Abstract

''The detachment of ceramic tiles in buildings is a problem that still persists in several modern constructions, despite various advances achieved in the sector of façade technology and an increasingly demanding consumer public. Studies have shown that most ceramic failures in façades occur between the interface mortar and ceramic tile. '' This work intends to contribute to the study and understanding of the influence of the contact area on the interface bonding between the adhesive mortar and ceramic tile by means of the adhesion resistance evaluation from the crack propagation test in mixed mode of stress (MMF) which simulates tensile and shear forces simultaneously. A punctual progressive load was applied to a considerable number of specimens in order to promote internal tensile and shear forces. The variables incorporated into the experiment were the type of mortar employed and the mortar thickness in the specimen. The experimental results show that the bonding strength values found by the direct drive test were 60.8% (AC II) and 58.1% (AC III) higher than the results obtained by the mechanical test in mixed mode, indicating an overestimated system result of the façade covering when the direct tensile bonding strength was verified exclusively.