Besides the 50s revolution of the use of adhesives in the new construction in the works of strengthening and repair of different structural elements, adhesives were extensively used in bridges for a long time. Different applications on bridges were carried out in the last few decades. The most common application of adhesives in bridge engineering was in the form of resin mortar for either bridge bearings or expansion joint nosings. Recently more applications of structural, semi-structural and non structural joints could be executed using adhesives in bridges. In reason of its ease of execution and maintenance as well as its long-term durability, resins represent highly challenging materials in last few decades for the means of formulating bridge connections. Although adhesives are recently used on wide ranges in joints in bridge engineering, their complicated behaviour, particularly under low temperatures, could disallow an easier use of such materials in structures, notably in bridges. As the following project targets to provide a better understanding of thermo-mechanical behaviour of resins, two different categories of testing were carried out, in order to investigate the most important and basic characteristics of resins as well as direct relations connecting different properties. The first series of tests was focusing on the physical characterization of resins aiming to investigate the influence of the degree of cure (conversion degree) on different characteristics as well as the behaviour of the material, From previous experiences on the behaviour of resins, it was expected that the more cured the material, the better properties it could present, however this investigation was held in LTC lab using a DSC machine. Different categories of tests were carried out during the physical characterization in order to establish a reliable relation between conversion degree/conversion rate and time. Another effective resin property that was considered during the physical characterization of resins is the glass transition temperature (Tg); Tg which represents the temperature at which the material loses part of its strength and/or stiffness, can also involve another concern which is the degradation of adhesives when exposed to high temperatures. The second series of testing involved in this project is mechanical testing, which was held in Lab of structures. This series was aiming to investigate the mechanical properties of the resin, basically compressive, tensile and shear strengths of these materials. Finally this project was focusing on relating the physical properties including mainly the degree of cure as well as the glass transition temperature to the mechanical properties and their influence on the mechanical behaviour of adhesives.
Master Thesis_Omar Moussa.pdf
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