Adhesive Bonding Performance of Aerospace Materials Prepared With Alternative Solvents

摘要

The purpose of this work was to identify a suitable, environmentally friendly maintenance chemical to replace methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), a standard solvent currently utilized for adhesive bonding of metal substrates. MEK was used as a baseline reference maintenance chemical for this project. The effectiveness of three environmental friendly replacement candidate compounds were evaluated under the repair simulation guidelines of the Aeronautical Design Standard Performance Specification for Cleaners, Aqueous and Solvent, for Army Aircraft (U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command. 'Aeronautical Design Standard Performance Specification for Cleaners, Aqueous and Solvent, for Army Aircraft'. ADS-61-PRF, Draft, Aviation Engineering Directorate, Redstone Arsenal, AL, 16 May 2000), and the Standard Test Method for Floating Roller Peel Resistance of Adhesives, ASTM-D3 167-93 (American Society for Testing and Materials. 'Standard Test Method for Floating Roller Peel Resistance of Adhesives'. ASTM D3 167-93, West Conshohocken, PA, 1993). Four metal substrates (AM-355 stainless steel, electroformed nickel plated steel, aluminum 7075-T6 bare, and titanium 6A1-4V) and four chemicals (identified as MEK, normalized propylbromide NPB, Vertec Gold, and HFE 71DE) were utilized. The adhesive utilized in the layup of the test specimens was the two-part epoxy paste system-Dexter Hysol EA 9309.3NA. The results indicated that the best replacement candidates were Vertec Gold, an ethyl lactate-based cleaner, and HFE 71DB, a solvent-based cleaner.