Effect of various surface treatments on shear strength of aluminum lap joint with adhesive bonding

Project Title

Effect of various surface treatments on shear strength of aluminum lap joint with adhesive bonding

Project Area of Specialization Mechanical EngineeringProject Summary

Adhesive Bonding is the process of joining two surfaces together with the creation of a bond in between. Being used in excessive applications in modern times allow the engineer to enhance the strength and durability of the process. Surface Treatment, therefore, is considered. Surface treatment of adhesively bonded materials plays an important role in strengthening mechanical structures. There are different kinds of surface treatments that help in the better strength of joints. In the project, various surface treatments will be performed on AI-6061 Aluminum slabs before joining them in the form of lap joint through adhesive bonding to check the strength of the bond. The treatment is applied on the topmost layer exposed to the environment to make the surface clean, to get the maximum area of contact, to get stability, and a good wetting surface for adhesion.

Mechanical Surface treatments including;

• sandblasting
• sandpaper treatment
• grinding and  

Chemical Surface Treatments including;

• chemical degreasing
• etching
• anodizing.

will be performed.

After the surface treatments and the joint formation, the samples will be tested for shear strength under ultimate tensile testing. The most effective and high strength surface treatment will be proposed along with the microscopic changes in the surface of the substrate through each treatment.

Project Objectives

As a research project including technical, practical, and experimental statistics. We strive to achieve the following objectives;

• Proposing the most effective surface treatment(from the above listed) for adhesive bonding with experimental data and calculations gathered in one place.
• Applying and practicing the engineering knowledge to perform experiments in order to apply the results in the field of adhesive bonding.
• Adhesive bonding in aluminum is widely used in automotive, aerospace, and various other industries. The project will help in selecting the right surface treatment prior to adhesive bonding. 

Project Implementation Method

The project will be performed as per the following guidelines;

1. Literature Survey: A detailed literature review will be done to select the most common, effective, and economic surface treatments. the choice of aluminum will also be according to the literature review and market survey. 
2. Material Procurement: After the choice of the substrates and specific surface treatments, the required material will be procured.
3. Mechanical and Chemical Surface Treatments: The mechanical surface treatments will be performed. Up till now, we have come up with the following;

• Sandpaper( grit size 400 and 1000)
• Grinding
• Sandblasting(grit size not confirmed yet)

For the chemical surface treatments, the following will be performed;

• dichromate/ sulphuric optimized FPL etching
• sulphuric P2 etching
• phosphoric acid anodizing
• boric/sulphuric acid anodizing
• phosphate/boric/sulphuric acid anodizing.

4. UTM Testing: The lap joints will be formed after the surface treatments and will be tested for shear strength.

5. Calculations and Presentations: The calculations will be noted and the report will be formulated along will the deliverable presentation.

Benefits of the Project

The benefits of the project are listed as follows;

• As a research project, the result will increase the degree of knowledge in the concerned field.
• The results of different surface treatments on AI-6061 aluminum are scattered widely. Our project performs experiments on the specific substrate with specific adhesive and gathers data of different treatments in one place. proposing the user a most effective method.
• The project benefits us as engineering students to apply our theoretical knowledge in practical science and learn a lot.
• The project will help to give quality education to researchers and experimented data to on-field engineers to decide on a specific issue.
• the field of Infrastructure, automotive, aerospace will benefit a lot from the experimented data that will be resulted from the project.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final deliverable will include the following technical details;

• The surface-treated AI-6061 aluminum lap joints with microscopic images of changes in the surface of the substrate.
• The experiment data on the shear strength of aluminum lap joint with adhesive bonding of different surface-treated alumium.
• The final report will all the minor and major details of the performed treatments and experiments with tabular calculations.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther Industries Education , Transportation Core Technology OthersOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Quality Education, Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	55000
AI-6061 aluminum sheet(international standard)	Equipment	1	21000	21000
huntsman araldite adhesive- 2014(international online purchase)	Equipment	1	13000	13000
sulphuric acid	Equipment	1	3500	3500
boric acid	Equipment	1	3000	3000
potassium dichromate	Equipment	1	3500	3500
sandpapers(different grades)	Equipment	5	200	1000
sheet cutting, transporting	Miscellaneous	1	1000	1000
sandblasting process	Miscellaneous	1	5000	5000
travelling for material procurement	Miscellaneous	4	1000	4000