The influence of grit blasting and UV/Ozone treatments on Ti-Ti adhesive bonds and their durability after sol-gel and primer application

In this study, different surface pretreatments were applied to clean and activate titanium alloy surfaces. The samples were subjected to grit blasting treatments using two different pressures and afterwards, a UV/Ozone treatment was applied at different times to study the wettability and surface oxidation of the titanium samples. Scanning electron microscopy and laser confocal microscopy showed the surface morphology and the increased roughness with grit blasting pressure. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy revealed that titanium was increasingly oxidized with increasing UV/Ozone treatment time, which leads to a reduced contact angle and a better adhesive performance in a butt tension test proving the effectivity of this surface treatment for titanium. Furthermore, the addition of sol-gel AC-120 and corrosion inhibition primer BR 6747 showed to be an additional improvement in the initial adhesion and after different degrees of aging by exposure to salt-spray, making the surface treatment techniques used in this research, a promising environmental friendly alternative to improve adhesive bonding performance.