Glass constructions could be much more visually appealing if bonded joints of transparent adhesives are used. Particularly suitable for these applications are UV- and light-curing acrylates. In order to carry out calculations of bonded joints, it is essential to apply the correct material properties. Such a determination can be conducted in a variety of ways. Using dog boned shaped specimens made out of the bulk material in tensile tests, the material properties - such as Young's modulus, yield stress and Poisson's ratio - can be determined with the help of a video extensometer. The effects of temperature and strain rate variation provide insight into the behaviour of this particular adhesive .
Additional ly, the influence of the length of time of high and low temperature exposures, as weil as the curing time were tested.
Separate from these investigations, elastic material properties were determined using a butt-bonded hollow cylinder. The design of this assembly
had to take the specific production requirements for light curing acrylates into consideration. In this case, the results reflect the modified material properties of the adhesives used to form the joint between glass and metal.