Glass-Steel Connections Using Acrylate Adhesives

Kerstin Puller & Werner Sobek, Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK),

While silicon-glass adhesive connections are widely employed in modern structures, the use of other adhesives such as acrylates is still rare. Many engineers fear that the strength of the acrylate adhesive bond may be compromised by contamination during the gluing process, and that its load-bearing capacity may be reduced over time due to cleaning and outdoor exposure. But these adhesives – especially transparent acrylates – also promise exciting new possibilities in façade design, such as continuous glass panes and nearly invisible joints – where only the substructure, and not the joint material itself, is visible. In this study the behaviour of glass-to-steel acrylate adhesive joints was investigated using three different acrylate glues.

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