Authors:

Aidan Brown

Date Created:

Not specified

Course Title:

Professor:

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About Paper:

When adhering two objects together, rough surfaces tend to provide better compatibility for adhesion than smooth surfaces; however, preliminary data suggests that the reverse is true when the adhesive cures underwater. Little is currently known about the effects that adherend surfaces have on underwater adhesion. Examining these effects could greatly impact the practical application of underwater adhesives in areas like construction and marine transportation. The goal of this project is to determine how modifications, such as sanding or polishing, to substrate surfaces affect adhesion in both dry and aqueous conditions. Lap shear testing was performed to quantitatively characterize the adhesive strength of commercial glues on different substrate types after they had cured in either salt water or air. Additionally, tensile strength testing was performed with mussel adhesive plaques on a variety of substrate surfaces. This was done in order to understand the effects that mussels have on the surfaces they adhere to. Confocal microscopy was used to image the surface effects of the substrates. Smooth lap shear substrates were able to reach a mean underwater adhesion strength upwards of ~6 MPa whereas rough substrates were only able to reach a mean underwater adhesion strength of around ~3 MPa. The data from these tests reveal that smooth surfaces make for significantly better underwater adherends than rough surfaces. Further study on the relationship between underwater adhesion and substrate surface nanobubbles is recommended.

Source:

Purdue University / 2023

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Aidan Brown