Measurement Good Practice Guide No. 47 Preparation and Testing of Adhesive Joints

A number of factors, not included in written standards, can significantly affect the reliability (i.e. repeatability and reproducibility) of data obtained from testing adhesive joints. Factors, including specimen and machine alignment, processing variables, storage of materials and surface treatments need to be considered in addition to test parameters (e.g. displacement rate) and specimen dimensions that are generally covered in national and international standards. Careful consideration needs to be given those factors that can significantly influence the strength and long-term performance of adhesive joints. This Good Practice Guide is intended to give guidance on the preparation and testing of adhesive joints, and the use of test methods under ambient and hostile environments (including accelerated ageing) for generating design data and for quality assurance purposes. Static, cyclic fatigue and creep rupture testing are also included. The document is primarily concerned with structural adhesives, but also includes flexible adhesives for structural or semi-structural applications. The Good Practice Guide also includes the results from a three-stage round-robin exercise on Adhesive Joint Testing that was conducted in conjunction with UK industry to identify key preparation and testing issues