Effect of cyclic solar (UV) radiation and temperature on mechanical performance of single lap adhesive joint

Albeit broad investigations of the bond between aluminium alloys (6082-T6) under environmental exposures have been carried out, but the effects of ultra violet (UV) have not been examined to date. This knowledge gap is addressed in proposed work. For the investigation single-lap, adhesive joints were manufactured using a brittle adhesive and a ductile adhesive to assess the influence of the adhesive bond strength. Single lap adhesive joint (SLJ) of aluminium alloy (6082-T6) were exposed to cyclic ultra Violet (CUV) (at 40°C for 10 hr and room temperature for 14hr). Identical reference SLJ was exposed at the cyclic temperature (CT) (at 40°C for 10 hr and room temperature for 14hr) in a day without UV. It is found that UV exhibition does not impact the tensile strength of single lap adhesive joints significantly. The single lap joint strength of the specimens is only reduced by 8% and 6% after four months of exposure in ductile and brittle adhesive joint respectively. The tensile strength of ductile and brittle adhesive joints exposed only at cyclic temperature without UV was decreased by 6.3% and 4.7% respectively showing a considerably lower degradation of SLJ joints than the one generated by UV exhibition. Both exposures likewise promoted to reduce the stiffness of SLJ, mainly caused by the temperature impact rather than the ultra violet radiations. In this case, the influence of the UV rays turned out to be of no particular significance.