Controlling Topography of Machined Surface for Adhesive-Sealing

Adhesive is widely used in engine, airplane and other industry parts to bond and seal machined joint surfaces. Adhesive performance is important and mechanically complex, closely related to the adhesive material property, bonding process and topography of machined surfaces. The effects of material properties, bonding process, and the geometry and dimensions of adhesive layer on adhesive performance have been well studied in adhesive research field. However, the effect of the topography of machined surface on sealing performance was somehow neglected in literature. On the other hand, the texture of machined surface, especially at micro-level of surface roughness, usually used as the objective to determine process parameters in machining and also regarded as indicators of machining productivity, has been systemically and sufficiently studied. However sealing performance has not been widely investigated to relate to topography of machined surface generated from machining operation. Actually, the surface topography plays an important role in the both fields as an index for machining process and also a factor for functional performance. Desired surface should be determined firstly and then machining parameters are designed properly to achieve the desired surface, in order to improve the functional behavior such as the applied adhesive sealing performance of machined components. This research has objectives: 1) the desired surface topography is determined based on the relationship between machining operation and surface texture; 2) The effects of machined surface topography on the reliability of adhesive joint surfaces are analytically investigated. Thus, the research provides a systematic thinking for the selection of surface topography and parameters of face milling operation to improve the performance of adhesive bonding and sealing for its industry implementation.