ABSTRACT
The use of adhesive joints has expanded significantly and currently many technologically advanced industries employ adhesive joints as a high performance joining method. The aerospace industry is among these industries and has had a leading role in the development of construction techniques that exploit the adhesives’ ability to join dissimilar materials and to redistribute loads more effectively, which leads to lighter vehicles. While the space shuttle is out of service, the new generations of thermal protection tiles are being developed. The new generation tiles, known as TUFROC, are manufactured by attaching a ceramic-carbon insulation to a silica-based lower block. Success on the use of dual adhesive joints is in large part dependent on the correct selection of the adhesives. The metallic adherend of the dual adhesive joint is machined from an aluminium alloy of the 6063 T6 type.
