Impact response of adhesive reversible joints made of thermoplastic nanomodified adhesive

The impact response of a reversible adhesive joint is experimentally assessed in this work. Joint reversibility is improved with a system that uses nanomodification of the thermoplastic adhesive used for bonding plastic components. This system, coupled with electromagnetic induction, is able to guarantee the separation of joints without any damage to the substrates. Drop dart tests at different impact velocities are carried out on neat and nanomodified bonded joints in order to compare the impact behavior before and after the introduction of nanoparticles. Experimental results show that the impact response, assessed in terms of peak load, absorbed energy, and flexural stiffness, can be affected by the introduction of nanoparticles. This work shows that adhesive nanomodified joints represent an effective and applicable solution for the reversible assembling of semi-structural components subjected to low-velocity impact loads.