Executive summary

What is BONDSHIP?

BONDSHIP - "Bonding of lightweight materials for cost effective production of high speed craft and passenger ships" - was a 4.6 M€ GROWTH project funded by the European Commission under the 5th framework programme. The project started in April 2000 and finished in June 2003 and had 13 partners from 7 nations. BONDSHIP is a major European initiative to introduce adhesive bonding into ship building as an industrial process for joining of lightweight and dissimilar materials and structures.

Description of the results

The ambitious scope of the project required that the consortium worked on many different aspects of adhesive bonding in order to establish the knowledge base for introducing this new joining method in shipbuilding.

Here is a brief outline of the principal results:
• guidelines for design, modelling, testing, production, fire protection, inspection and repair of bonded joints;
• acceptance tests and criteria;
• test and inspection methods for bonded joints; including material data
• documented application cases and joint designs;
• documented production and assembly procedures and practical experience and skills from using adhesives in a shipyard.

Possible applications

The project allowed the partners to establish the key factors for the successful use of adhesive bonding. These are mainly the joining of dissimilar materials, very thin materials and the need to compensate for large relative movement. The main obstacle identified is the lack of long-term experience of bonded joints on ships. However, the approval regime developed in BONDSHIP offers an alternative approach in many situations.
 

last edited: 01.03.2006