Accelerated curing of adhesives in bonded joints by induction heating

This paper presents the results of a study on the use of induction heating for rapid curing of a commercially available room-temperature curing paste adhesive, with a view to application in the repair of composite structures. The repair of damaged composite structures using adhesively bonded patches is ofter, a very time-consuming process. This is partly due to the long ti mes required for complete and satisfactory cure of the adhesive systems use d. While the curing process can be accelerated by application of heat throu gh devices such as heating blankets and lamps, these methods are inefficien t since considerable heat is lost to the surrounding material and environme nt. The method of electromagnetic heating, however, is well suited for rapi d and localized heating of the adhesive bondline provided suitable suscepto rs are used. In this paper, it is shown that induction heating can be succe ssfully used to cure a room-temperature curing paste adhesive. Furthermore, results of single lap shear and double notched shear specimen tests show n o substantial reduction in the strength of bonded joints with the use of em bedded susceptors.