Strengthening and repairing of engineered bamboo-steel epoxy adhesive joints with carbon nanotube on the basis of resin pre-coating method

Combinations of engineered bamboo with wood or even steel substrates have generated increasing attention and research in construction industries around the world. This paper took an experimental study on the bonding properties of engineered bamboo-steel epoxy adhesive joints strengthened and repaired with resin pre-coating (RPC) and carbon nanotube (CNT) surface treatments. The RPC method was applied by pre-coating the diluted resin-acetone solution on the bonding surfaces, while the CNT method was carried out by brushing the CNTs-resin-acetone mixed solution on the bonding surfaces. Test results showed that RPC and CNT surface treatments improved the bonding properties of the adhesive joints. Moreover, compared with the original adhesive joint, as well as the RPC-strengthening or CNT-strengthening joints, the repairing joints had a better performance in terms of bonding strength and energy, especially for the joints repaired with new steel substrates. The reason was that new failure surfaces with decreased cohesive failure and increased adhesive failure happened in the repairing joints, which produced a better bonding property.