Adhesive Manufacturing Processes

Chapter 4:
Surface Treatment Methods

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Prof. h.c. Stefan Böhm

Department for Cutting and Joining Manufacturing Processes (tff)
University of Kassel, Germany

Quelle: Wikipedia
Agenda

 Introduction

 Surface Preparation

 Surface Pre-Treatment

 Surface Post-Treatment

2
Introduction

Adhesion (Interface Adhesion)

● Molecular bond of the adhesive layer with the material
● Surface of the material must be clean

● High adhesion through large joining area

Cohesion (Cohesive Power)

● Cohesion of the internal adhesive molecules

● The higher the cohesion, the higher the strength

● If the applicaion of a too thick layer is avoided, then it

can be used optimally

3
www.uhu.de
Introduction
 Aims of the Surface Treatment:
● Even and very good wetting of the joint contact areas with the adhesive
● Improvement of the bond between the joint contact surfaces and the adhesive
layer
● Reproducible, longlasting adhesive bond

The creation of a surface that is suitable for adhesion is the basic prerequisite for the development
of the best possible bonding forces between the joint elements and the adhesive.
This is defined through the geometry of the surface and the physical-chemical characteristics of
the joint surfaces.

Bonding forces at Bonding forces at

interface layer Adhesive inrerface layer

Joint Element
Source: Habenicht 4
Wetting
 A good wetting is the prerequisite for an optimal adhesion.
 Wetting is the approach of the adhesive to the joint contact area
 Prerequisites for a good wetting are
● sufficient and low viscosity of the fluid adhesive

● the difference between the surface tension of the (fluid) adhesive and the surface
energy/tension joint material

The surface energy of the joint material must be higher than the surface
tension of the used adhesive, otherwise the wetting is not sufficient !

5
Wetting
 Selected surface energies/tensions

Material Surface Energy [mN/m]

Iron 2550
Typical adhesives have a surface tension
Titanium 2050
of at least 35 mN/m
Copper 1850
Gold 1550
Silver 1250
PA 49-47
Epoxy Resin 47
PVC 40
PMMA 33-44
PS 33-35
PE 31
PP 29
PTFE (Teflon) 19

Source: Bond it, S.25

6
Wetting
 Test Ink – The Examination of the Surface Energy of a Solid Material
● The test ink, whose surface energy has been defined, is used to define the surface
energy of a solid object (either bigger or smaller than the test ink).
● The ink is painted onto the surface which is to be examined and then the period in
which the wetting continues is measured.
● If the wetting stays for more than 2-3 seconds, then the surface energy of the
solid object is higher than that of the ink.

Good Wetting Bad Wetting

http://www.plasmatreat.de/
7
Wetting
Good Wetting

G α
σKG Adhesive
α Joint Element
σFG σKF
Joint Element Wetting Surface

Bad Wetting
σFG = Surface Energy of the joint element
σKG = Surface tension of the adhesive α
σKF = Tension in the boundary layer of bonding element/adhesive
α = Wetting angle Joint Elementl
G = Air (i.e. gas atmosphere of the environment)

Wetting Surface
8
Surface Layers of Metaic Joint Elements

Oxide Layers

Slag Layer

Oil

Grease

Varnish

Dirt, Dust

9
Introduction

Wetting is decisive for adhesion.

Range of forces ~ 1/10 nm

10
Introduction
 Classification of the Surface Treatments

Surface Treatment

Surface Preparation Surface Pre-Treatment Surface Post-Treatment

Cleaning Mechanical Prep. Climatisation

Making Fit Physical Prep. Application of Bonding

Agents
Degreasing Chemical Prep. Application of Primers
(Conservation)

Source: Habenicht 11
Agenda

 Introduction

 Surface Preparation

 Surface Pre-Treatment

 Surface Post-Treatment

12
Surface Preparation
 Cleaning
● Removal of adherent, visible layers, i.e. dirt, scale,
rust, colour…
● Removal mainly mechanical: i.e. through blasting,
grinding, brushing

Source: Habenicht 13
Surface Preparation
 Making Fit

● To achieve an evenly distributed layer

thickness
● i.e. through:
– Deburring of smaller joint elements

– Adjusting of bigger joint elements

● Goal is a parallel gap

 thus an even force distribution

Source: Habenicht 14
Surface Preparation
 Degreasing
● Is the most important step among the preparations
● Prior degreasing is necessary even for mechanical surface
pretreatments
(fat molecules could otherwise enter into joint contact area)
● Choice of degreasing method depends on:
– Number of pieces

– Geometry of the joint contact areas

– Necessary degree of absence of grease

Source: Habenicht 15
Surface Preparation
 Degreasing
● Simple Degreasing
– Wiping of the surface with solvent-soaked cloth

