Debonding of CFRP-to-steel joints with CFRP delamination

Abstract Extensive experiments were conducted to investigate the bond characteristics of CFRP-to-steel joints on cohesive failure, which is considered as the ideal failure mode. In this present article, the main aim is to demonstrate the rationality of CFRP delamination and to provide a detailed understanding of bond characteristics on delamination failure using experiments. A series of single slap bond tests were conducted on CFRP–steel joints with three different adhesives, which individually represent the linear and nonlinear adhesive of the CFRP delamination failure and the adhesive of the cohesive failure for comparison. Experimental results presented include failure modes, bond strength, strain distribution, load–displacement and bond–slip relationship. Finally, bond–slip models are proposed for linear and nonlinear adhesive of CFRP delamination failure mode.