Effect of overlap length on durability of joints bonded with a pressure-sensitive adhesive

Abstract In this study, the effect of overlap length on durability of a film type adhesive, Structural Bonding Tape (SBT) 9244, which possesses pressure-sensitive and visco-elastic properties, was investigated. Single-lap joints with 1.62 and 3.2 mm adherend thicknesses and at 12.5, 25 and 50 mm overlap lengths consisting of AA2024-T3 alloy as the adherend were exposed to two environmental conditions for exposure times of up to 90 days. The exposure environments were 100% relative humidity (RH) and 3.5% NaCl solution. At the end of exposure times, the failure surfaces were examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) after the strength of joints was determined with the lap shear test. It was observed that with increasing overlap length, not only the failure load increased, but also the degradation rate decreased. In addition, as the metal adherends do not absorb any water and moisture from the environments, the metal adherend thickness had no effect on durability of the adhesively bonded joints. Keywords: ADHESIVEAGEINGENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTSSINGLE LAP JOINTSEM MICROGRAPHSDEGRADATION