Fracture mechanics, elastomers adhesion

In a contribution from B. F. Goodrich, Drake and Siebert extensively review the journal and patent literature since 1975 on reactive butadiene/acrylonitrile liquid and solid elastomers used in formulating epoxy structural adhesives. Areas reviewed include the preparation of elastomer-modified epoxy resins, the characterization of rubber-toughened epoxy resins, fracture mechanics and adhesive formulation and testing. 

Most adhesives are polymer-based materials and exhibit viscoelastic behavior. Some adhesives are elastomer materials and also exhibit full or partial rubberlike properties. The word elastic refers to the ability of a material to return to its original dimensions when unloaded, and the term mer refers to the polymeric molecular makeup in the word elastomer. In cases where brittle material behavior prevails, and especially, when inherent material flaws such as cracks, voids, and disbonds exist in such materials, the use of the methods of fracture mechanics are called for. For continuum behavior, however, the use of damage models is considered appropriate in order to be able to model the progression of distributed and non-catastrophic failures and/or irreversible changes in material s microstructure, which are sometimes described as elastic Hmit, yield, plastic flow, stress whitening, and strain hardening. Many adhesive materials are composite materials due to the presence of secondary phases such as fillers and carriers. Consequently, accurate analysis and modeling of such composite adhesives require the use of the methods of composite materials. 

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