A numerical study of adhesively bonded lap joints

The two types of joint discussed in this paper are a thick adherend symmetrical lap joint, and a symmetrical double lap joint. The effect of varying adherend and adhesive thicknesses on the stress distribution in the thin adhesive layer is discussed. These analyses were used in the design on a lap shear test to characterize certain aerospace adhesives used in bonded repair of structural components. An alternative analytical approach for the estimation of the load-carrying capacity of the double lap joint is also presented.     

Non-linear analysis and optimization of adhesively bonded single lap joints between fibre-reinforced plastics and metals

Non-linear finite element methods are applied in the analysis of single lap joints between fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) and metals. The importance of allowing for both geometric and material non-linearities is shown. The optimization of single lap joints is done by modifying the geometry of the joint ends. Different shapes of adhesive fillet, reverse tapering of the adherend, rounded edges and denting are applied in order to increase the joint strength. The influence of the joint-end geometry is shown for different metal adherend/FRP adherend/adhesive combinations. The results of the numerical predictions suggest that with a careful joint-end design the strength of the joints can be increased by 90–150%.     

预偏角对单搭接接头强度的影响

研究了在被粘物搭接区顸偏转角度对钢单搭接拉伸接头剪切强度的影响,并用弹性有限元法分析了预偏角变化时单搭接接头上胶层中的应力分布情况。数值分析的结果表明：当预偏角从0°增加到12°时,结构钢单搭接接头胶层中的所有应力峰值分量均显著下降。而在所采取实验条件下,接头的剪切强度最高值出现在预偏角为6°时。因而在进一步研究预偏角对单搭接接头承载能力的作用时,应将外载作用下接头的本征偏转情况考虑在内。     

Multivariate analysis of high through-put adhesively bonded single lap joints

The goal of this research was to experimentally demonstrate the correlations between processing variables (adhesive type, bondline thickness, adherend thickness, surface pretreatment, overflow fillet) and effective strength in adhesively bonded single lap joints. While generalizations between effective strength and individual joint design parameters have been assumed for decades, the multifaceted interplay between parameters is complex and remains difficult to understand. Traditionally reported studies of the adhesive bond strength of single lap joints are often limited in the sample size populations needed to statistically probe concurrent design variables. To overcome sample size limitations a test matrix of 1200 single lap joints, partitioned by 96 unique fabrication conditions, was processed and tested using a workflow protocol orchestrated through a relational database. The enhanced pedigree and integrity enabled by using a relational database centered workflow allowed for multivariate principal component analysis of the joint design parameters, with all experimental data input available for peer audit. The results of this study revealed that the adhesive type biases the remaining joint configuration variables towards more influence with respect to either mechanical load or displacement to failure.     

An efficient analysis model for functionally graded adhesive single lap joints

Employing a functionally graded adhesive the efficiency of adhesively bonded lap joints can be improved significantly. However, up to now, analysis approaches for planar functionally graded adhesive joints are still not addressed well. With this work, an efficient model for the stress analysis of functionally graded adhesive single lap joints which considers peel as well as shear stresses in the adhesive is proposed. Two differential equations of the displacements are derived for the case of an axially loaded adhesive single lap joint. The differential equations are solved using a power series approach. The model incorporates the nonlinear geometric characteristics of a single lap joint under tensile loading and allows for the analysis of various adhesive Young׳s modulus variations. The obtained stress distributions are compared to results of detailed Finite Element analyses and show a good agreement for several single lap joint configurations. In addition, different adhesive Young׳s modulus distributions and their impact on the peel and shear stresses as well as the influence of the adhesive thickness are studied and discussed in detail.     

Flexural behavior of metallic fiber-reinforced adhesively bonded single lap joints

Incorporation of additives into the adhesive layer in adhesively bonded joints can improve the stress distriution in the adhesive layer and increase adhesive toughness. In this paper, the geometric and material parameters of metal fibers utilized for strengthening adhesively bonded single lap joints under flexural loading were investigated by using experimental investigations and finite element modeling. According to the experimental results, incorporating metal fibers in the adhesive layer of a bonded joint can have a significant impact on the flexural load bearing of the joint. This was in relationship with the numerical results foreseeing enhanced stress distributions of the adhesive layer, when the metal fibers were added to the adhesive layer. Some important parameters in the design of metal fiber-reinforced adhesive joints include the volume fraction (the distance between the fibers and the fiber diameter), orientation, and mechanical properties of the fibers. It was concluded that the peak normal stresses in the adhesive layer can be reduced, and consequently the load bearing of the joint can be improved by reducing the distance between the fibers, increasing the fiber diameter and choosing a stiffer material for the fibers in the longitudinal direction.     

