Abstract: A testing system provides a quantitative way of measuring the adhesive strength of adhesives, paints, coatings, adhesive tapes, and other test substances to underlying adherends and substrates, such as metals. The test system of the invention consistently produces uniform results. First and second adherends are bonded together over a relatively small area near the centers and are then pulled apart by a force applied at one end of one of the adherends. The force is increased until the second adherend member is debonded from the first throughout the test bonding zone, thus determining the total energy expended in debonding the first and second adherend members plus strain energy expended in displacing the second member from the first. The force is then decreased until there is no longer any displacement of the second member from the first while concurrently measuring the decreasing force and displacement of the second adherend member from the first adherend member as a function of the decreasing force.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for testing the adhesive strength of a bond between an adhesive, a coating such as paint, or some other material, and an underlying substrate to which the test substance is bonded. The test may be performed at room temperature or in an environmental chamber at extreme conditions. An aperture is formed through the substrate and a thin film is employed to cover the aperture. The film extends beyond the perimeter of the aperture in contact with a first surface of the substrate. A coating of adhesive, paint, adhesive tape, or any other substance to be tested is then applied atop the film and the surrounding surface of the substrate in a smooth, continuous layer. A membrane which maintains its elastic property with only minor yielding during the test is bonded to the test substance, either directly or by means of a layer of high-strength adhesive interposed therebetween.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for testing the adhesive strength of a bond between a coating or other material, or an adhesive tape, and an underlying surface or substrate to which it is bonded. The test may be performed at room temperature or in an environmental chamber at extreme conditions. In one embodiment an aperture is formed through the substrate and adhesive tape or a coating of paint is applied to the surface surrounding the aperture. A membrane, which approximately maintains its elastic property with only minor yielding during the test, is bonded to the paint or tape, the bond of the membrane to the paint or tape being stronger than the adhesion of the paint, or tape, to the substrate. Pressure is increasingly applied through the aperture, deforming the membrane away from the substrate until the critical pressure is reached and the bond between the paint, or tape, and the substrate fails.