Mechanical Performance Enhancement of Aluminum Single-Lap Adhesive Joints Due to Organized Alumina Nanotubes Layer Formation on the Aluminum Adherends

Abstract

The present investigation aims to take a step forward for the transfer of a simple laboratory electrochemical method of surface nano-treatment of aluminum to industrial applications. The electrochemical method has been applied to process 1050A aluminum. Surface nano-structuring has been achieved and resulted in the formation of an organized alumina nanotubes layer on commercial aluminum plates used as adherends for the manufacturing of aluminum single-lap adhesive joints. The mechanical properties of single-lap aluminum adhesive joints constructed with both non-anodized and anodized adherends were investigated and compared. Two types of epoxy resins were used to prove that the anodization of the adherends is equally effective, independently of the adhesives’ type. Furthermore, three overlap lengths were used (7, 10, and 25 mm) to study the effect of the overlap length on the overall joint mechanical response. Results of both three-point bending and tensile–shear testing showed that there is a considerable improvement of the joints’ mechanical performance with the addition of the nanostructures, for all the overlap lengths. It was found that the anodization method greatly contributes to the strengthening of the joints, leading to a strength increase of up to 176% and 148% for the shear and three-point bending strength, respectively.