Progressive damage modeling of adhesively bonded lap joints

A continuum damage model for simulating damage propagation of bonded joints is presented, introducing a linear softening damage process for the adhesive agent. Material models simulating anisotropic non-linear elastic behavior and distributed damage accumulation were used for the composite adherends as well. The proposed modeling procedure was applied to a series of lap joints accounting for adhesion either by means of secondary bonding or co-bonding. Stress analysis was performed using plane strain elements of a commercial finite element code allowing implementation of user defined constitutive equations. Numerical results for the different overlap lengths under investigation were in good agreement with experimental data in terms of joint strength and overall structural behavior.     

外加磁场对粘接接头剪切强度的影响

采用自制的装置研究了磁场对由环氧胶层连接的钢制单搭接接头剪切强度的影响，结果表明．在所采取的试验条件下．试样叠合后立即施加的磁场可显著影响接头的强度；垂直于胶层的磁场提高接头的剪切强度效果高于平行磁场，磁场处理的时间以4h左右为宜。     

Cyclic creep response of adhesively bonded steel lap joints

The viscoelastic nature of polymeric adhesives means that the effect of fatigue frequency has to be treated cautiously. However, this subject has received limited attention and very few studies can be found. Therefore, this work aims at investigating the cyclic creep response of adhesively bonded steel lap joints. Load-controlled fatigue tests were performed with shear stresses of 9.1, 7.4, and 6.3 MPa, which are typically low cycle fatigue stresses. Only during the last 20% of fatigue life can we observe an increase in the cycle hysteresis area due to the decrease of the shear stiffness caused by the failure mechanisms. Under fatigue load, the maximum/minimum strain curves exhibit a shape being similar to that of the steady creep curves, in which occurs a second stage with nearly constant strain rate, independently of the number of cycles and increasing with the load range. A linear relationship between the log cyclic creep rate and the log of the number of cycles to failure was observed, indicating that fatigue behaviour is strictly related to cyclic creep.     

基于有限元方法的单搭接接头可靠性设计

将概率统计的设计观念引入单搭接粘接接头,通过有限元分析方法分析了对粘接接头力学性能影响较大的因素,并在抽样100次的情况下,分析了单搭接粘接接头失效的概率。结果表明,该模型可以有效地反映接头的实际情况,为粘接结构的可靠度设计提供了依据。     

Fatigue life prediction of adhesively bonded single lap joints

Better fatigue performance of adhesively bonded joints makes them suitable for most structural applications. However, predicting the service life of bonded joints accurately remains a challenge. In this present study, nonlinear computational simulations have been performed on adhesively bonded single lap ASTM-D1002 shear joint considering both geometrical and material nonlinearities to predict the fatigue life by judiciously applying the modified Coffin-Manson equation for adhesive joints. Elasto-plastic material models have been employed for both the adhesive and the adherends. The predicted life has close agreement in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) regime with empirical observations reported in the literature.     

Effect of temperature on the shear strength of aluminium single lap bonded joints for high temperature applications

An experimental and numerical investigation into the shear strength behaviour of adhesive single lap joints (SLJs) was carried out in order to understand the effect of temperature on the joint strength. The adherend material used for the experimental tests was an aluminium alloy in the form of thin sheets, and the adhesive used was a high-strength high temperature epoxy. Tensile tests as a function of temperature were performed and numerical predictions based on the use of a bilinear cohesive damage model were obtained. It is shown that at temperatures below T_g, the lap shear strength of SLJs increased, while at temperatures above T_g, a drastic drop in the lap shear strength was observed. Comparison between the experimental and numerical maximum loads representing the strength of the joints shows a reasonably good agreement.     

The effect of orientations of metal macrofiber reinforcements on mechanical properties of adhesively bonded single lap joints

A method for improving the mechanical behavior of adhesive joints is embedding metal macrofibers to the adhesive layer. The effect of the orientation of metal macrofibers laid across the length and width of the joint (longitudinal and transversal directions) on the strength and elongation at failure of single lap joints (SLJs) was investigated experimentally by testing SLJs reinforced with metal macrofibers laid in different orientations. The experimental results indicated that increasing the number of metal macrofibers in the longitudinal direction improved the shear strength and elongation at failure of SLJs. However, the improvements were found to be dependent on the normalized horizontal distance between the metal macrofibers for which a proper value of 1 was determined. While embedding metal macrofibers in the transversal direction degraded the mechanical properties of SLJs. Finite element analyses were undertaken to investigate the effects of fibers orientation and horizontal distance on the adhesive peel and shear stress distributions. The results revealed that decreasing the horizontal distance between the metal macrofibers laid in the longitudinal direction decreased the adhesive shear stress values indicating improvement of the joint strength, while in SLJs reinforced with metal macrofibers laid in the transversal direction decreasing the fibers distance increased the adhesive peel stress values resulting in joint strength reduction.     

