The Influence of Drying Time on a Glass - Adhesive - Steel Bonding

Abstract

The paper presents some general aspects of adhesives used in the automotive industry, the method used to determine mechanical properties, and the advantages compared to the traditional technology used. Adhesives are substances capable of permanently bonding to surfaces by an adhesive process. This process implies that two different bodies are in contact so that the mechanical forces or work can be transferred across the interface region. Since their discovery, researchers have made great efforts to obtain more ecological and high-performance adhesives. Substances such as bitumen or beeswax have been replaced by synthetic types of adhesives. Today, adhesives have two purposes: to join two different bodies, in creating a permanent assembly, and to seal. In this paper, the type of adhesive used to fix the windshield directly to the car body which is made of metal is presented. Compared to traditional technology that involves a rubber gasket attached to the body of the car and the windshield that is fixed on it, adhesives have the role of sealing and bonding directly to the metal surface. The first part of the paper focuses on the determination of the mechanical properties of adhesives used in the automotive industry. The next step was to realize the bonding between glass and steel using windshield adhesive with different drying times.