Process-induced effects in thin-film bonding of PEKEKK in metal-polymer joints

In this work, poly ether ketone ether ketone ketone (PEKEKK) was used as a thermoplastic adhesive for joining metals. Titanium and cobalt chromium alloys were joined to form tensile butt joints. These tensile specimens were used to evaluate bond performance. A controlled thermal processing cycle was used to modify and enhance the polymer crystallinity during bonding. The resulting effects on bond performance were examined. The process window for a thermal bonding process was identified. Factorial experiments were conducted to determine the effects of modifications to adhesive and adherend material, and bonding pressure on bond performance. A titanium alloy and a cobalt chromium alloy were used as the adherends. Understanding changes in the thermoplastic adhesive joint with the variation of process parameters will allow for proper application and processing of thermoplastic structural adhesives.     

An investigation on the initiation and propagation of damaged zones in adhesively bonded lap joints

In this study, the initiation and propagation of damaged zones in the adhesive layer and adherends of adhesively bonded single and double lap joints were investigated considering the geometrical non-linearity and the non-linear material behaviour of the adhesive and adherends. The modified von Mises criteria for adherends and Raghava and Cadell's failure criteria (J. Mater. Sci. 8, 225 (1973) [1]) including the effects of the hydrostatic stress states for the epoxy adhesive were used to determine the damaged adhesive and adherend zones which exceeded the specified ultimate strains. The stiffness of all finite elements corresponding to these zones was reduced so that they could not contribute to the overall stiffness of the adhesive joint. This approach simplifies to observe the initiation and propagation of the damaged zones in both the adhesive layer and adherends. A tensile load caused first the damaged adhesive zones to appear at the right free end of the adhesive-lower adherend interface and at the left free end of the adhesive-upper adherend interface, and then to propagate through the adhesive regions near the adhesive-adherend interfaces (interfacial failure). In the bending test, the damaged zone initiated at the left free end of the adhesive-upper adherend interface in tension, and similarly propagated through the adhesive regions close to the adhesive-adherend interface (interfacial failure). In the double-lap joint subjected to a tensile load, the damaged adhesive zones initiated first at the right free end of the adhesive-middle adherend interface and then propagated through the adhesive region near the adhesive-adherend interface. After the damaged zone reached a specific length it also grew through the adhesive thickness, and the adhesive joint failed. The SEM micrographs of fracture surfaces around the free edges of the overlap region indicated that the failure was interfacial. An additional damaged zone growth was observed in the side adhesive regions due to lateral straining, called the Poisson effect.     

Study on promotion of interface adhesion by ultrasonic vibration for CFRP/Al alloy joints

Abstract

Adhesively bonded CFRP/Al joints have been widely used in various engineering fields. However, the poor interface adhesion between the adhesive and the Al adherend limits its further use. In this study, ultrasonic vibration was applied to promote the interface adhesion, and the promotion mechanism was studied in detail. The vibration was exerted on the surface close to the bonding area after the adhesive was applied. According to the bonding strength test, this process improved the bonding strength and repeatability by approximately 32% and 48%, respectively. By comparing the failure behavior without and with ultrasound, it can be seen that ultrasound promotes interface adhesion of the adhesive/Al adherend significantly. Under the application of ultrasonic vibration, a tight microscopic bond was formed at the bonding interface, and a chemical reaction occurred to form chemical bonds. The opening of the epoxy group was promoted to allow Al to react with –O–C to form Al–O–C, because attack of electrophilic Al?+?on O– of the epoxy group was strengthened by high-frequency impact between the adhesive and the Al adherend at the interface caused by the ultrasonic vibration. It can be seen that the application of ultrasonic vibration during the adhesive bonding process can promote interface adhesion between Al and the adhesive in terms of physics and chemistry, thus significantly improving the performance of the adhesive bond.     

Effect of adhesive free-end geometry on the initiation and propagation of damaged zones in adhesively bonded lap joints

