A series of shear, tension and peel tests were conducted to examine the fundamental mechanical behavior of adhesively bonded steel-to-steel joints. The effects of adhesive type (epoxy or acrylic resin), type of steel substrate, surface finish of substrate (as is, shot blast or milled), adhesion thickness and adhesion length were examined from the test results. Epoxy resin was superior to acrylic resin in shear and tensile strength, but inferior in peel strength and ductility in shear. Epoxy resin was sensitive to galvanization while acrylic resin was not. Quantitative data is presented along with examples of typical failure modes.
