Heat-resistant adhesive RTV88 is a hyper-elastic material and so far there have been little research on using RTV88 in adhesive joints. In this study, the effect of surface roughness on the adhesive strength of RTV88 was examined. Aluminum adherends were first sandblasted in order to generate rough surfaces, and then tensile-shear tests on Al/RTV88 single lap joints were performed. The shear strength was shown to be influenced by surface roughness. Peel failure was dominant when the surface roughness was at a low level. However, cohesive failure was the major type of failure when the surface roughness was at a high level. Effective area, peel failure area, and cohesive failure area were introduced to explain the effects of surface roughness on the adhesive strength. An empirical relation for the failure force was proposed, based on these parameters. Tensile tests of the RTV88 bonding was performed in order to obtain the necessary data. Finally, the empirical relation for the failure force was verified by tensile-shear test results. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009