, but it reaches a maximum at an adhesive thickness of 0.33 mm and then decreases. However, lap length and adhesive thickness have negligible effect on the ratio of fatigue strength to static strength. The fatigue strength at 10⁶ cycles is approximately 50% to 54% of the static strength for various adhesive thicknesses and lap lengths investigated in this study. Adhesive failure, fiber tear or combination of these two failure modes are observed during both static and fatigue tests.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of key joint variables on the static and fatigue performance of bonded metallic single-lap joints

In this paper, numerical and experimental methods are employed to investigate the effect of surface preparation, adhesive type and thickness, and nanoparticle enrichment on the mechanical performance of bonded metallic single-lap joints. Adherents are made of similar materials; namely, steel-on-steel or aluminum-on-aluminum. Investigated surface preparation variables include roughness and scratch orientation. Adhesive-related variables include thickness, type, and nanoparticle enrichment. Four different commercially available adhesives are investigated, some of which are nanoparticle enriched for the purpose of this study. Static and/or fatigue testing as well as damage analysis-based numerical prediction of joint performance, are provided. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is used for macro joint characterization through the micro observation of joint fracture surfaces. Experimental fatigue data correlates reasonably well with the numerical results obtained from damage-coupled cohesive model of the adhesive layer.     

Influence of Acrylic Adhesive Viscosity and Surface Roughness on the Properties of Adhesive Joint

In adhesion, the wetting process depends on three fundamental factors: the surface topography of the adherend, the viscosity of the adhesive, and the surface energy of both. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of viscosity and surface roughness on the wetting and their effect on the bond strength. For this purpose, an acrylic adhesive with different viscosities was synthesized and some properties, such as viscosity and surface tension, were studied before adhesive curing took place. Furthermore, the contact angle and the lap-shear strength were analyzed using aluminum adherends with two different roughnesses. Scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the effect of the viscosity and the roughness on the joint interface. The results showed that the adhesive exhibits an optimal value of viscosity. Below this value, at low viscosities, the low neoprene content produces poor bond strength due to the reduced toughness of the adhesive. Additionally, it also produces a high shrinkage during curing, which leads to the apparition of residual stresses that weakens the interfacial strength. However, once the optimum value, an increase in the viscosity produces a negative effect on the joint strength as a result of an important decrease in the wettability.     

Influence of mechanical surface treatment on fatigue life of bonded joints

Adhesively bonded joints can support a longer fatigue life if compared to conventional joining techniques, provided that a set of requirements is fulfilled. One of the most important requirements is the mechanical preparation of the bonded joint surface, which improves the joint interface adhesion. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of surface roughness of mild steel substrates on fatigue behavior in adhesive bonded plates. To accomplish this objective, three different surface treatments were used on A36 steel substrate specimens, namely sand blasting, grit blasting, and bristle blasting. Bonded plate specimens, using end-notched flexure format, with a thin adhesive epoxy layer were manufactured and tested, under mode II loading condition, in both static and dynamic tests. The results confirm the importance of surface treatment of the substrate on the fatigue life, confirming that adhesively bonded joints have significant performance differences when subjected to static and dynamic loadings.     

An atomic force microscopy study of the effect of surface roughness on the fracture energy of adhesively bonded aluminium

The effect of roughening an initially polished aluminium surface using the Forest Products Laboratory chemical etch on the adhesive joint strength has been determined. It was found that while the lap shear strength increased rapidly with etching for short times, the fracture energy did not increase significantly until etching had occurred for at least 15 min. An atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to study the surface/interface morphology and to quantify the surface roughness. The AFM images showed that etching occurs heterogeneously across the aluminium surface and a correlation was found between the fracture energy and the fraction of etched surface. A model based on Griffith's fracture energy approach has been proposed to explain this observation. The lap shear strength was found to be more sensitive to a finer scale roughness which is generated at shorter etching times. Other observations regarding the mode of fracture and the variability in joint strength as a function of the surface roughness are explained on the basis of varying stress concentrations at the crack tip.     

