Fatigue behaviour of composite–composite joints reinforced with cold metal transfer welded pins

In this paper the fatigue properties of through-the-thickness reinforced joints are studied in detail. Unreinforced specimens, specimens reinforced with cold metal transfer welded titanium and steel pins and specimens reinforced with titanium z-pins are investigated. Besides classical S–N diagrams, hysteresis curves and stiffness based approaches are applied to improve the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the joints in the progress of their fatigue life. Furthermore full field strain analysis gives information about damage initiation and growth in the joint section.     

Measuring changing strain fields in composites with Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing using the optical backscatter reflectometer

Background/purposeMeasurements of strains in critical components are often required in addition to finite element calculations when evaluating a structure.MethodsThis paper describes how standard optical fibers, bonded to the surface or embedded in a laminate, can measure strain fields along the entire length of the fiber, using the optical backscatter reflectometer.ResultsA strain field measurement can be much better compared to simulations than the more common single point measurements with strain gauges or Bragg Gratings. Changes of the strain field can be related to damage development and can be used for structural health monitoring. Practical aspects of using the fibers are also discussed.ConclusionDistributed Fiber-Optic Sensing was successfully embedded and bonded to a composite joint. Adhesive damage was identified and the strain field agreed well with FE-Analysis.     

Vibration welding of polypropylene-based nanocomposites – The crucial stage for the weld quality

Thermoplastic nanocomposites used for vibration welding are compounded on a twin-screw extruder by dilution of a concentrate masterbatch containing 14 vol% of filler. They are butt welded under different weld pressures by a linear vibration welding machine. By means of a quick ramp-down technology, this machine enables a very short vibration damping time of about 40 ms. The influence of different damping time on the weld strength of various materials is investigated. The experimental results are compared also with the results of simulation. In the case of nano-silica filled polypropylene, no impact of the damping time on the weld quality is detected and the possible reasons for this observation are explained.     

An experimental–numerical investigation of hydrothermal response in adhesively bonded composite structures

Water absorption and thermal response of adhesive composite joints were investigated by measurements and numerical simulations. Water diffusivity, saturation, swelling, and thermal expansion of the constituent materials and the joint were obtained from gravimetric experiments and strain measurements using embedded fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. The mechanical response of these materials at different temperatures and water content was characterized by dynamic mechanical analysis. Thermal loading and water absorption in joint specimens were detected by monitoring the FBG wavelength shift caused by thermal expansion or water swelling. The measured parameters were used in finite element models to simulate the response of the embedded sensor. The good correlation of experimental data and simulations confirmed that the change in FBG wavelength could be accurately related to the thermal load or water absorption process. The suitability of the embedded FBG sensors for monitoring of water uptake in adhesive composite joints was demonstrated.     

Moment-rotation-temperature curves for semi-rigid joints

Although connections are known to have a very significant effect on the behaviour of steel and composite framed buildings in the event of fire, the cost of high temperature tests on the broad range of connections used in practice means that their influence is not well detailed in current design codes. The paucity of data also limits the effective use of numerical models developed to simulate the behaviour of complete structures at elevated temperature. This research describes a series of elevated temperature tests conducted on beam-to-column connections. This paper presents moment-rotation-temperature curves for a variety of connections.     

Experimental study of structural fire behaviour of steel beam to concrete filled tubular column assemblies with different types of joints

This paper presents experimental results of structural fire behaviour of steel beam to concrete filled tubular (CFT) column assemblies using different types of joints. The joint types include fin plate, end plate, reverse channel and T-stub. The structural assembly was in the form of a “rugby goalpost”. In each test, loads were applied to the beam and then the structural assembly was exposed to the standard fire condition in a furnace while maintaining the applied loads. In total, 10 tests were carried out. In eight of the 10 tests, fire exposure continued until termination of the fire test, which was mainly caused by structural failure in the joints under tension when the beam was clearly in substantial catenary action. In the other two tests (one using fin plates and one using reverse channels), fire exposure stopped and forced cooling started when the beam was near a state of pure bending and just about to enter into catenary action. The results of the experiments indicate that even the relatively simple joints used in this study were able to allow the beams to develop substantial catenary action so that the final failure times and beam temperatures of the assemblies were much higher than those obtained by assuming the beams in pure bending. At termination of the tests, the beams reached very high deflections (about span/5), even then failure of the assemblies always occurred in the joints. Therefore, to enable the beams to reach their full potential in catenary action, the joints should be made to be much stronger. The results also indicate that reverse channel connection has the potential to be developed into a robust connection characterised by high stiffness, strength, rotational capacity and ductility. The beams in the two cooling tests developed high tension forces, however there was no structural failure in the assemblies. The principal aim of this paper is to present experimental results of joint behaviour in fire (which until now is lacking) to enable development of better understanding and rational design methods for robust construction of joints to resist extreme fire attack.     

