Patent ID: 7811405

Claim:
A method of forming an adhesive bond between an attachment portion of a fiber-reinforced polymeric panel for an automotive vehicle and another vehicle workpiece when the panel has a visible external surface, the attachment portion of the panel and other workpiece each having a surface with a bonding area for the adhesive bond, the bonding areas having a length and a width, the attachment portion of the panel having a thickness not greater than about ten millimeters and the width of the bonding area of the attachment portion being defined by a first edge and second edge, the method comprising; applying a strip of thermosetting polymeric adhesive material along the length and within the width of at least one of the bonding areas, the adhesive material containing platelets of nanometer scale thick filler particles having an aspect ratio of at least fifty in an amount up to about five volume percent of the adhesive material, the filler amount and the placement of the adhesive strip being determined to minimize visible surface deformation on the external surface of the panel; pressing the bonding areas together in a bonding position of the panel and workpiece to form an adhesive layer of substantially uniform thickness between the bonding areas with the lateral edges of the adhesive layer extending to the width of the bonding areas including to the edges of the attachment portion; and heating the workpieces to thermally set the adhesive layer.