Effect of surface roughness using different adherend materials on the adhesive bond strength

In this paper, an experimental study on the effect of surface roughness of different adherend material on adhesive bond strength was carried out. The adherend material used was aluminium AA6061 and wood in the form of sheet, and the adhesive was an epoxy resin. Different surface roughness obtained by mechanical abrasion using an emery paper and sand paper for aluminium and wood adherend samples respectively. Single strap joints were tested at room temperature. Results showed that there is clear dependency observed in between the adhesive bond strength and surface roughness of both wood and aluminium adherend joints. Optimum surface roughness values were obtained in the range of R a = 1.68 ± 0.14 µm and R a = 1.64 ± 0.2 µm for the aluminium and wood adherend joints respectively. Surface roughness along with the adhered material parameters should be considered during design stage of adhesively bonded joints.