Comparative Adhesion of Anaerobic and Cyanoacrylate Adhesives to Hydrophilic Surface on Mild Steel

Miklós Berczeli; Zoltán Weltsch; Attila Szabó

doi:10.63684/dk.2026.03.01

Miklós Berczeli Evocon Ltd. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7187-9064
Zoltán Weltsch Evocon Ltd. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6366-8281
Attila Szabó University of Dunaújváros, Institute of Engineering https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3305-2804

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63684/dk.2026.03.01

Keywords: Steel, surface treatment, laser, wettability, adhesive

Abstract

This study is about laser-induced surface activated DC01 and S235 mild steels, which are bonded with an anaerobic acrylic adhesive (Loctite 270) and a cyanoacrylate adhesive (Loctite 496). A fiber laser was used with 50–100% power, 20–200 kHz pulse frequencies, and scanning speeds were 500–2000 mm/s. Wettability was measured by water contact angle (WCA), and the joint performance was examined through single-lap shear tests. Both untreated steels showed hydrophobic behaviour (DC01: 72.9°, S235: 89.8°), which resulted in low shear strengths: 0.29 kN (DC01, acrylic), 2.03 kN (DC01, cyanoacrylate), 0.57 kN (S235, acrylic), and 0.06 kN (S235, cyanoacrylate). After laser treatment, the WCA was under 5° in most cases, showes complete wetting. This change was reflected in a significant increase in strength. In the case of DC01, the acrylic adhesive achieved 2.9 kN (≈10×) and the cyanoacrylate achieved 5.6 kN (≈2.5×). In the case of S235, the acrylic adhesive achieved 3.9 kN (≈7×), while the cyanoacrylate increased from 0.06 to 6.1 kN (≈100×). Based ont he results the laser activation can create a clean, highly hydrophilic surface. It increases the adhesion of both adhesive systems. Although the two steels responded differently to the treatment, in all cases the reduction in the rim angle was closely related to the increased bond strength.

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