ASTM D4502-92(2011)

This test method can serve as a useful tool for durability assessment and service life forecasting.

This test method can be used to measure the effects of heat and moisture and the effect of their interaction on adhesives and bonded joints. Knowledge of these effects is useful to an adhesive formulator or manufacturer. Moist heat aging is particularly useful for determining the effects of acidic adhesive systems on the hydrolysis of wood adherends.

This test method provides a means of comparing the rate of degradation of an unknown adhesive-adherend combination to the rate of degradation of a known combination in thermal or hydrolytic aging environments. Such a comparison can be useful to adhesive manufacturers for introducing a new product to the market and for helping designers selecting adhesives.

This test method does not duplicate any natural service environment, but it does provide a means of estimating the service life of joints in similar environments. Service-life estimates are useful to designers of bonded structures or structures using bonded products.

Service-life estimates rely on the assumption that the chemical degradation mechanism is the same at the elevated aging temperatures as at the service temperature. However, this may not be true in every case. This possibility, together with the variability in specimen preparation, in the aging exposures, and in the strength measurements, require that caution be used in accepting the estimate of service life.

1.1 The purpose of this test method is to estimate the resistance of adhesive-bonded joints to thermal and hydrolytic degradation.

1.2 This test method is primarily for wood-to-wood joints but may be applied to joints of wood to other materials.

1.3 The effects of chemicals such as fire retardants, preservatives, and extractives in the wood upon joint degradation resistance can be estimated.

1.4 This test method does not account for the effects of stress, the other principal degrading factor, nor does it account for cyclic or variable temperature or moisture levels.

1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.