Using the "Panel Handling and Glueing Tool" two panels have been
glued to a 5m long module box. The glueing tof the first 5m prototype module
box allowed to study a variety of open questions:
Test of the feasibility of the glueing using the tool. In particular we wanted to see whether the foreseen side-wall pressing is sufficient. Verification of the gas tightness. To test whether we are able to glue separate gas-tight inner and outer gas volume we also mimicked 2 separate volumes. Measurement of the straightness of the 5m module. Determination of the mechanical properties of the 5m module.
Since the glueing is done in vertical position of all glue joints the viscosity of the standard Araldite AY103 is too low. The glue tends to creep away (drop) even before the materials are joined. We investigated the possibility to add micro glas balloons to increase the viscosity. A test of the adhesive containing these micro balloons revealed no degradation of the glueing propoerties. The results of this studies are summarized in a separate note: "Adhesive properties of Araldite AY103".
For the glueing of the test box we have therefore used the AY103 together with the same volume of micro balloons.
The gas-tightness of the box for all separate volumes was comparable and a factor 10 better than what we require () for the operation in LHCb.
The straightness of the finished box was measured by hanging it freely on a support. We found reproducible deviations from a straight line of less than 0.5 ?? mm (RMS).
The module was put horizontally and its deflection was measured with and without additional load. The deflection of the unloaded horizontal module is 7 cm.