Prediction of Joint Strength and Effect of the Surface Treatment on the Single Overlap Adhesive Joints

Abstract

A two-component high-ductility adhesive (acrylic and catalyst based), SikaFast® - 5211 NT, was used to bond single overlap joints with mild steel adherends and 25 mm of overlap. One joint configuration used treated bonding surfaces while the other was did not employ treatment of the adherend surfaces, with the aim of studying the influence of the material surface treatment. The specimens were tensile tested in a INSTRON® universal testing machine and the non-treated surface have shown a strength four times lower than the treated surface. Several analytical methods were used to predict joint strength, with two methods achieving reasonably accurate failure load predictions.

Keywords

• Structural Adhesive Joints
• Overlap Joints
• Single Overlap Joints
• Strength Prediction
• Surface Preparation