In this study the effect of adhesive free-end geometry on the initiation and propagation of damaged zones in adhesively bonded single- and double-lap joints was investigated considering the material non-linear behaviour of both adhesive and adherends and the geometrical non-linearity. The damaged adhesive and adherend zones exceeding the specified ultimate strains were determined based on the modified von Mises criterion for adherends and the failure criterion, including the effects of the hydrostatic stress states for the epoxy adhesives proposed by Raghava and Cadell. The stiffness of each finite element in the damaged zones was reduced to a negligible value, thus not contributing to the overall stiffness of the adhesive joint. This simple method provides useful information on the initiation and propagation of damaged zones in both the adhesive layer and adherends. The damaged adhesive zones due to a tensile load were observed to initiate around the rounded adherend corners inside the adhesive fillets and to propagate first towards both the free surface of the adhesive fillet and across the adhesive layer, and later along the adherend–adhesive interface. The damaged adhesive zones initiate at the left free-end of the adhesive-upper adherend interface and at the right free-end of the adhesive-lower adherend interface and propagate along these interfaces in the large adhesive fillets. In the bending test, the damaged adhesive zones appeared only at the left free-end in tension of the adhesive-upper adherend interface for the large adhesive fillets, but around the lower adherend corner for the smaller adhesive fillets. Later, it propagated with a similar mechanism as in the tensile load. In a double-lap joint subjected to a tensile load, the damaged zone appeared around the upper adherend corner inside the right adhesive fillet in tension, and propagated first towards the free surface of the adhesive fillet and through the adhesive layer towards the adhesive-middle adherend interface, and later along this interface. For all loading conditions, increasing the adhesive fillet size caused the damaged zone initiation to occur at a larger load level. The SEM micrographs of fracture surfaces around the adhesive fillets showed that the damaged zones initiated around the adherend corner inside the adhesive fillet and propagated through the adhesive fillets.     

Effect of MWCNT filled epoxy adhesives on the quality of adhesively bonded joints

Most adhesively bonded joints exhibit adhesive or cohesive failure, i.e. failure at the adhesive/adherend interface or within the adhesive, respectively. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of surface modification of the metal substrate accompanied by modification of the adhesive properties on the strength and failure mechanism of bonded joints. A 5061 aluminium alloy has been used as the metal substrate onto which two types of surface treatments were applied; chemical surface modification and gritblasting. A standard epoxy resin was used as the adhesive medium, in which multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were dispersed, with a range of weight fraction content (from 0.03% to 0.5%). The resin was fully characterised by mechanical testing in order to determine the optimum weight fraction to enhance its properties. Aluminium to aluminium and glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite to aluminium single lap joints bonded with either pure epoxy resin or MWCNT reinforced epoxy resin were subsequently manufactured and tested. The tests show a moderate increase of the joint strength when MWCNTs are added into the adhesive with the failure mechanism changing from cohesive to adhesive. In addition, the comparison between different surface preparation methods shows that gritblasting results in considerably improved adhesive strength over chemical treatment.     

Determination of the impact tensile strength of structural adhesive butt joints with a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar

The impact tensile strength of structural adhesive butt joints was determined with a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar using hat-shaped specimens. A typical two-part structural epoxy adhesive (Scotch weld^® DP-460) and two different adherend materials (Al alloy 7075-T6 and commercially pure titanium) were used in the adhesion tests. The impact tensile strength of adhesive butt joints with similar adherends was evaluated from the peak value of the applied tensile stress history. The corresponding static tensile strengths were measured on an Instron testing machine using joint specimens of the same geometry as those used in the impact tests. An axisymmetric finite element analysis was performed to investigate the static elastic stress distributions in the adhesive layer of the joint specimens. The effects of loading rate, adherend material and adhesive thickness on the joint tensile strength were examined. The joint tensile strength was clearly observed to increase with the loading rate up to an order of 10⁶ MPa/s, and decrease gradually with the adhesive thickness up to nearly 180 μm, depending on the adherend materials used. The loading rate dependence of the tensile strength was herein discussed in terms of the dominant failure modes in the joint specimens after static and impact testing.     

Experimental and Numerical Study of Adhesively Bonded CFRP Scarf-Lap Joints Subjected to Tensile Loads

The tensile performance of adhesively bonded CFRP scarf-lap joints was investigated experimentally and numerically. In this study, scarf angle and adherend thickness were chosen as design parameters. The lap shear strength is not directly proportional to scarf angle and adherend thickness for the brittle adhesive studied in the paper. The major failure mode includes cohesive shear failure and adherend delamination failure. The results present a stepped failure morphology along the bondline in the adhesive layer. A finite element model based on cohesive zone model was established to further investigate the stress distribution of scarf-lap joints with different lap parameters. The numerical results were compared with the experiment results, showing a good agreement, thus verifying the validity of the established numerical model.     

