Surface treatment for effective bonding in the sports industry

The sports industry, in particular the ski industry, uses high strength aluminum alloys in adhesive compounds in order to achieve higher torsional stiffness, high strength and nevertheless lightweight construction. These alloys must be surface treated prior to bonding to achieve the required service properties. Subsequently, the bonding process takes place. Occasionally, there can be local defects in the bonding. The analysis of the cause of the locally appearing failures by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is part of this study along with the testing of alternative surface treatment techniques and comparing them by using contact angle measurement (CAM). Furthermore, peeling tests are performed to determine and compare the alternative surface treatments regarding their impact on the joint strength. The focus is on achieving a high peeling resistance and a reduction of the defect rate.