A PARAMETRIC APPROACH TO STRENGTH OPTIMIZATION

OF ADHESIVE JOINTS USING GEOMETRIC TECHNIQUES

1. Introduction

1.1 Adhesive bonding as a joining technique

Bonding is regarded as the joining of similar or dissimilar materials from

surface-to-surface which is of a different type, and it adheres to the surface of the
two adherents to be joined, fetching the forces from one adherent to the other. [1]
Bonding is referred as joining technique between two materials, that in the
conventional sense, that cannot be broken without the annihilation of the bond.
Bonding is regarded as the most universal joining technique. Virtually, all useful
materials can be linked-up with each other, and one with another, by means of this
surface-to-surface and material-joining technique.

Figure Error! No text of specified style in document..1

Classification of joining processes
 Bonding scarcely ever competes with other joining methods used in industry.
For example, it is not advisable to use adhesive for bonding a steel bridge or a
gantry, but for the lightweight construction and assembly of car bodies using steel,
aluminum, glass and plastics, adhesive joining offers extremely useful applications.
Adhesive joining is notably well suited to the joining of bulk-sized surfaces of
different materials, for instance in the construction of sandwich assemblies.

Adhesive bonding technology bids great design flexibility as it is used to

easily integrate into almost all available industrial sequences of single-piece work
or bulk production. In human history, bonding has long been recognized as elitist
joining technique. The vast majority of original natural binding materials have now
been substituted with synthetically prepared adhesives.

Table Error! No text of specified style in document..1 Characteristic features of

adhesive joints

The greatest benefit of bonding is that little or no heat is needed to establish

the joint. As a result, the material structure of the adherents to be joined is not
macroscopically impacted, and deformations or internal stress – which generally
are affected by the application of heat – rarely occur. From this point of view, there
are no limits with regard to the combinations of materials that can be joined.
One important disadvantage of adhesive bonding, however, is the relatively
poor heat resistance of the bond-line as compared to inorganic materials such as
metal or glass. Hence, in order to obtain high-performance assemblies, the
production parameters must meet the specific requirements of the material used.
This applies not only to the manufacturing sequences but also to the ambient
conditions in which the joints are produced, because adhesion generally develops
only during the production process.

1.2 Description

Adhesives application in modern era of industrialization is increasing day

by day. The fact that it can be easily applied on the surfaces to join parts has given
the flexibility to be used for most applications. Despite its vast practicality,
adhesive as a joining technique does not has comparable strength as of other joining
techniques. To increase the strength and reduce the stresses, we would be proposing
a geometrical configuration having an optimum strength capable of with-holding
greater amount stresses.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

• To investigate the effect of various geometrical optimization techniques for

increasing the strength of adhesive single lap joint

1. Adhesive Fillets

2. Adherend profiling

3. Combined geometric solutions.

• To Analyze the Shear and Peel stresses on adhesive joints using FEM on a
software.
2. Research methodology

Since, we were to find the optimum geometrical configuration which has

the least amount of stresses and maximum strength, so we had to dig through what
other authors have contributed to this similar project. All these aspects will be
covered in Literature Review. After successfully selecting the geometrical
configurations to be worked on, the next step involves the procurement of
Aluminum as an adherend and Huntsman 2011 all-purpose epoxy as adhesive.

Proceeding further, we first need to manufacture joints. Out of the selected

configurations, they will be formed on CNC milling. To increase the surface energy
and strength, we will perform surface treatment with chromatic acid. And finally, a
mold will be prepared to hold and align the joints uniformly.

This will lead to the formation of joints. After the manufacturing of joints
with the help of adhesive, we will compare the experimental results with the
simulation using ABAQUS. This will help us jot down the final best configuration,
thus achieving our aim of project.