Experimental study of adhesively bonded CFRP joints subjected to tensile loads

The tensile performance of adhesively bonded CFRP joints has been investigated experimentally. In this study, overlap length, adherend thickness, adherend width and scarf angle were chosen as design parameters. All load–displacement curves are linear, except that the thicker single-lap joints behave slightly nonlinearity due to the bending effect caused by eccentric loading. The lap shear strength is not directly proportional to overlap length, adherend thickness, adherend width and scarf angle for the brittle adhesive studied in the paper. The major failure mode includes adhesive shear failure and adherend delamination failure, sometimes accompanying with some fiber pull-out. Finally, the lap shear strength of three different lap types with similar bonding area (W=25 mm, L=10 mm, θ=5.71°) and adherend thickness (0.96 mm) was analyzed. It is found that the double-lap joint has the highest ultimate failure load. However, when considering the lap region weight, the scarf-lap joint is the most efficient.     

Improving the strength of adhesively bonded joints through the introduction of various surface treatments

The aim of this paper is to model an interface adhesion and failure mechanism of single lap joints, subjected to tensile loading, focusing on the effects of various surface treatments, including surface characterization parameters, such as surface roughness and contact angle of adherend surfaces. The applied surface treatments are sandblasting, etching, anodic oxidation and hybrid processes. The influence of surface treatment techniques and conditions on single lap joint strength and interfacial properties is investigated by performing a static tensile test. A numerical approach, which is a cohesive zone model, is implemented using ABAQUS? and introduced to create a correlation between maximum interface traction and surface processing parameters, such as surface roughness and work of adhesion. As a result of experiments, an etching plus sanding process was found to provide the best single lap joint performance (8726 N), having surface roughness of Ra = 2.93 μm and work of adhesion, W_a = 119.4 mJ/m². Based on numerical solutions, a correlation between maximum interface traction and type of surface treatment process has been established, taking certain assumptions into consideration.     

Effect of hygrothermal conditioning on the energy release rate and failure mechanism of metal only adherend-glass fibre prepreg co-cured single lap joints

Abstract

Fibre-reinforced composite materials are extensively used in repair and rehabilitation of oil and gas metal infrastructures which are largely exposed to water and hydrocarbon. An important aspect to this is applying adequate surface preparation to the metal to ensure a durable bond between the composite and metal substrate. In this paper, mild steel surface was prepared using grit blasting and single lap joint (SLJ) test specimens were manufactured and tested to investigate the adhesion in terms of total energy release rate (G_T) of the interface between mild steel adherend and glass fibre prepreg. An out-of-water usable epoxy resin primer was incorporated to join mild steel adherend with glass fibre prepreg by curing at a temperature of 55 °C for 48 h. Upon durability testing of the SLJ specimens using hygrothermal conditioning at a temperature of 55 °C for 1000 h, the experimental G_T values were seen to reduce significantly. Comparatively lower amount of cohesive failure and increased amount of swelling or delamination of the adhesive was observed for conditioned SLJ specimens when compared to controlled SLJ specimens. Furthermore, the experimental G_T values were found to correlate well with an analytical adhesive interface model.     

材料线膨胀系数对拉伸剪切性能的影响

为了研究被粘接材料的线膨胀系数对胶接件拉伸剪切性能的影响,用改性环氧树脂(EP)胶粘剂粘接不同材料,并对该胶接件进行拉伸剪切强度试验和温度影响试验。研究结果表明,被粘接材料的线膨胀系数不同会导致胶层在热冷变化过程中受到内应力作用而破坏,同时热空气进入胶层会导致胶层氧化变色,致使胶粘剂界面结合强度和胶粘剂自身强度降低;两种被粘接材料的线膨胀系数差异越大,经热冷变化后胶接件的拉伸剪切性能越低;在相同条件下,热冷变化温差越大,胶接件的拉伸剪切性能越低。     

Three-dimensional finite element stress analysis of single-lap adhesive joints of dissimilar adherends subjected to impact tensile loads

The stress-wave propagations and stress distributions in single-lap joints of dissimilar adherends were analyzed using an elastic three-dimensional finite-element method (DYNA3D). An impact tensile load was applied to the single-lap adhesive joint by dropping a weight. One end of the upper adherend in the single-lap adhesive joint was fixed and the other adherend (lower adherend) which was connected to a bar was impacted by the weight. The effects of Young's modulus and the thickness of each adherend on the stress wave propagations and stress distributions at the interfaces were examined. It was found that the maximum value of the maximum principal stress occurred near the edge of the interface of the fixed adherend. The maximum principal stress increased as Young's modulus of the fixed adherend increased. It was also observed that the maximum principal stress increased as the fixed adherend thickness decreased. In addition, strain responses in the single-lap adhesive joints of dissimilar adherends subjected to impact tensile loads were measured using strain gauges. Fairly good agreements were found between the FEM calculations and the experimental measurements.     

