Adhesive bonding of injection-moulded plastics using stress-cracking-active adhesives

The project presented here in parts had the objectives of investigating and understanding the influences of varied injection moulding parameters on the environmental stress cracking resistance (ESCR) and assessing the influences on the resulting effects on the resistance of adhesive- bonded joints. It was shown that, within certain limits, the ESCR can be influenced by the injection moulding parameters. However, for the plastic investigated here, the change in the ESCR caused by the injection moulding parameters was not sufficient in order to change the fracture pattern of the adhesive- bonded joints using adhesives (which were considered to be critical) to a substrate failure close to the boundary layer. This would suggest environmental stress cracking.