Experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of key joint variables on the static and fatigue performance of bonded metallic single-lap joints

AbstractIn this paper, numerical and experimental methods are employed to investigate the effect of surface preparation, adhesive type and thickness, and nanoparticle enrichment on the mechanical performance of bonded metallic single-lap joints. Adherents are made of similar materials; namely, steel-on-steel or aluminum-on-aluminum. Investigated surface preparation variables include roughness and scratch orientation. Adhesive-related variables include thickness, type, and nanoparticle enrichment. Four different commercially available adhesives are investigated, some of which are nanoparticle enriched for the purpose of this study. Static and/or fatigue testing as well as damage analysis-based numerical prediction of joint performance, are provided. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is used for macro joint characterization through the micro observation of joint fracture surfaces. Experimental fatigue data correlates reasonably well with the numerical results obtained from damage-coupled cohesive model of the adhesive layer.Keywords: adhesive-bonded jointnanoparticle enrichmentdamage-coupled cohesive modelUSDFLD AcknowledgmentOakland University would like to acknowledge the US Army TARDEC for supporting this work as part of a cooperative contract DAAE-03-C-L110 under the supervision of Sayed Nassar (PI). A significant part of this work was a collaborative sub-contract from Oakland University to Wayne State University, Xin Wu (PI). The authors gratefully acknowledge all the help provided by Moustapha Diab and Kassem Moustafa (of FAJRI-OU) during this manuscript preparation.