Adhesives are used in a wide range of applications, such as transportation (automotive, rail) and architectural, among many others. Though the adhesives themselves are not directly exposed to the environment in most of these applications, one or more weathering factors can still affect the adhesive performance.

When anticipating using adhesives in structural bonding, a common need is developing the testing protocol to demonstrate bonded system effectiveness. While pressure-sensitive tapes are used in structural joining, this discussion will focus on liquid, paste, and film adhesives in structural joints.