This subject comes up pretty often here, so I thought I'd point out a specialty adhesive company that I've used in recent years for article research. They make a huge range of specialty epoxies, silicones and polyurethanes, and they provide enough technical information that you can get an idea of what special properties are needed for each application, including around 20 particular metals and a variety of plastics. Their website is useful whether or not you plan to use their products. Take a look at their papers and articles on surface prep, etc.:
Not directly on topic, but today I picked up some kevlar roving from the Habitat for Humanity store. So if anyone needs an ounce or so of kevlar fiber let me knew.
A lot has been done to improve high-strength adhesives in recent years. Of interest to most of us is the toughened versions of epoxy and polyurethane that provide great shear strength while also having excellent peel and cleavage strength. The aerospace-grade expoxies, particularly, have been able to produce shear strengths of 10,000 psi for at least the last 40 years or so, but they peel right off if the substrate is flexible.
That's why they came up with rivet-bonding. The sole purpose of those rivets on aircraft wings today is to prevent the edges of a lap joint from lifiting and initiating a peel failure. If you see rivets on an aircraft wing arranged in a straight line, or in two rows, rather than a traditional rivet pattern, that's what's going on.
When you look at how they're bonding car parts today, you realize that the problem has largely been solved. Where you see rivets (in the new Fords and Buicks, for example), they're there primarily to hold things together while the adhesives cure.
Masterbond seems to be on top of that, and they're a bit more forthcoming than Dow or Loctite.
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