| This thesis work was performed with a view to offshore applications, and the aim is to improve understanding of the the long term behaviour of adhesive bonding in a marine environment, in order to replace welding by adhesive bonding on offshore platforms. An experimental method has been developed to collect the data required for a numerical model, to predict the life expectancy of adhesively bonded structures. There are several objectives, the first is to understand the mechanisms of failure of adhesively bonded joints and to evaluate the kinetics of their degradation. So, in a first step, the water absorption of bulk adhesives has been studied under different aging conditions, and its influence on the mechanical and physico-chemical properties of the... |
