Adhesives have presently reached a stage where they have become part of everyday
life both in a professional sense as well as for household applications. They offer
advantages that in many respects surpass other joining processes such as bonding
of large areas, joining a wide range and dissimilar materials; and without the need for
special tooling or operator training, that is often required by many other joining
processes. They are of course not a panacea to all fastening applications, but they
can easily be described as the most versatile and most widely used joining method at
present.
Engineering applications have also benefited from the advantages offered by
adhesives, but they are not as liberally used due to the severe consequences that
may result from bond failure. Although adhesives can demonstrate their ability to
fulfil the joining strength requirements under laboratory conditions, their application in
industry proved to be not as reliable as expected. A number of parameters that can
easily be controlled under laboratory conditions such as temperature, humidity,
surface preparation and uniform adhesive application are not as easily observed in
industry. Quality assurance during manufacturing can achieve excellent results;
however even in these cases the probability of having adhesive bond defects is still
present. Therefore, there is a need for post process inspection of adhesive bonds
where risk levels require higher reliability than what is offered though process quality
control.
Adhesive bond inspection is a well researched area with respectable outcomes. Non
destructive inspection techniques such as x-ray, thermal, and ultrasonic are well
utilised in the inspection of adhesive bonds. However, despite all the effort in this
area for more than forty years, there is still no singular technique that can achieve the
confidence level required in some engineering applications. Therefore, the need for
continuing research in the area of non-destructive evaluation of adhesive bonds is as
necessary today as it�s ever been. The research presented in this thesis, continues
in the same endeavour as many other researchers; that of achieving the ultimate
technique in adhesive bond inspection, capable of reaching the confidence level
required for all engineering applications.
The research in the thesis commenced with coverage of adhesives used for
engineering applications and a study of the adhesion science that was considered
necessary to enable an informed approach to the problem. Adhesive bond failure is
also analysed through a literature survey as well as experimental tests on standard
specimens. At the completion of the literature survey and preliminary tests, a
decision was taken to follow the ultrasonic path of non-destructive testing of adhesive
bonds. The reasons for this, are clearly outlined in the main body of this thesis but in
summary, the literature has shown that ultrasonic evaluation is the most widely used
technique by industry. Therefore, improvements on data analysis using existing
techniques that exploit ultrasonic inspection have the potential to reach the widest
spectrum of industrial applications.
Ultrasonic inspection equipment was sourced that was capable of achieving
experimental results to the accuracy level required in this research. A precision test
rig was designed and constructed that was subsequently calibrated using computer
based statistical techniques to ensure the validity of all results. Other ancillary
equipment, such as a portable tensile testing device were also designed and
constructed during the research as it became necessary.
Research concentrated on techniques found to be inadequately researched in this
domain. The first technique evaluated was to measure bond quality through the
stress distribution in adherent and adhesive. Computer based Finite Element
Analysis showed that the ability to detect variation in stress distribution at the
adhesion interface is capable of revealing the local bond strength. Having found that
there is no technique available at present that can measure the stress distribution at
the interface, a different direction was taken that showed potential in achieving
excellent quantitative results in the analysis of ultrasonic signals from adhesive
bonds. This technique was rigorously evaluated and the results are systematically
reported in this work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216545 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Tavrou, Chrysostomos Kyriacou, stavrou@swin.edu.au |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Chrysostomos Kyriacou Tavrou |
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