Where in a spacecraft are adhesives most commonly or routinely used?
Are there specific spacecraft components or assemblies that are regularly built by using adhesives rather than other methods of attaching one component to the other?
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1To build honeycomb structures. – Uwe May 24 '20 at 23:11
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3Welcome to Space Exploration Stack Exchange! This looks like the start of a good question, but it could be improved by referencing specific spacecraft, technologies, etc. This can be done either by doing some more work in the question to demonstrate an attempt to solve the question yourself, or by making a more focused question such as "are spacecraft heatshields attached by adhesives?". – CourageousPotato May 25 '20 at 01:51
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2@CourageousPotato I've made an edit to make it clear that these should be specific to spacecraft applications, but left it wide enough so that otherwise helpful answers won't be excluded. Do you think it looks okay now? – uhoh May 25 '20 at 02:05
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2@uhoh It's a small improvement, but yes. – CourageousPotato May 25 '20 at 02:11
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1What was the primary role of epoxy layer between metal structure and insulation foam on External Tank of Space Shuttle? and Where are the Apollo forward heat shields currently located? and How common is resin/epoxy sealing of space-faring equipment nowadays? and Structural composition of shuttle liquid fuel tank wall and this answer – uhoh May 25 '20 at 05:25
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and What are the common space application adhesives used in Earth orbiting satellites? for example – uhoh May 25 '20 at 05:25
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@Uwe indeed! I wonder if you might write up a short answer about that? I've added some related questions and answers above but there may be more. – uhoh May 25 '20 at 05:35
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2The Velcro is stuck on by adhesives. – Organic Marble May 25 '20 at 20:08
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Ceramic tiles for heat shields.
Because you cannot really weld ceramics to metal, and nuts and bolts are too heavy and vulnerable, the ships heat shield is usually bonded to the hull. The Space Shuttle used a menagerie of thousands of glued-on tiles to protect it during reentry. The Shuttle’s tiles were made of bonded silica fibers. Robust against heat, but not particularly durable against impact.
Basil Bourque
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LazyReader
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5Welcome to Space! Nice answer. Along the same idea, the Apollo command module heat shields were themselves made of epoxy, injected into an aluminum honeycomb. – DrSheldon May 25 '20 at 02:40
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5@DrSheldon The Apollo heatshield did not use an aluminum honeycomb, it was a fiberglas honeycomb. The material for the honeycomb should have a high melting point and a low thermal conductivity, therefore glas, not aluminum. – Uwe May 25 '20 at 20:03
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You are correct, @Uwe. But the connection to the answer -- epoxy used in the heat shield -- is still true. – DrSheldon May 26 '20 at 02:59
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Fun fact! It's totally possible to weld ceramics - c.f. "active metal brazing". A layer of titanium or molybdenum is melted onto the ceramic in a vacuum. It promptly reacts to form a permanent bond. A protective layer is usually then added to the Ti, and then the part can be welded nornally. – 0xDBFB7 May 26 '20 at 05:03
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3And some poor technician had to use a caulking gun to shoot plastic goo into every single honeycomb cell. – ikrase May 26 '20 at 10:38
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4@ikrase and they X-rayed every single one, and if there was a bubble, crack, or other void, they drilled it out and redid it. Extremely expensive work. – Tristan May 26 '20 at 14:36
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1Nitpick: Note that the TPS damage in the Columbia accident appears not to have been to the tiles, but to the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) wing leading edge. – Fred Larson May 26 '20 at 15:24
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There can be a fuzzy differentiation between adhesives and resins used in composite structures such as Urethanes and Epoxies. These resins may be found in the internal composite structures.
Todd Wehrenberg
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4Welcome to Stack Exchange! This is an important point that you've raised. Normally it would be posted as a comment rather than as an answer to the question, but SE doesn't let new users post comments on other questions until they reach 50 reputation points (which doesn't take long). I wonder if you can add a little bit more information to this and bring it up to the level of an answer somehow? For example if you mentioned an example or two of each and maybe added a supporting link, that would be great. Thanks! – uhoh May 26 '20 at 06:07