The tensile strength of adhesive butt joints at high rates of loading is determined with a modified split Hopkinson bar using a cylindrical specimen. A commercially available cyanoacrylate adhesive (commonly termed an instantaneous adhesive) is tested. Two different adherend materials or bearing steel and high-strength aluminum alloy are used in the adhesion tests. Comparative tension tests at low and intermediate rates of loading are conducted in an Instron testing machine. An axisymmetric finite element analysis is performed to examine the stress distributions in the adhesive layer of adhesive butt joints in tension. The effects of loading rate, adherend materials and thickness of adhesive layer on the tensile strength of adhesive butt joints are examined in detail. It is shown that the joint tensile strength increases significantly with increasing loading rate and is greatly affected by both the adhesive layer thickness and adherend materials.