AbstractsEngineering

Adhesive bond-line read-through is the terminology used in the automotive industry that describes a visible distortion of an adherent over the adhesive bond-line. Usually, this is a result of the difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the substrates and the adhesive. First of all, previous work is presented, as well as some information about the terms that are used throughout the project. A linear thermal simulation is carried out in order to analyse the bond-line read-through curvature defects produced by the adhesive properties in a typical bonding from the automotive industry. The analysed models belong to a carbon fibre and epoxy composite material plate bonded with a metal plate that can be made of steel, aluminium and magnesium. The use of carbon fibre composites is one of the main focuses in the automotive industry due to the decrease of environmental and therefore economic impact. The adhesives used for the analysis are liquid or paste adhesive and adhesive tapes from the 3M™ VHB™ series. Several equations are obtained from the results, which can be used to calculate the curvature produced by a specific adhesive for these combinations. The use of these equations is limited to certain material properties and thicknesses that are presented through the work. The outcome of this project provides an opportunity to make the adhesive selection easier, based on the maximum required substrate curvature.