Experimental Assessment of a Micro-Mechanical Model for the Static Strength of Hybrid Friction-Bonded Interfaces

Anaerobic adhesives are thermosetting acrylic polymers commonly used to improve the performance of most metal joints. Researches on the static strength of hybrid joints, available in the technical literature, show scanty and contradictory results that do not explain the effect of anaerobic adhesive on the hybrid joint behaviour. An early study by one of the authors of the present study formulates a micro-mechanical model describing the shear power of anaerobic adhesives as a function of the intimate properties of adherends and adhesive at the interface. According to the micro-mechanical model, the high local pressure acting on the thin film of adhesive trapped between the crests of the mating surfaces improves the film shear strength upon the adhesive's shear strength at zero pressure. The present work aims to assess this micro-mechanical model through a systematic experimental campaign. The tests are conducted on simple tubular specimens and consider three variables over two levels: adhesive-type (weak and strong anaerobic), pressure level during polymerization (0.5 and 134MPa), and pressure level during failure test (0.5 and 134MPa). The results confirm the proposed micro-mechanical model, and highlight that shear strength slightly differs by applying pressure before or after polymerization.