Effects of Different Curvature Patches on the Strength of Double-Strap Adhesive Joints

In general, the damage in adhesively bonded joints initiates from and propagates through the ends of the overlap area due to high stress concentration in that area. The reduction of these stress concentrations results in an increase in the strength of the joints. For this reason, the rounding of the overlap region before bonding and then applying compression during the bonding process will exert compressive residual stresses on the adhesive layer in the overlap end regions. It is known that the residual stresses formed in this process increase the failure strength of the joint and hence delay the initiation of the damage.

In this study, the effects of overlap length (L = 50,75, and 100 mm), patch thickness (h = 1.6, 3.2, and 5 mm) and patch materials (AA2024 aluminum alloy, AISI 304 steel, AISI 1040 steel) on bond strength were experimentally investigated for adhesively bonded double-strap joint (DSJ) and curvature double-strap joint (CDSJ) subjected totensile loading. The experimental study showed that the overlap length, patch thickness and patch materials have considerable influence on the failure strength and displacement capacity of the joints.