GFRP-to-timber bonded joints: Adhesive selection

Recent research at the University of Queensland (UQ) has led to the development of a new type of structures called “Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)-Timber structures” (“HFT”). In HFT structures, FRP is combined with timber veneers to create high-performance, lightweight, easy-to-construct structural members. These HFT members take advantage (i) of the orthotropic properties of both, timber and FRP to orientate the fiber direction to produce optimal composite properties, and (ii) of the geometry of the cross sections to maximize the load bearing capacity for a given amount of material. While preliminary experimental work has revealed as such the effectiveness of HFT structural members, no work has been carried out so far to investigate the behavior of these HFT structures. Performance of these new HFT members relies significantly on the bond between FRP and timber. This paper presents the results of an experimental study aimed at selecting a suitable commercially available adhesive for glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP)-to-timber bonded joints. The experimental program included 393 single lap joint tests covering four different commercially available adhesives, two different curing temperatures, and two test methods (dry and moisture cycle tests). The test results revealed that both, polyurethane (PUR) and cross-linking polyvinyl acetate emulsion (PVAx) performed as the best under dry conditions, while PUR was shown to be superior to all other adhesives when subjected to moisture cycles. Epoxy and phenol resorcinol formaldehyde adhesive (PRF) commonly used in FRP structures and laminated timber structures, resp., were found to be less performing structural adhesives for HFT structures.     

不同种类拉挤FRP筋材压缩强度研究

针对拉挤纤维增强树脂基复合材料(FRP)筋材的压缩强度远低于其拉伸强度的问题,分别对玻璃纤维增强复合材料(GFRP)筋材、碳纤维增强复合材料(CFRP)筋材和混杂纤维增强复合材料(HFRP)筋材进行了端部有约束和无约束压缩实验,研究纤维类型、端部约束条件对FRP筋材在轴压状态下的破坏形式与压缩强度的影响规律。结果表明,无端部约束时不同纤维类型的FRP筋材的破坏现象与压缩强度差别较大;端部约束可以改变筋材的破坏方式,提高筋材的压缩强度;不同端部约束形式对不同FRP筋材压缩强度的提高作用不同。     

Effect of autoclave cure time and bonded surface roughness on the static and fatigue performance of polyurethane film Adhesive Single lap joints

This study investigates the effect of autoclave cure time and bonded surface roughness on the static and fatigue performance of film-adhesive single lap joints. Joint static performance is assessed in terms of its load transfer capacity in a quasi-static tensile-shear test to failure. Effect on fatigue life under a mean and cyclic tensile-shear amplitude is also investigated. Two levels autoclave cure (soak) time and two levels of bond surface roughness are investigated. All other autoclaving process variables are kept constant; namely, the ramp rate of temperature rise/cooling, pressurization/depressurization, as well as the cure temperature and cure pressure levels. Test joints are made of aluminium-aluminium or aluminium-magnesium adherends, joined with a polyurethane film adhesive. The results suggest that: an increase of the surface roughness is beneficial to static strength and detrimental to fatigue strength; an increase of the autoclave soak (cure) time is beneficial both to static and fatigue strength. Test data, failure mode analysis, discussion, observations and conclusions are provided.     

The hygrothermal effect on the fatigue behavior of carbon fiber/ peek laminate composites (I)

The hygrothermal effects on the fatigue behavior of the Carbon/PEEK laminated composites before and after impact damage were examined in this study. The [0/45/90/-45]_2s AS-4/PEEK laminated composites were immersed in 80°C hot water for 45, 90 and 200 days,and subjected to falling weight impact with an energy of 8.58 J and then immersed in 80°C hot water for 45 days. It was found that the tensile strength of AS-4/PEEK laminated composites decreased with the increase of exposure period. The injured AS-4/PEEK composites were subjected to a static load and a tensiontension fatigue load at various levels of stress amplitudes. The effect of stress amplitude on the fatigue life was studied. The experimental fatigue life under different stress amplitude tests were estimated by the median rank order statistic cumulative distribution function. Then,the fitting curves for estimated data were analyzed by the Weibull distribution function. The S-N curves for a series of cyclic loads at various survival probabilities were presented. The damage behaviors of composites after fatigue load test were also investigated by scanning electron microscope(SEM). Results indicated the fatigue lives of immersed specimens were shorter than those without hygrothermal effect, the impact damage affects the fatigue life of composite significantly.     

