Adhesive Selection, Development and Testing

1. Adhesive Selection, Development and Testing For the Average Engineer Dustin Urone University of Arizona Opti 521, Fall 2010

2. Introduction Problem: You are tasked with developing a reliable adhesive bond for an engineering effort, but you don’t know where to start. This Tutorial: Guides you through the general process of how to define adhesive requirements, select adhesives for testing, and develop the process.

3. Comments on Adhesive Bonds An adhesive bond comprises two primary elements; the adhesive and the substrate(s). The quality, or reliability, of an adhesive bond is the combined effect of many factors including: Adhesive chemistry Substrate material and surface chemistry The process used to create the adhesive bond The environment and loads the bond is subjected to This tutorial outlines the consideration of these factors and gives a process to define and test them. For information on adhesive types and applications, see the references [6, 11, 12]

4. Getting Started Is an adhesive bond is the appropriate course of action? Start with the lifetime requirement of the bond Consider the operational environment; if harsh, adhesives will suffer. All adhesive bonds will eventually fail [1]. Adhesives should be avoided if lifetimes of 10 years or more are required [1]. Consider any alternative mechanical restraint methods. Weigh the risk, complexity and cost of the potential methods and select one.