Influence of pretreatment rinse waters on the durability of adhesive-bonded aluminium alloys

Abstract The affect of rinse water type and temperature on the durability of adhesive-bonded alloy pretreated by either the Forest Products Laboratory (FLP) etch, chromic acid anodizing or phosphoric acid anodizing has been investigated. Durability increased when tap water was used for rinsing instead of deionized water for (FPL) etched samples. Strength retention of FPL etched lap shear joints decreased with increasing temperature of the tap water rinse. Phosphoric acid anodizing produced marginally better durability than chromic acid anodizing.