Comparative Performance Evaluation of Typical Structural Epoxy and Methacrylate Adhesives at Different Loading Conditions

Lightweight materials and related concepts have been progressively focused on as an important design topic in automotive industries. Lightweighting is also considered as one of the key solutions to assist the overcoming of barriers to electrification. Global trends toward reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy have also significantly increased the importance of this topic over the past years. Several methods for weight reduction have been recently used among them: three most important approaches are the use of (a) low-density materials like aluminum; magnesium, thermoset / thermoplastic composites (b) high-strength materials like ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS), and (c) integrated multimaterial structures [1]. Although aluminum has been identified as one of the most viable materials for lightweighting, replacing automotive parts with aluminum requires development of innovative multimaterial joining technologies. One good example of this is adhesive bonding. A proper choice of adhesive for any particular application is always the first step toward an efficient joint design. Different adhesive formulations can be considered as having specific mechanical properties and specific advantages and limitations. Experimental data is required at various loading and environmental conditions to identify the influencing parameters and to determine the adhesive bond strength.