混凝土梁嵌粘混合FRP筋弯曲性能试验研究

分别在钢筋混凝土简支梁和连续梁的受弯区、负弯矩区表层嵌粘不同FRP筋材进行加固,进行单调加载弯曲试验,研究不同初始荷载、FRP筋种类对简支梁、连续梁嵌粘FRP筋后的特征荷载、应变、变形等的影响程度,记录加载过程中梁体裂缝扩展情况。结果表明:不同FRP筋混合嵌入加固混凝土梁,可显著提高简支梁、连续梁的抗弯承载力,改善使用阶段性能,与单一FRP筋材嵌粘加固相比,裂缝分布特征相似,延性更佳;在初始荷载未完全卸除时,混凝土梁表层嵌粘不同FRP筋的加固效果略逊于无初始荷载作用下的加固梁,不过效果仍比较理想,建议实际工程中尽可能卸除外部荷载后再进行嵌粘混合FRP筋加固。     

纤维增强复合材料疲劳性能的温度效应

纤维增强复合材料(FRP)因其轻质高强、耐腐蚀等突出优势受到广泛的关注,但其疲劳性能受材料特性、环境条件和载荷条件影响较大。基于唯象学刚度退化理论,研究了FRP材料的疲劳性能在不同温度和应力水平下的变化规律,推导了FRP材料基于温度变化的刚度退化和疲劳寿命预测等效模型,并在已有试验数据基础上对该模型进行了验证,并将之应用于E型玻璃纤维平纹编织层状材料的疲劳性能预测。结果表明:该模型能有效预测FRP材料的刚度退化规律和等效剩余疲劳寿命;FRP材料疲劳性能的温度效应明显,其影响程度甚至可能超过应力幅的影响。     

The impact endurance of polycrystalline graphite

Repeated impact tests have been carried out on a wide range of polycrystalline graphites. Two modes of test were employed using centrally impacted rods and discs with the rods supported horizontally at their ends and the discs supported around the circumference. The resulting impact endurance curves for all the different graphites under repeated impacts of constant energy were found to have a substantially common shape in both the disc and the rod tests. The absolute levels of the endurance curves differ considerably and correlate well with other mechanical properties of graphites, in particular the strain energy density at failure in bend. Measurement of impact forces on the single impact failure of graphite rods supports this correlation by showing that the dynamic stresses generated at failure in a single impact are the same as the corresponding static 3-point bend strengths in the same test mode. Measurement of impact forces at energies less than those required to cause failure in a single impact show that the fraction of energy absorbed as specimen strain energy is dependent on specimen size and shape but is not very sensitive to impact energy. A fracture mechanics model based on incremental crack growth and previously used to interpret stress-cycling fatigue data for graphite is proposed to describe also the endurance of polycrystalline graphite under repeated impacts. The model describes available experimental data obtained under both impact and fatigue conditions. On this model, the difference between the two cyclic stressing modes is the rate of crack growth per stress cycle, this being greater under repeated impacts than under fatigue cycles of the same stress amplitude.     

FRP环向加固木柱轴心受压性能试验研究

提供了15根FRP环向加固木柱的轴心抗压性能试验数据,详细探讨了受载后试件的工作机理和破坏模式,试件的设计参数为FRP的层数和FRP的类型,分析了各设计参数对加固木柱承载力和峰值应变的影响。试验结果表明,FRP环向加固木柱可提高木柱的抗压承载力,改善木柱的延性。在极限荷载以前,加固木柱的荷载-应变关系曲线基本保持线性变化,在极限荷载以后曲线为近似理想塑性。加固木柱的承载力和峰值应变随加固层数的增加而增加。3层GFRP可提高木柱承载力和峰值应变分别达21.82%和94.95%。试件的极限荷载和轴向应变随环向FRP的弹性模量的增加而增加,但增幅逐渐变缓。加固木柱达到极限荷载时,环向加固层没有出现拉断现象,其环向应变并未达到环向加固层的极限应变,仅为FRP极限拉应变的10%左右。木柱的破坏始于木纤维的弯曲变形,环向FRP可有效约束这种变形的发展,这是改善木柱轴心受压性能的主要原因。所有试件的破坏模式都表现为木柱产生错动变形,被完全压皱破坏。     

Mechanical Properties of Weldbonded Joints of Advanced High Strength Steels

In lightweight car body shell mass production, due to requirements on vehicle weight reduction and carbon dioxide emissions, joining of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) with different joining procedures and especially hybrid bonding techniques is becoming more and more important. One of these hybrid bonding techniques is the combination of resistance spot welding and adhesive bonding called weldbonding. One of the important advantages of weldbonded joints in comparison to resistance spot welded joints are the enhanced mechanical properties. To guarantee sufficiently high quality conditions regarding the strength of the weldbonded joints, the influences of the applied adhesive systems and of different base metal combinations are studied. This is carried out for both non-corrosive and corrosive environments and for the choice of different joining parameters settings. In particular, the mechanical behaviour of the weldbonded joints is investigated under quasi-static, impact and fatigue loads. Furthermore, the energy absorption of the weldbonded joints for both non-corrosive and corrosive environments is studied. It is shown that the weldbonded joints possess higher mechanical strengths in all load cases (quasi-static, impact and fatigue). Corrosive attack affects weldbonded joints, and the quasi-static strength is reduced. Resistance spot welded joints are not affected by the corrosive attack, but even after several weeks of corrosive attack, the quasi-static strength of weldbonded joints remains higher than that of resistance spot welded joints.     

