THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE CURE CYCLES AND BRIEF HIGH TEMPERATURE EXCURSIONS ON CHEMICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TOUGHENED EPOXY ADHESIVES - PART 1

摘要

The use of structural film adhesives to bond non-metallic structures is a growing trend in the aerospace industry. This, along with the desire to increase process efficiencies and improve throughput, has part manufactures looking for alternative ways to facilitate cure cycles. Situations involving subsequent co-cure, co-bond and free standing post cure are becoming common practice for many OEMs. Facilitation of those complex cure cycles often require structural film adhesives to be used to form a joint that can withstand multiple cure cycles. This paper will discuss the results of experimental studies conducted to investigate changes that can occur after exposing adhesives to multiple cure cycles and brief high temperature excursions in inert and ambient environments. Analyses includes traditional aerospace industry performance attributes like shear and peel, along analytical methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA).