The Thermal Stability of Anodic Oxide Coatings – Strength and Durability of Adhesively Bonded Ti-6Al-4V Alloy by

The lap shear strength of chromic acid anodized, primed, Ti-6Al-4V alloy bonded with a high performance FM-5 polyimide adhesive has been investigated as a function of thermal treatment for selected times at various temperatures in air. The research findings indicate that the lap shear strength decreases with the increase in duration of the thermal treatment at constant temperature and with the increase in temperature at constant time. The bond fails increasingly in the oxide coating with increasing treatment temperature and time of treatment. Surface analysis results for debonded specimens suggest that the process leading to failure is the formation of fluorinecontaining materials (AlF3 , Al(OF) n n 3 3− , AlF n n − 3 ) within the oxide, which weakens the adherendadhesive bond. The formation of the fluorine components is facilitated by treatment at elevated temperatures. This study suggests that the presence of fluoride ions in the anodic oxide coating, prior to bonding, is detrimental to the bond strength of adhesively bonded Ti-alloy when exposed to high temperatures. The wedge test configuration was used to investigate the influence of temperature on the bond durability of adhesively bonded chromic acid anodized Ti-6Al-4V alloy in air. Based on the average crack length vs. exposure time data, the bond durability varied in the order –25°C >