Effect of beta irradiation on the strength of bonded joints of HDPE

Abstract

At the present time bonding has spread into almost all sectors of practice and it would be very difficult to find an industry in which there is no need to use this technology of joining a wide range of materials. In comparison with conventional joining methods (riveting, welding and screwing) bonding provides new combination of options and allows obtaining special shapes and properties which cannot be created by conventional methods of coupling. For the formation of quality bonded joint it is important that the adhesive bonding surface is well wetting. Wettability is characterized by the contact angle of wetting. The liquid must have a lower surface tension than the solid in order to be able to wetting the solid substance. This article describes the effect of beta irradiation on the contact angle of wetting, on the surface energy and on the final strength of bonded joints of HDPE.