Adhesion chemical bonding

Chemical bonding Adhesion occurs due to the formation of chemical bonds across the interface. For this to occur, the substrates and adhesive have to be chemically reactive or have functional groups in their molecular make-up. 

The adhesion between two solid particles has been treated. In addition to van der Waals forces, there can be an important electrostatic contribution due to charging of the particles on separation [76]. The adhesion of hematite particles to stainless steel in aqueous media increased with increasing ionic strength, contrary to intuition for like-charged surfaces, but explainable in terms of electrical double-layer theory [77,78]. Hematite particles appear to form physical bonds with glass surfaces and chemical bonds when adhering to gelatin [79]. 

In contrast to most extmsion processes, extmsion coating involves a hot melt, ca 340°C. The thin web cools rapidly between the die and nip even at high linear rates. Both mechanical and chemical bonding to substrates are involved. Mechanical locking of resin around fibers contributes to the resin s adhesion to paper. Some oxidation of the melt takes place in the air gap, thereby providing sites for chemical bonding to aluminum foil. Excessive oxidation causes poor heat-sealing characteristics. 

Nylon is the preferred fiber for flocking because of its good chemical bonding to a wide range of adhesives, its toughness, and its ease of dyeabiHty and printabihty. Nevertheless, the tow must be manufactured with the proper ktex, cohesion, and spin finish to be readily converted to flock (133). 

Woodflour, a fine sawdust preferably obtained from softwoods such as pine, spruce and poplar, is the most commonly used filler. Somewhat fibrous in nature, it is not only an effective diluent for the resin to reduce exotheim and shrinkage, but it is also cheap and improves the impact strength of the mouldings. There is a good adhesion between phenol-formaldehyde resin and the woodflour and it is possible that some chemical bonding may occur. 

As mentioned earlier, adhesive bond formation is governed by interfacial processes occurring between the adhering surfaces. These interfacial processes, as summarized by Brown [13] include (1) van der Waals or other non-covalent interactions that form bonds across the interface (2) interdiffusion of polymer chains across the interface and coupling of the interfacial chains with the bulk polymer and (3) formation of primary chemical bonds between chains or molecules at or across the interface. 

The chemical bonding theory of adhesion applied to silicones involves the formation of covalent bonds across an interface. This mechanism strongly depends on both the reactivity of the selected silicone cure system and the presence of reactive groups on the surface of the substrate. Some of the reactive groups that can be present in a silicone system have been discussed in Section 3.1. The silicone adhesive can be formulated so that there is an excess of these reactive groups, which can react with the substrate to form covalent bonds. It is also possible to enhance chemical bonding through the use of adhesion promoters or chemical modification of the substrate surface. 

The mechanism of chemical adhesion is probably best studied and demonstrated by the use of silanes as adhesion promoters. However, it must be emphasized that the formation of chemical bonds may not be the sole mechanism leading to adhesion. Details of the chemical bonding theory along with other more complex theories that particularly apply to silanes have been reviewed [48,63]. These are the Deformable Layer Hypothesis where the interfacial region allows stress relaxation to occur, the Restrained Layer Hypothesis in which an interphase of intermediate modulus is required for stress transfer, the Reversible Hydrolytic Bonding mechanism which combines the chemical bonding concept with stress relaxation through reversible hydrolysis and condensation reactions. 

An investigation of the mechanism of adhesive failure of polydimethylsiloxane elastomers was conducted [75]. The study showed that the total adhesive failure energy could be decomposed into energies for breaking chemical bonds, breaking physical bonds and deforming the bulk viscoelastic elastomer. 

Chemical covalent bonding. The formation of covalent chemical bonds between elements at an interface may be an important factor. Such direct chemical bonding would greatly enhance interfacial adhesion, but specific chemical functional groups are required for the reactions to occur. 

An important chemical modification method is the chemical coupling method. This method improves the interfacial adhesion. The fiber surface is treated with a compound that forms a bridge of chemical bonds between fiber and matrix. 

In this theory, the adhesion is due to electrostatic forces arising from the transfer of electrons from one material of an adhesive joint to another. Evidence in support of this theory includes the observation that the parts of a broken adhesive joint are sometimes charged [48]. It has been shown that peeling forces are often much greater than can be accounted for by van der Waals forces or chemical bonds. 

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