Dry ice blasting as pretreatment of aluminum surfaces to improve the adhesive strength of aluminum bonding joints

The manifold application possibilities of dry ice blasting were presented several times already. This contribution summarizes the results of an experimental study on the pretreatment of bonding surfaces for aluminum components. Alongside the removal of disturbing films of lubricants, impurities, and oxides, aluminum surfaces are pretreated chemically and mechanically so as to increase the adhesive strength significantly. The increase of the adhesive strength by up to 99% for epoxy and 27% for polyurethane glues elucidate the suitability for automobile, airplane, and railway vehicle manufacture. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.