Method of deforming a sealed or bonded joint by forcing the substrate to slide over each other

• A. Shear Test
• B. Peel Test
• C. Tensile Test
• D. Bond Test

Answer: (A)

When two bonded surfaces are forced to slide past each other, the stress in the adhesive is parallel to the bond line, i.e., in shear. The test that measures a joint’s resistance to this in-plane sliding is a shear test. It specifically challenges the bond’s ability to hold under shear forces along the interface, which is why it’s the correct description for deforming a sealed or bonded joint by forcing the substrates to move laterally relative to one another. Peel tests pull the layers apart by peeling away along an edge, creating peeling stresses; tensile tests pull the joint apart perpendicular to the bond line; and a bond test is a more general term that doesn’t specify the deformation mode.