– Immersion of the joint elements

 Disadvantage: uncontrollable grease residue

● Steam Degreasing
– Condensated solvent degreases

 Advantage: very free of grease

Source: Habenicht 16
Surface Preparation

Steam Degreasing

Suction Feed

Cooling zone
for steam
condensation

Pieces that are

to be
degreased (big
pieces loosely,
smaller pieces
in baskets)

Heating

17
Surface Preparation
 Degreasing
● Ultrasonic Degreasing
– Degreasing baths can be supported by ultrasound (20-40KHz)

Source: Habenicht 18
Agenda

 Introduction

 Surface Preparation

 Surface Pretreatment

 Surface Post-Treatment

19
Surface Pretreatment

Surface Treatment

Surface Preparation Surface Pretreatment Surface Post-Treatment

Cleaning Mechanical Prep. Climatisation

Making Fit Physical Prep. Application of Bonding

Agents
Degreasing Chemical Prep. Application of Primers
(Conservation)
 Goal: - Cleaning and increasing of the surface
- Increasing the surface energy
Source: Habenicht 20
Surface Pretreatment
 Mechanical Pretreatment - Blasting

Source: Endlich: Fertigungstechnik mit Kleb- und Dichtstoffen

21
Surface Pretreatment
 Mechanical Pretreatment

● Characteristics of the Blasting System

– Closed system because of the high amount of dust

– It has collection cleaning and reincertion capacities

as the blasting abrasive can be used several times

Wet Blasting
System
22
Surface Pretreatment
 Mechanical Pretreatment
● Blasting Abrasive:
– metalic: solid cast, cast steel, etc.

– mineral: corundum, ceramics etc.

– organic: synthetic materials, nut shells etc.

● Size of the particles about 0,2 – 2 mm 

through abrasion, deformation and splitting the
size of the grains is reduced after a while:
– fine grains: low surface roughness and high
abrasion blasted St 37 surface

– rough grains: high surface roughness and low

abrasion

Source: Habenicht 23
Surface Pretreatment
 Mechanical Pretreatment
● Surface condition is dependent on:
– duration of blasting Indentations
– hardness
– size of grains
 It is possible that the surface becomes
very
rough and cracked and has indentations
 Mechanical Clamping
possible when bonding with adhesion blasted St 37 surface

Source: Habenicht 24
Surface Pretreatment
 Mechanical Pretreatment

The strength of the bond is dependent on the roughness of the

surface
Surface Pretreatment
 Mechanical Pretreatmet

● BEFORE & AFTER the blasting:

– Joint elements must be degreased as dirt is
otherwise pressed into the material!

● Advantage of blasting:
– Easy application

 No high security measures or measures to protect the environment (as for chemical
pretreatment)

Source: Habenicht 26
Surface Prereatment
 Mechanical Pretreatment
● Cryogenic Blast Cleaning:
– dry ice (solid carbon dioxide at about -78C°) in
pellets as blasting abrasive
– mechanical abrasion through increase in volume
(CO2 gas is formed)
● Advantages of Cryogenic Blast Cleaning:
– pellets are not very hard

 (cleaning of sensitive surfaces like wood,rubber,

synthetics is possible)
– eco-friendly

– does not leave any abrasive residue

27
Surface Pretreatment
● Mechanical Pretreatmen
● SACO-method*(SandblastingCoating)
– chemically modified abrasive strips of the surface and also
coats the surface of the joint elements
– high temperatures through high blasting speed

– reactive components of the abrasive are brought into the

surface SACO-abrasive
 this adds bonding agents (or layers of ceramics) to the
surfaces
 increased resistance to humidity and heat

Source: Habenicht und www.konstruktionspraxis.vogel.de/themen/werkstoffe/oberflaechen/articles/231923/

*Registered trademark of the company DELO-Industrieklebstoffe GmbH & Co. KG, 86949 Windach. 28
Surface Pretreatment

Surface Treatment

Surface Preparation Surface Pretreatment Surface Post-treatment

Cleaning Mechanical Prep. Climatisation

Making Fit Physical Prep. Applcation of Bonding

Agents
Degreasing Chemical Prep. Application of Primers
(Conservation)

Quelle: Habenicht 29
Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment

 Plasma
 Corona
 Laser
 Flame Treatment

30
Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment – Plasma Process

Source: artphys.de 31
Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment – Plasma Process

Plasma Process

Atmospherc Pressure
Low Pressure Plasma Plasma Polymerization
Plasma

Source: Habenicht 32
 Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment – Plasma Process
● Low Pressure Plasma
HF- Generator
Process Gas

Cover with
Window Vacuum
Pump

Microwave Horn
Radiator

Process Cavity
Particles –
Feeding
and
Source: Endlich: Fertigungstechnik mit Kleb- und Dichtstoffen Extraction 33
 Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment- Plasma Process
● Low Pressure Plasma