Effects of adhesive fillers on the strength of tubular single lap adhesive joints

When an adhesively bonded joint is exposed to a high environmental temperature, the tensile load capability of the adhesively bonded joint decreases because the elastic modulus and failure strength of the adhesive decrease. In this paper, the elastic modulus and failure strength of the adhesive as well as the tensile load capability of the tubular single lap adhesively bonded joint were experimentally and theoretically investigated with respect to the volume fraction of filler and the environmental temperature. Two types of fillers - Al₂O₃ (alumina) and chopped fiber E glass - were used. From the experiment, it was found that the elastic modulus and failure strength of the adhesive increased in accordance with the increase of volume fraction of the filler and decreased with the environmental temperature rise. It was also found that the tensile load capability of the tubular single lap adhesively bonded joint decreased as the environmental temperature increased; however, it had no correlation with the volume fraction of filler because of the effect of the fabrication thermal residual stresses generated by the CTE difference between the adherend and adhesive.     

Relationship between residual stress and strength of single lap joints made of Ti6Al4V alloy,adhesively bonded and treated using pneumatic ball peening

The possibility of improving the strength of single lap joints (SLJs) made of Ti6Al4V alloys and adhesively bonded using Araldite 2014-1 with the help of pneumatic ball peening was investigated. The effects of pneumatic ball peening conditions on the joint strength and residual stress of the plates were determined using mathematical models, i.e. second-degree polynomials. A clear correlation was observed between the joint strength and the post-machining residual stress. Moreover, the stress values could be controlled. Pneumatic ball peening was found to be an easy and effective method for improving the joint strength (up to 57%) of SLJs.     

单搭接胶接接头的拓扑优化

在有限元方法的基础上，利用变密度法对单搭接胶接接头搭接区域的被粘物形状进行了拓扑优化，通过曲线拟舍得到了较为合理的轮廓。拓扑优化的结果表明：在体积减少20％的情况下。胶接结构的强度不会降低；经拓扑优化后，胶层中剪切应力的峰值比优化以前增加不大，约1％。     

Benchmark tests on adhesive strengths in butt, single and double lap joints and double-cantilever beams

The RC99 committee of the Japan Society for Mechanical Engineers conducted the benchmark tests on strengths of adhesive joints using different testing methods. The effects of joint configuration, loading mode, adherend yield strength and so on, on the strength and data scatter were investigated using two typical epoxy adhesives. The strengths obtained by various tests were compared with each other. The relationships among strengths of butt, single lap and double lap joints and fracture toughness were given. Thirteen member institutes of the committee participated in this project. The benchmark results allow us to recognize that the joint strengths are strongly affected by the curing process. The key to obtaining the appropriate joint strength, is precise temperature control inside the adhesive layer for curing. Toughened adhesives do not always give higher joint strengths than untoughened adhesives. The yield strength of adherends much affects the observed lap joint strength of adhesives.     

Assessments for impact of adhesive properties: modeling strength of metallic single lap joints

Adhesively bonded joints are widely used in a variety of industrial and engineering activities. Their overall strength is dependent on the properties of the adhesives. In the present research, assessments of adhesive properties were performed systematically through defining both strength mixity and energy rate mixity and using them to characterize the overall strength of metallic single lap joints. By means of the cohesive zone model, the adhesive strength mixity was defined as the ratio of the shear and tensile separation strength, and the energy rate mixity was defined as the ratio of the area below the shear cohesive curve and the area below the tensile cohesive curve. For each specified group of mixity parameters, corresponding to the properties of a specified adhesive, the overall strengths and the critical displacements of bonded joints were characterized. A series of strength and energy rate mixities were taken into account in the present calculations. A comparison of the present calculations with some existing experiments was carried out for both brittle and ductile adhesives. Finally, in the calculations presented here, damage initiation and evolution of the adhesive layer were also undertaken. The results showed that the overall strength of the joints was significantly depended on the adhesive properties, which were characterized by the strength and energy rate mixities of the adhesive. Furthermore, the shear adhesive stress components played a dominate role in both the damage initiation and evolution in the adhesives, which were also affected by the overlap length of the joints.     

Effect of protrusion at the ends of bondline in single lap joints under tension and bending

In this work, elasto-plastic stress analysis of single lap joints with and without protrusion in adhesive bondline subjected to tension and bending was carried out using 2D non-linear finite element analysis and confirmed experimentally. AA 2024-T3 aluminum adherends were bonded with SBT 9244 film adhesive. The protrusion was obtained by extending the adhesive film by 2?mm from the overlap length at both overlap ends. Three different adherend thicknesses and overlap lengths for each loading and bondline type were used. The joints with and without protrusion, for comparison, were loaded with the same load for each adherend thickness and overlap length. Finally, it was observed that the protrusion reduces the strength in the joint under tension, while the protrusion increases the strength in the joint under bending.