Engineers use adherend for each body in a bonded joint and substrate for the material more generally. Adherend stiffness, thickness, thermal expansion and surface condition all affect joint strength as much as the adhesive does. Test reports describe failure as within the adhesive, at the adherend interface, or in the adherend itself.
Adherends are 2 mm aluminum on one side and glass-filled nylon on the other, so watch the thermal mismatch.
Also heard as
- substrate
Related terms
Substrate failure
A joint failure where the bonded material itself breaks before the adhesive or the interface gives.
CTE mismatch
Coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch, the different growth of bonded materials with heat that stresses the bond.
Bondline
The layer of adhesive between two bonded parts, and in shop talk the thickness of that layer.
Lap joint
A bonded joint where two parts overlap face to face, loading the adhesive mainly in shear.