The effects of Al surface treatment,adhesive thickness and microcapsule inclusion on the shear strength of bonded joints

The influences of various Al surface treatments, adhesive thicknesses as well as the incorporation of synthesized microcapsules into epoxy adhesive on the shear strength of adhesive/ Al joints have been investigated using lap-shear tensile tests. First, the influence of adhesive thickness on the shear strength of joints has been presented. Then, the effects of various Al surface treatments on the surface roughness of Al and shear strength of joint have been researched. Atomic force microscopy was used to study the Al surface morphologies and textures. Finally the few micron-sized polymeric microcapsules were synthesized and the shear performances of microcapsule filled epoxy adhesives were inspected. It was observed that the HCl acid based etching increased both micro-roughness and nano-texture of the Al surface and led to the peak shear strength. Moreover, HCl-nitric acid treatment offered the maximum value for the cohesive failure. Capsule inclusions into the adhesive displayed different influences on the joint shear performances depending on the capsule morphology and the surface treatment of Al.     

Glass/epoxy composites and aluminium alloy joint using Kevlar® intermediate layer and nanoclay-reinforced epoxy adhesive

Adhesive lap joint between glass fibre/epoxy composites and aluminium alloy (2014 T4) was prepared by an in situ moulding process using a matched die mould. The surface of aluminium alloy was treated with chromic acid before adhesive bonding. Lap shear strength and fatigue life were evaluated in tensile mode and tension–compression mode (at 40% of lap shear load of adhesive joint), respectively. Knurling on the surface of aluminium alloy improved the lap shear strength of the adhesive joint but did not influence the fatigue life of the same. Lap shear strength and fatigue life of adhesive joint made with neat epoxy adhesive and reinforcement of an intermediate layer of Kevlar^® between glass/epoxy composite and aluminium alloy were observed to be 0.44?kg/mm² and 3.6?×?10⁵ cycles, respectively. In another case, lap shear strength and fatigue life of similar type of adhesive joint made from nanoclay (Cloisite 30B)-reinforced epoxy adhesive and without reinforcement of an intermediate layer of Kevlar^® were observed to be 0.38?kg/mm² and 2.3?×?10⁵ cycles, respectively. Whereas, lap shear strength and fatigue life of adhesive joint made from nanoclay-reinforced epoxy adhesive along with the reinforcement of an intermediate layer of Kevlar^® were 0.48?kg/mm² and 3.9?×?10⁵ cycles, respectively. Therefore, adhesive joint made from nanoclay-reinforced epoxy adhesive along with the reinforcement of an intermediate layer of Kevlar^® was the best.     

A new testing methodology for the assessment of fatigue properties of structural adhesives

The monotonic and fatigue shear behaviour of an epoxy adhesive joint has been studied using a short overlap — thick adherend configuration. A specific in situ bonding procedure has been developed in order to accurately control the initial stress state of the joint before testing. The strength of the joint has been found to be strongly dependent on the strain rate and the joint thickness. This dependency was associated with a change in damage mechanisms from cohesive failure (for small joint thickness or elevated speed) to adhesive failure (for large joint thickness and low speed). This was attributed to changes in peel stresses and/or joint morphology with thickness. Fatigue tests were carried out at imposed strain amplitude. Fatigue logs giving the changes in the shape of the transverse loaddisplacement loops were at first considered. The latter have been found to be useful to differentiate between the different failure modes (i.e. cohesive and adhesive). In a second step, all the results were summarised in a fatigue map giving the endurance properties and the failure mode of the joint as a function of the joint thickness and the strain level. This method should be generally useful whenever an accurate determination of the contribution of adhesive and interface behaviour is required for the assessment of joint durability.     

Effect of surface pre-treatment on surface characteristics and adhesive bond strength of aluminium alloy

In this work aluminium alloy surfaces have been subjected to three different methods of surface pre-treatments such as solvent degreasing, FPL (Forest Products Laboratory) etching and priming using an epoxy based primer. The treated surfaces were evaluated for surface energy, contact angle, surface topography, surface roughness and adhesive strength characteristics. The influence of surface pre-treatments on the variation of polar, dispersive and total surface energy of the surfaces is addressed. A wettability test was performed on the surfaces using an epoxy adhesive in order to assess the influence of the pre-treatment techniques on substrate/adhesive interaction. Theoretical work of adhesion values for the various pre-treated surfaces were calculated using the contact angle data and further tested experimentally by adhesive bond strength evaluation by tensile testing of a single lap aluminium-epoxy-aluminium assembly. The method of surface pre-treatment showed a profound effect on the surface topography and roughness by AFM. This study reveals that a combination of high surface energy and high surface roughness of the substrate along with good wettability of the adhesive contributed to the highest joint strength for the aluminium alloy through the FPL etching pre-treatment.