FRP片材加固混凝土构件疲劳性能的研究进展

由单向纤维组成的FRP片材具有缺陷少、不易形成疲劳裂缝以及疲劳强度高等特点。上世纪80年代末,国外开展了FRP片材加固混凝土构件的疲劳性能研究,而国内的有关研究工作则始于上世纪90年代末。本文主要介绍国内外关于FRP片材加固混凝土构件疲劳性能的试验研究、仿真分析与设计建议等方面的最新研究进展。     

Withdrawal strength of threaded steel rods glued with epoxy in wood

In this study, the axial strength of joints made with threaded steel rods glued in timber with epoxy is investigated. Although numerous experimental studies have investigated these joints made in glued laminated timber (glulam) from softwood, experimental data concerning tests on a whole range of hardwood species are still lacking. Thus, to evaluate the influence of timber characteristics on the behaviour of the joint, test results from different species are presented and discussed in this paper. The experimental results from samples using softwood as well as high-density hardwood glued laminated timber are compared. Diverse geometries of the joint are studied in both cases. From this experimental analysis, a formula to predict the strength of the glued-in bars is proposed. The prediction of the strength is made from two parameters that are easily quantifiable the density of the timber and the slenderness of the glued joint. This model shows a good accuracy with the test results of joints made on different species both from softwood and hardwood.     

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.     

混杂FRP管约束混凝土组合梁的研究-Ⅰ:抗弯性能研究

本文通过对5种不同铺层矩形混杂FRP管约束混凝土组合梁进行抗弯试验,研究了不同铺层方式对构件抗弯性能的影响.从试验结果分析可得到如下结论:随着GFRP、受拉边CFRP层数的增加,极限载荷增加;受拉边CFRP层数的增加,构件的刚度增加,从而挠度减小,曲率减小,中性轴向受拉边偏移.     

Influence of e-beam irradiation on the dynamic creep and fatigue properties of poly(aliphatic/aromatic-ester) copolymers for biomedical applications

Biomaterials must meet special medical prerequisites like biocompatibility and resistance to degradation and fracture, especially under cyclic loading. Promising candidates are poly(aliphatic/aromatic-ester) (PED) multiblock copolymers, which belong to the class of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), characterized by a physical network of semi-crystalline hard segments. Here we focus on the dynamic creep and fatigue performance of these TPEs and compare their behaviour with commercial benchmark materials. The PEDs were e-beam cured, to enhance their fatigue behaviour by the formation of an additional network structure. All materials were evaluated using quasi-static tensile tests and dynamic hysteresis measurements. Their mechanical properties were related to the network structure. E-beam irradiation increased the tensile strength and decreased the dynamic creep rate of PEDs. This effect can be explained by the formation of chemical cross-links, which are located in the hard phase segments. In conclusion, these novel biomaterials are a comparable alternative to their commercial counterparts like silicones and thermoplastic polyurethanes.     

Predicting the fire resistance of timber members loaded in tension

The paper presents a numerical model for predicting the fire resistance of timber members. Fire resistance is evaluated in a two‐step process implemented in the Abaqus finite element code: first, a time‐dependent thermal analysis of the member exposed to fire and then a structural analysis under a constant load are performed. The structural analysis considers the reduction in mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity and strength) of timber with temperature. The analysis terminates when the member can no longer redistribute stresses from the hottest to the coldest parts, leading to structural failure. The model was used to simulate fire tests carried out on specimens made from laminated veneer lumber loaded in tension. Experimental data in terms of temperature, charring depth, displacement and failure time were compared with the numerical results obtained by assuming the thermal properties and degradation of mechanical properties with temperature as suggested by Eurocode 5, showing an overall acceptable approximation. The fire resistance of the timber member was then predicted depending upon the applied tensile loads using the numerical model and analytical formulas. The proposed finite element model can be used to predict the fire resistance of timber structures as an alternative to expensive and complicated experimental tests. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model for Cyclic Fatigue of Quasi-Plastic Ceramics in Contact with Spheres

