Investigation of a fiber-reinforced plastic/rubber adhesive system using statistical experimental design

To investigate the effect of various factors on the adhesive strength of a fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP)/rubber adhesive system, a statistical experi mental design method was employed. The characteristic factors used were env ironmental condition, manufacturing pressure and adhesive type. The FRP/rub ber adhesive system was manufactured with carbon fiber (CF)/epoxy composite as FRP, unvulcanized ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber and Ch emlok adhesive purchased from Lord Chemical Ltd. The samples were treated i n four types of environmental aging; no treatment, heat aging, hot/wet trea tment, and thermal shock. The peel strength was measured using a 90 degrees peel test. As a result of the experimental design, the major factor was id entified as the manufacturing pressure. The optimum condition was obtained and optimum adhesive strength was predicted. The experimental adhesive stre ngth obtained using optimum conditions was close to the predicted value and the experimental design was confirmed to be useful for this adhesive syste m. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.