Quality assurance, especially in adhesive bonding

• Published in: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part D, Journal of automobile engineering Vol. 237; no. 13; pp. 3024 - 3030
• Main Author: Adams, Robert. D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2023
• Subjects: human failures; nondestructive testing; Adhesive bonding; quality assurance; destructive testing
• ISSN: 0954-4070; 2041-2991
• DOI: 10.1177/09544070221115975

With the increased use of adhesives in industrial applications, there is a need to consider not only strength and stiffness, but also how bonded joints will perform in the long term. In aerospace and automotive applications, this means at least 10 years. In buildings and civil engineering structures, much greater timescales are needed. All classes of bond are important whether they be structural or for ‘less important’ applications such as trim, sound deadening. Vehicles which become ‘shabby’ with trim beginning to detach may not lead to warranty claims, but can easily cause loss of reputation. The objective of this paper is to illustrate some of the traps into which a designer might fall and how to avoid them. For a given configuration and expected set of loads, this involves correct choice of the adhesive, specification of the surfaces and some means of checking consistency of the adhesives on delivery to the client, together with the processes used in production.