Effects of Double and Triple Hybrid Nanomaterial Reinforcements on Mechanical Performance of Aluminium Adhesive Joints

Since the beginning of the 21st century, mechanical performance of adhesive joints has been considerably improved with nanosized materials reinforced into the adhesive. With promising results, nanomaterial based new materials with minimum cost and high efficiency have become the target. In this study, it was aimed to reach adhesive joints that offer maximum mechanical performance according to cost and weight by using the hybrid nanomaterial reinforcement strategy and synergistic effect. For this purpose, FPL-etched AA7075-T6 aluminum adherends were bonded with individual, double and triple hybrid nanomaterial reinforced epoxy adhesive as single lap joint and shear tests were performed. In hybrid reinforced adhesive joints, it was aimed to formation hybrid reinforcements with more affordable ANP (alumina nanopowder) and SNP (silica nanopowder) materials by reducing the content of higher cost MWCNT (multiwalled carbon nanotubes) based on creating synergistic effect. Considering the cost and weight, the most remarkable result in the study was obtained with the optimum mechanical performance in the triple hybrid reinforcement with 2 ANP + 2 SNP + 0.25 MWCNT (wt.%) reinforced adhesive joint. In this sense, 24.17% higher shear strength was determined compared to the improvement of the maximum shear strength obtained in individual reinforced adhesive joints (10 wt.% SNP reinforcements).