Effect of incorrect mix ratio on strength of two component adhesive Butt-Joints tested at elevated temperature

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the incorrect mix ratio on the strength of joints bonded with a commercial epoxy adhesive compo-sition. The performance of cold-cured as well as accelerated cured butt joints was monitored at elevated temperature conditions. The obtained data was subjected to statistical analysis to show the correlation between joint strength at high temperature and incorrect mix ratio. The degradation of adhesive material properties with increase of hardener ratio in adhesive material was observed, as well as the change in failure type from mixed type to clearly cohesive (for inadequate volume of harde-ner) or adhesive (for excessive amount of hardener). Surprisingly insufficiency of hardener doesn’t affect the strength of joint in such manner. General recommend-dation were drawn for the preparation of two-component epoxy adhesives for joints to be used in elevated temperature, particularly when uncertainty regarding the correct resin/hardener mix ratio and future research was planned.