Source: www.diener.de und www.tomatec.cz 34

Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment – Plasma Process
● Atmospheric Pressure Plasma:

 electrical tension discharge

under atmospheric pressure
 no space for reaction necessary!
– Plasma gas: mostly air

OpenAir®-Plasma

Source: Habenicht und www.plasmatreat.de 35

Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment – Plasma Process
● Atmospheric Pressure Plasma:

Source: Fraunhofer IFAM 36

Surface Pretreatment
 Plasma Polymerization

● Plasma-polymer layer is strongly

interlinked
● Thickness of layer <1µm

Quelle: Fraunhofer IFAM

37
Surface Pretreatment
● Physical Pretreatment
● Corona-Discharge:
 electrical tension discharge
normal atmosphere
 no space for reaction necessary

Corona-Surface-Treatment
System for foils

Source: Habenicht
Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment
● Corona-Discharge:
 tangential contact

Open-Jet Process:
•no opposite pole on back side
•thicker layers (0,5-1mm)
treatable (i.e. synthetics)

Source: Habenicht 39
Surface Pretreatment
● Physical Pretreatment
Laserstrahl
● Laser M aterial-
dampfplasma

Physical Effect: Deckschicht

 Evaporization of covering layer (sublimation errosion) Wärmeeinflußzone

Dicke d
 Removal through thermically induced tensions
 Blasting with shock waves
Grundmaterial

Source: Habenicht 40
Surface Pretreatment
● Physical Pretreatment
● Laser

Functioning Principle: Removal of covering layers with laser beams

● focused laser beam hits covering layer
● (Light-)absorbing covering layer absorbs energy and is removed
● the (very) short period of impact reduces the heat dissipation into the basic
material to a minimum
● exposed basic material reflects the laser beams strongly
● removal process ends automatically
Surface Pretreatment
● Physical Pretreatment
● Laser
Advantages:
● eco-friendly, as without abrasive and hardly any emissions
● intake/collection of removed material possible as there is no/low acceleration of
particles
● contact-free und force-free removal
● flexibly applicable, mobile, good handling
● stripping is low in noise and dust development (when using solid state lasers)
● high surface quality
Surface Pretreatment

● oxide and grease-free

surface for ideal adhesive
bonds
● no wet chemical cleaning
● speed up to about 3 m²/Std.
● costs about 3 Euro/m²

43
Surface Pretreatment
Automated Laser-Beam Cleaning
Advantages:
+ easy to integrate into production
processes
+ no abrasives and no contact
+ highly reproducible
+ high efficiency
Disadvantages:
● programming effort

● higher investment
44
Surface Pretreatment
Integrated Laser-Treatment

45
Surface Pretreatment
 Physical Pretreatment
● Flame Treatment

„Kreidl-Method“
to flame-treat synthetic surfaces

Source: Habenicht 46
Surface Pretreatment

Surface Treatment

Surface Preparation Surface Pretreatment Surface Post-Treatment

Cleaning Mechanical Prep. Climatisation

Making Fit Physical Prep. Application of Bonding

Agents
Degreasing Chemical Prep. Application of Primers
(Conservation)

Source: Habenicht 47
Surface Pretreatment
 Chemical Pretreatment
● pickling
 chemical cleaning and roughening of the
surface on a sub-microscopic level
–used acids: i.e. hydrochloric acid,

diluted sulphuric acid

after chemical treatment:

intensive rinsing not pickled and

pickled parts

Source: Habenicht 48
Agenda

 Introduction

 Surface Preparation

 Surface Pretreatment

 Surface Post-Treatment

49
Introduction

Surface Treatment

Surface Preparation Surface Pretreatment Surface Post-Treatment

Cleaning Mechanical Prep. Climatisation

Making Fit Physical Prep. Application of Bonding

Agents
Degreasing Chemical Prep. Application of Primers
(Conservation)

Quelle: Habenicht 50
Surface Post-Treatment

Tasks: Increase in Bonding Strength

Increase in ageing resistance

Conservation of surface quality

51
Surface Post-Treatment
 Climatisation
● Storage after treatment under certain conditions
● Prevention of reaction of the joint connection surface with the surrounding humidity of
the atmosphere
● Same temperature of the joint elements as the surrounding temperature during the
adhesive bonding process
 Prevention of the condensation of water on the joint element

52
Surface Post-Treatment
 Application of Bonding Agents/Primers
● increases the strength of a bond and the ageing resistance
● reaction with the joint connection surface and reaction with the adhesive layer
● increase in strength up to 50% (i.e. stainless steel, glass, aluminium)
● highly increased resistance to ageing due to humidity
● disadvantage: needs precise processing & additional measures for safety at work are
necessary

53
Surface Post-Treatment

Adaption of the joint surface to the adhesive matrix

Joint Bonding Agent Adhesive

Element
Interface Layer
54