Aluminum adhesively bonded

J. D. Minford, Aluminum Adhesive Bond Permanence, in Treatise on Adhesion and Adhesives. Vol. 5 (R. L. Patrick, ed.), Marcel Dekker, New York, 1981. 

One characteristic of CAA oxides is that they contain significant amounts of fluorine. Sputter depth-profiles obtained by Auger electron spectroscopy(53,5s,65) show a buildup of fluorine in the barrier layer. Although adsorbed fluorine is considered detrimental to aluminum adhesive bonds (as discussed earlier in Section 2.4),( 2) CAA titanium oxides exhibit remarkable bond durability, probably because the fluorine is incorporated into the oxide rather than adsorbed onto it. 

The principal type of shear test specimen used in the industry, the lap shear specimen, is 2.54 cm wide and has a 3.23-cm overlap bonded by the adhesive. Adherends are chosen according to the industry aluminum for aerospace, steel for automotive, and wood for constmction appHcations. Adhesive joints made in this fashion are tested to failure in a tensile testing machine. The temperature of test, as weU as the rate of extension, are specified. Results are presented in units of pressure, where the area of the adhesive bond is considered to be the area over which the force is appHed. Although the 3.23-cm ... 

Polyimides of 6FDA and aUphatic diamines with good low temperature processkig and low moisture swelling are known to be useful as hot-melt adhesives (109). Aluminum strips bonded by this polymer (177°C/172 kPa (25 psi) for 15 min) exhibited a lap-shear strength of 53 MPa (7690 psi) at room temperature and 35 MPa (5090 psi) at 100°C. The heat- and moisture-resistant 6F-containing Pis useful ki electronic devices are prepared from... 

The adhesion of metal and ink to polymers, and the adhesion of paint and other coatings to metal, are of vital importance in several technologies. Aluminum-to-alu-minum adhesion is employed in the aircraft industry. The strength and durability of an adhesive bond are completely dependent on the manner in which the adhesive compound interacts with the surfaces to which it is supposed to adhere this, in turn, often involves pretreatment of the surfaces to render them more reactive. The nature and extent of this reactivity are functions of the chemical states of the adhering surfaces, states that can be monitored by XPS. 

Rider and Amott were able to produce notable improvements in bond durability in comparison with simple abrasion pre-treatments. In some cases, the pretreatment improved joint durability to the level observed with the phosphoric acid anodizing process. The development of aluminum platelet structure in the outer film region combined with the hydrolytic stability of adhesive bonds made to the epoxy silane appear to be critical in developing the bond durability observed. XPS was particularly useful in determining the composition of fracture surfaces after failure as a function of boiling-water treatment time. A key feature of the treatment is that the adherend surface prepared in the boiling water be treated by the silane solution directly afterwards. Given the adherend is still wet before immersion in silane solution, the potential for atmospheric contamination is avoided. Rider and Amott have previously shown that such exposure is detrimental to bond durability. 

In primer formulations for adhesive bonding of metals, the coupling agents that are most frequently used are those based on epoxy and amine functionalities. Aqueous solutions of aminosilanes have been successfully used for obtaining stable adhesive bonds between epoxy and steel [10] and epoxy and titanium [11,12], while epoxy functional silanes are preferable for applications involving aluminum substrates [13,14], A simple solution of % epoxy functional silane in water is currently used for field repairs of military aircraft [15] where phosphoric acid anodization would be extremely difficult to carry out, and performance is deemed quite acceptable. 

Although the above experiments involved exposure to the environment of unbonded surfaees, the same proeess oeeurs for buried interfaces within an adhesive bond. This was first demonstrated by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) on an adhesive-covered FPL aluminum adherend immersed in hot water for several months [46]. EIS, which is commonly used to study paint degradation and substrate corrosion [47,48], showed absorption of moisture by the epoxy adhesive and subsequent hydration of the underlying aluminum oxide after 100 days (Fig. 10). After 175 days, aluminum hydroxide had erupted through the adhesive. 

CAA. Chromic acid anodization [74-76]. was developed initially as a treatment to improve the corrosion resistance of aluminum surfaces, but it is also used as a surface treatment for adhesive bonding especially in Europe where it is used extensively in aerospace applieations [29,77],... 

ASTM D3933, Standard Guide for Preparation of Aluminum Surfaces for Structural Adhesives Bonding, Phosphoric Acid Anodization, A.STM, West Conshohocken, PA. El-Mashri, S.M., Jones, R.G. and Forty, A.J., Philo.s. Mag. A, 48, 665 (1983). 

Mazza, J.J. and Kuhbander, R.J., Grit blast/silane (GBS) aluminum surface preparation for structural adhesive bonding, WL-TR-94-4111. Materials Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, September 1999. 

It is clear that European civil aircraft manufacturers adopted adhesive bonding for major structural elements much more rapidly than their American counterparts, but it is difficult to determine exactly why. Certainly a number of contributing factors are obvious. One was a history of success in incorporating adhesively bonded structure in military aircraft such as the Mosquito. Although the Mosquito was the most unusual and extreme example of adhesively bonded structure, other European wartime aircraft contained bonded structure as well. American military craft of the time were almost exclusively riveted aluminum structure. 

Even though the substrates are quite dissimilar, adhesive bonding of composite material is comparable to that of aluminum. Only aspects unique to composites will be discussed here. There are many details of composite part design, manufacture and performance that are not necessarily related to adhesive bonding that also will not be discussed. 

Adhesive Bonding Alcoa Aluminum. Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, PA, 1967. 

Thrall, E.W. and Shannon, R.W., Adhesive Bonding of Aluminum Alloys. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1985. 

Anodic alumina oxides find steadily growing application in various spheres of technology. Traditionally, they are most popular in civil industrial engineering for producing protective and decorative surface finish in panels and different objects. These applications are well reviewed in the literature.321 Anodic alumina is also widely used in the aircraft and aerospace industry for adhesive bonding of aluminum structures,322-324 composite materials, etc. 

Adhesives and sealers can be an important part of a total corrosion protection system. Structural bonding procedures and adhesives for aluminum, polymer composites, and titanium are well established in the aerospace industry. Structural bonding of steel is gaining increasing prominence in the appliance and automotive industries. The durability of adhesive bonds has been discussed by a number of authors (see, e.g., 85). The effects of aggressive environments on adhesive bonds are of particular concern. Minford ( ) has presented a comparative evaluation of aluminum joints in salt water exposure Smith ( ) has discussed steel-epoxy bond endurance under hydrothermal stress Drain et al. (8 ) and Dodiuk et al. (8 ) have presented results on the effects of water on performance of various adhesive/substrate combinations. In this volume, the durability of adhesive bonds in the presence of water and in corrosive environments is discussed by Matienzo et al., Gosselin, and Holubka et al. The effects of aggressive environments on adhesively bonded steel structures have a number of features in common with their effects on coated steel, but the mechanical requirements placed on adhesive bonds add an additional level of complication. 

The environmental durability of adhesively-bonded aluminum structures is of prime importance in the aircraft industry. 

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