不锈钢节点板连接件数值分析

尽管不锈钢和碳素钢的力学性能有本质区别,然而,现行规范规定不锈钢连接设计时仍基本遵循碳素钢的设计准则,仅在此基础上稍作修改。对于常见的角钢单肢与加固板连接的情况,EN1993-1-4以及SCI/欧盟不锈钢设计手册对不锈钢的设计规定,直接采用了EN1993-1-8对碳素钢净截面承载力的设计规定,且未作任何修改。对单肢与加固板采用单排螺栓连接的L型不锈钢的净截面承载力进行了研究。建立奥氏体不锈钢的数值模型,并利用现有的试验结果对其进行了验证。这些模型随后用于进行参数研究。最后,基于研究结果对L型不锈钢净截面承载力的设计方程进行了修正,并通过统计分析验证了该方程可靠性。     

Fusion welding of refractory metals and ZrB2-SiC-ZrC ceramics

Molybdenum and a molybdenum alloy were fusion welded to ZrB₂-based ceramics to determine if the electrical and thermal properties of the metals and ceramics affected their weldability. Commercial ceramic powders were hot pressed, machined into coupons, and preheated to 1600 °C before joining the ceramics to commercial metals using plasma arc welding. Weldability varied as indicated by the range of porosity observed within the fusion zones. Measured thermal and electrical properties appeared to have little to no effect on the weldability of metal-ceramic welds despite the large range of values measured across each property. Differences in melting temperatures between metal and ceramic coupons did affect weldability by changing the weld penetration depth into ceramic coupons. Future studies on metal-ceramic welds are suggested to investigate the effect that work function, melt viscosity, wetting, or other properties have on weldability.     

Failure analysis of AA8011-pultruded GFRP adhesively bonded similar and dissimilar joints

In this work, a comparative failure analysis of aluminum (AA8011/AA8011) and glass fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP/GFRP) based similar and dissimilar joints is presented. The GFRP is prepared using pultrusion technique. Single lap joints are prepared by using Araldite R2011 epoxy as an adhesive. The lap joints are then tested under tension to estimate the average shear strength of the assembly. It is observed that the average bond strength of AA8011/AA8011 is lesser than that of the GFRP/GFRP joint. The failure of similar joints occurred by fracture within the adhesive. The dissimilar joint is failed predominantly by interface debonding. Further, a detailed three dimensional stress analysis of the joints is carried out using finite element method (FEM). The damage analysis of adhesive layer is carried out by coupling FEM with cohesive zone model (CZM). The stress, damage distributions and failure mechanisms are compared for similar joints in detail. A failure mechanism is proposed for AA8011/AA8011 type joint that favours a rapid crack growth in the adhesive after crack initiation, which is responsible for lesser bond strength. The increase in overlap length has positive effect that the peak load increases proportionally with overlap length.     

Analysis of adhesively bonded CFRE composite scarf joints modified with MWCNTs

The main objective of the present work is to improve the performance of bonded joints in carbon fiber composite structures through introducing Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) into Epocast 50-A1/946 epoxy, which was primarily developed for joining and repairing of composite aircraft structures. Results from tension characterizations of structural adhesive joints (SAJs) with different scarf angles (5–45°) showed improvement up to 40% compared to neat epoxy (NE)–SAJs. Special attention was considered to investigate the performance of SAJs with 5° scarf angle under different environments. The tensile strength and stiffness of both NE-SAJs and MWCNT/E-SAJs were dramatically decreased at elevated temperature. Water absorption showed a marginal drop of about 2.0% in the tensile strength of the moist SAJs compared to the dry one. Cracks initiation and propagation were detected effectively using instrumented-SAJs with eight strain gauges. The experimental results agree well with the predicted using three-dimensional finite element analysis model.