The Adhesive Bonding of Thermoplastic Composites
Abstract
This thesis discusses the problems that occur when thermo plastic-based fibre-composite materials are bonded using structural engineering adhesives, such as epoxy and acrylic adhesives. A double-cantilever beam joint has been employed and it is shown that the value of the adhesive fracture energy, G(c), is very low when a simple abrasion/solvent-wipe surface pretreatment is used for the thermoplastic fibre-composites. This arises from crack growth occuring along the adhesive/composite interface, which is relatively weak when such a pretreatment is employed. Secondly, the surfaces of the corona-discharge treated composites have been characterised using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle analysis and scanning electron microscopy. These studies revealed that the strong adhesion associated with corona pretreatment is via increasing the wettability and intrinsic adhesion of the thermoplastic fibre-composite materials. Thirdly, it is demonstrated how very effective a corona-discharge surface pretreatment may be for these materials. Indeed, when such a pretreatment is used, interfacial crack growth is no longer observed but the crack now propagates either cohesively in the adhesive or through the composite substate; both failure modes lead to relatively high values of G(c), with the former resulting in the highest values of G(c) being recorded. The thesis concludes by describing a study on designing efficient lap joints. (AW)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 19, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA213358
Entities
People
- A. J. Kinloch
Organizations
- Imperial College London