Durability moisture

The environment to which joints are exposed plays an important role in their durability. Moisture and temperature are the most important factors in determining the strength loss of a joint exposed to the service environment. 

From antiquity, glues had been made almost entirely from materials of animal or vegetable origin, and were sensitive to moisture, oxidation, and bacterial or fungus attack. Because of these deficiencies, production of durable plywood, for example, was not possible. The modern plywood industry actually owes its growth to the availabiUty of relatively low cost urea adhesives. Plywood and chipboard or wood chip glues are often made at the plywood and chip board mill. 

The slow rate of hydration for buried surfaces is desirable from a service point of view, but makes the study and evaluation of the durability of surface treatments difficult unless wedge tests (ASTM D3762) or similar tests are used to accelerate the degradation. As for the wedge test, the stress at the crack tip, together with the presence of moisture at the tip, make this a more severe test than soaked lap shear specimens or similar types and therefore a better measure of relative durability. 

Bituminous This term is used for products obtained from both petroleum and coal tar sources but the petroleum products are the more widely used. These materials are very resistant to moisture and tolerant to poor surface preparation. They are only available as black, dark brown or aluminum pigmented. The last has reasonable outdoor durability but, without the aluminum, the film will crack and craze under the influence of sunlight. Normally they cannot be over-coated with any other type of paint, because not only will harder materials used for over-coating tend to crack or craze but there is also a possibility that the bitumen will bleed through subsequent coats. The best use is as a cheap waterproofing for items buried or out of direct sunlight. 

Some of the key factors that lead us to select polyurethane foam for upholstery are its durability, resilience, and controllable hardness (or softness, depending on your point of view). Vibration dampening and shock absorbance are important attributes in automobile and public transportation seating. Open cell foams are preferred for these applications because they allow for air and moisture transport, which improve the comfort of passengers who may occupy a seat continuously for several hours. This inherent breathability is also a valuable attribute in mattresses. Shock absorbance plays a key role in selecting flexible polyurethane foams for the packaging of fragile items. 

Moisture acts as a debonding agent through one of or a combination of the following mechanisms 1) attack of the metallic surface to form a weak, hydrated oxide interface, 2) moisture assisted chemical bond breakdown, or 3) attack of the adhesive. (2 ) A primary drawback to good durability of metal/adhesive bonds in wet environments is the ever present substrate surface oxide. Under normal circumstances, the oxide layer can be altered, but not entirely removed. Since both metal oxides and water are relatively polar, water will preferentially adsorb onto the oxide surface, and so create a weak boundary layer at the adhesive/metal interface. For the purposes of this work, the detrimental effects of moisture upon the adhesive itself will be neglected. The nitrile rubber modified adhesive used here contains few hydrolyzable ester linkages and therefore will be considered to remain essentially stable. 

CRS which had been phosphated prior to bonding exhibited a significant enhancement of durability and corrosion resistance under the same accelerated conditions (Figure 4). The crystalline barrier layer restricted the exposure of the metal oxide to moisture by reducing the rate of water penetration at the interface. Even samples exposed to the cycle test were able to maintain failure within the adhesive for up to 10 days, after which varying amounts of interfacial failure were noted. Again, room temperature control samples maintained initial joint strength and failure remained cohesive within the adhesive. 

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