Toughened 2K-epoxy adhesives: structural strengthening of steel structures

Abstract

<p>The toughness of 2C epoxy adhesives is a decisive factor of today’s high-performance adhesives used for crash-zone repair in automotive or the bonding of wind turbine blades. Adhesives using Sika’s new PU-rubber toughener are used for applications, where high impact energies or high fatigue cycles must be resisted without bond failure during the entire lifetime, such as structural strengthening of civil metal structures. Crash resistance is currently not a very widespread requirement in construction. However, such materials need to resist high fatigue cycles and therefore guarantee long prospected and resilient lifetimes while maintaining their strengthening character [4]. The unique combination of very high mechanical performance, in combination with high fracture toughness and outperforming fatigue performance is the key for enabling dedicated adhesives for strengthening of big metal structures, like steal bridges. The outstanding performance of a new adhesive for strengthening, containing the SmartCore technology, has been investigated in terms of adhesive characteristics and fatigue performance on strengthened Steel samples</p>