A model of contact damage accumulation from cyclic loading with spheres and ensuing strength degradation in relatively tough, heterogeneous ceramics is developed. The damage takes the form of a quasi-plastic zone beneath the contact, consisting of an array of closed frictional shear faults with attendant "wing" microcracks at their ends. Contact fatigue takes place by attrition of the frictional resistance at the sliding fault interfaces, in accordance with an empirical degradation law, allowing the microcracks to extend. At large numbers of cycles or loads the microcracks coalesce, ultimately into radial cracks. Fracture mechanics relations for the strength degradation as a function of number of cycles and contact load are derived. Indentation–strength data from two well-studied coarse-grain quasi-plastic ceramics, a micaceous glass-ceramic and a silicon nitride, are used to evaluate the model. Comparative tests in static and cyclic contact loading confirm a dominant mechanical component in the fatigue. At the same time, the presence of water is shown to enhance the fatigue. The model accounts for the broader trends in the strength degradation data, and paves the way for consideration of key variables in microstructural design for optimum fatigue resistance.     

Fatigue behavior of glass-fiber fortified thermoplastics

This investigation deals with the fatigue behavior of a group of thermoplastics fortified with discontinuous glass fibers dispersed by an injection molding process. The thermoplastics included nylon, polystyrene and polyethylene reinforced with short (1/8 in.) and long (1/2 in.) glass fibers. Several aspects of the fatigue behavior are included in the study. First, classical S–N curves were generated under fluctuating tension with R = 0.05 to show the loss of strength due to cyclic load application. Next, the extent of progressive fatigue damage was established by measuring the residual strength after cyclic loading. Finally, hypotheses pertaining to the fatigue mechanisms operative in all four materials were made based on microscopic examinations of sections removed from fatiguedamaged specimens.     

Fatigue behavior and modeling of thermoplastics including temperature and mean stress effects

An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate fatigue behaviors of two thermoplastics. The effects considered include mold flow direction, thickness, mean stress, temperature, and frequency. Tension‐compression as well as tension?tension load‐controlled fatigue tests were performed at room temperature, ?40°C and 85°C. Incremental step cyclic deformation tests were also performed to generate cyclic stress?strain curves to determine strain‐life fatigue properties. The effect of mean stress was modeled using various parameters. The Walker mean stress model and a simple model with a mean stress sensitivity factor proved to be the most effective models to correlate the wide range of experimental data generated. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:725–738, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Crystalline phase transformation of polytetrafluoroethylene in a fatigue test

In this study, we aimed to characterize the mechanical response of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) laminates under a tension–tension load‐control fatigue test (frequency = 5 Hz, load ratio = 0) and provided an analysis of the failure patterns of the PTFE material with consideration of crystalline phase transformation. In the final results, the evolution of the cyclic creep strain and stress–number of cycles to failure (S–N) curves presented duplex properties accompanying the fatigue life increasing to high cycles (cycle fatigue > 10⁵). A simple phenomenological damage index was defined in this study to describe the cyclic creep process. Additionally, the scanning electronic machine investigation suggested that local fibrosis caused by crystalline phase transformation to phase I led to the initiation of fatigue crack, and the fiber formation and orientation was found to be beneficial to a higher tensile strength and better resistance to crack propagation. The aspect of cyclic‐load‐induced crystallization was observed by the microfocus hard X‐ray diffraction beamline from a new insight. The crystalline phase transformation led to a gradient distribution of crystallinity and lateral crystallite size along the crack propagation direction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 41113.     

Experimental fire analysis of steel‐to‐timber connections using dowels and nails

The paper describes and discusses the results of an extensive testing programme on the structural behaviour of timber connections under ISO‐fire. The results of reference tests performed at normal temperature are also presented. From the variety of timber connections multiple shear steel‐to‐timber connections with dowels and slotted‐in steel plates and connections with steel side plates and annular ringed shank nails were experimentally studied. Particular attention was given to the analysis of the efficiency of different strategies in order to increase the fire resistance of the timber connections. The test results showed that unprotected multiple shear steel‐to‐timber connections with dowels designed for normal temperature reached a fire resistance of about 30 min. A reduction of the load level applied during the fire did not lead to a significant increase of the fire resistance. By increasing the side timber members as well as the end distance of the dowels by 40 mm the connections reached a fire resistance of more than 70 min. Connections protected by timber boards or gypsum plasterboards showed a fire resistance of around 60 min. Thus, from a fire design point of view these strategies were favourable in order to increase the fire resistance of the connections significantly. Unprotected connections with steel side plates and annular ringed shank nails failed already after about 12 min due to large deformations of the nails and the steel side plates directly exposed to fire. By protecting the steel side plates using an intumescent paint the fire resistance of the connections was increased to around 30 min. The test results enlarged the experimental background of timber connections in fire significantly. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.