Comparison of J-integral methods to experimentally determine cohesive laws in shear for adhesives

High-quality simulation methods demand accurate material models. In simulations an adhesive can be represented by a cohesive layer. A cohesive layer model utilizes a cohesive law to represent the homogenized mechanical behaviour of a layer with a thickness. In the current paper we use three experimental methods to measure the cohesive law in shear using the ENF-specimen; one of the methods is novel and is also useful for evaluation of experiments with the ELS-specimen. Two sets of experiments are performed, one with elastic substrates and one with plastically deforming substrates. Each experiment is evaluated using all three methods. The evaluation shows that all methods provide reasonable data; the results are similar if the substrates are elastic. With smaller specimens, the substrates deform plastically and one of the methods is identified as the most accurate.