The strength of a cured bond is a critical property of any adhesive and many adhesives behave differently in shear to tension. Manufacturers and end users of adhesives use this test method to investigate the tensile shear properties of various bonded assemblies where the bond is between two rigid pieces and the force direction is perpendicular to the bond. The rigid pieces can be a variety of materials including metal, plastics, and composites.
The specimen is tested in a tensile testing machine and consists of two rigid pieces bonded together by the adhesive in a lapped joint. This causes the two ends of the specimen to be offset from the vertical load line of the test. It is critical that the gripping arrangement can accommodate this to ensure a true shear force application.
Many specimens are prepared with tabbed ends that remove the offset. Alternatively, side acting screw grips can be independently adjusted to accommodate the offset. For higher volume testing, many of our pneumatic grips feature the ability to introduce an offset to allow for testing of specimens without tabs.
We recommend reviewing the standard in full to understand the test fixture and results requirements.