The ability to separate adhesive bonded assemblies without causing damage to the substrates is clearly very desirable. There are many applications such as in electronics, medical surgery, dentistry, building and general manufacturing where the opportunity to separate assemblies is important. This may be for repositioning in manufacturing, repair in service or recovery of materials at end-of-life. Various methods for adhesive reversibility or disbonding have been proposed over the last 40 years but there currently exist no universally accepted solutions for disbond-on-demand bonded applications. This paper considers the motivation for disbonding, the requirements and considerations associated with possible methods, and the overall effectiveness of the various mechanisms in the context of non-structural, semi-structural and structural joints. The range of technologies and mechanisms is reviewed, together with the associated methods for activation.

The variety of methods is evaluated for their effectiveness in the context of different applications. Particular attention is given to the adverse effects on the performance of bonded assemblies in service, and the ways of mitigating these effects. It is shown that a total materials system approach must be adopted when seeking a disbonding technology for a particular set of circumstances

Grøn, Sisse

Kabel, Anders

Kines, Peter

Limborg, Hans Jørgen

Online Research Database In Technology

Prevention of dust exposure in demolition work in Denmark – a participatory approach intervention

Risk of exposure to silica dust is a well-documented health risk for construction workers, particularly in demolition. Despite effective exposure prevention measures, silicosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) continues to be a widespread disease among these workers. This is partly due to the tasks and materials they deal with combined with factors such as a low degree of regulation and guidelines, as well as turbulence with subcontracting labour. An intervention program was developed and pilot tested to prevent demolition workers from exposure to silica dust using a participatory approach, based on the principles for knowledge transfer and exchange. The program was developed in collaboration with the demolition industry partners, stakeholders from participating companies and demolition crews at a total of nine sites. Experiences were documented from on-going meetings and semi-structured interviews. A ‘dust reduction’ tool was developed whereby site specific plans were drawn up and implemented based on an audit, a safety conditions- and behaviour observation method, and a template for briefings (toolbox talks) for the demolition teams. The participating companies found the tool useful, however, the motivation to further use the tool varied greatly, depending on organizational level. The most difficult group to motivate was the demolition crews due to issues related to the fragmentation of the labour force within the industry. The management level group found that in order to continue to use it the tool, they would need to be able to integrate it in their safety management systems and find support from guidelines and regulations developed specifically for demolition work. We conclude that providing a method to nurture a dust prevention culture in demolition companies could be a valuable part of a coordinated multisectoral strategy. This strategy could include developing relevant and coherent regulations enforced by the work authorities or the industry bodies

Grøn, S.

Limborg, H.J.

Kabel, A.

Kines, P.

Hutchinson, AR

Liu, Y

Lu, Y

Oxford Brookes University: RADAR