Peel Analysis Using the Finite Element Method

Large displacement finite element analysis and subsequent experimental work has been used to investigate the adhesive peel test; at this stage, only elastic behaviour has been considered.

Both non-cracked and cracked configurations have been analysed, representing initial and continuous failure of the peel test. Analysis of the former indicated that initial failure was caused by the adhesive principal stresses driving a crack towards the interface with the flexible adherend. Investigation of the cracked configuration has shown that the amount of mode II loading at the crack tip is significant and is essentially independent of peel angle, load and adhesive or adherend modulus, only decreasing as the adhesive becomes incompressible. Failure (propagation) has been shown to occur at a critical applied bending moment for a particular adherend and adhesive, independent of peel angle. Further, the strength (load)'measured by the peel test is not proportional to the actual strength of the adhesive, a small increase in the adhesive strength causing a much larger increase in the applied peel load.     

Effect of Flaws in the Adhering Interface on the Strength of Adhesive-bonded Butt Joints

This paper presents the strength of metal-to-metal bonded joints with a flaw in the interface between the adhesive layer and the adhering surface of adherend. The test specimens of butt joints are prepared by bonding two thin-wall metal tubes. The materials are carbon steel, aluminum alloy, brass and copper. The adhesive is epoxy resin. The tensile and shear strength of the joints are experimentally determined by subjecting the specimens to axial load and torsion for various flaw sizes and thickness of adhesive layers. Linear elastic fracture mechanics is applied to the experimental results. The stress intensity factors for a layered composite with a flaw in the interface are numerically calculated in terms of flaw size and loading by using Erdogan's formulas. The fracture stresses of joints with a flaw are predicted at the critical values of the stress intensity factors. The strength of joints without a flaw is also correlated with the stress intensity factors by use of a concept of “effective flaw size”.     

Peel Analysis Using the Finite Element Method

Large displacement finite element analysis and subsequent experimental work has been used to investigate the adhesive peel test; at this stage, only elastic behaviour has been considered.

Both non-cracked and cracked configurations have been analysed, representing initial and continuous failure of the peel test. Analysis of the former indicated that initial failure was caused by the adhesive principal stresses driving a crack towards the interface with the flexible adherend. Investigation of the cracked configuration has shown that the amount of mode II loading at the crack tip is significant and is essentially independent of peel angle, load and adhesive or adherend modulus, only decreasing as the adhesive becomes incompressible. Failure (propagation) has been shown to occur at a critical applied bending moment for a particular adherend and adhesive, independent of peel angle. Further, the strength (load)'measured by the peel test is not proportional to the actual strength of the adhesive, a small increase in the adhesive strength causing a much larger increase in the applied peel load.     

Thermal residual stresses in an adhesively-bonded functionally graded single-lap joint

This study investigates three-dimensional thermal residual stresses occurring in an adhesively-bonded functionally graded single-lap joint subjected to a uniform cooling. The adherends are composed of a through-the-thickness functionally graded region between Al₂O₃ ceramic and Ni metal layers. Their mechanical properties were calculated using a power law for the volume fraction of the metal phase and a 3D layered finite element was implemented. In a free single-lap joint the normal stress σ_xx was dominant through the overlap region of the upper and lower adherends and along the adhesive free edges, whereas the transverse shear stress σ_xy concentrations appeared only along the free edges. The peel stress σ_yy and the transverse shear stress σ_xy became dominant along the free edges of the adhesive layer. In addition, the von Mises stress decreased uniformly through the adherend thickness from compressive in the top ceramic-rich layer to tensile in the bottom metal-rich layer. In addition, the layer number had only a minor effect on the through-the-thickness stress profiles after a layer number of 50, except for the peak stress values in the ceramic layer. In a single-lap joint fixed at two edges both adherends underwent considerable normal stress σ_xx concentrations varying from compressive in the top ceramic-rich layer to tensile in the bottom metal-rich layer along the free edges of both adherend–adhesive interfaces, whereas the peel stress σ_yy and transverse shear stress σ_xy reached peak levels along the left and right free edges of the adhesive layer. The layer number and the compositional gradient exponent had only minor effects on the through-the-thickness von Mises stress profiles but considerably affected the peak stress levels. The free edges of adhesive–adherend interfaces and the corresponding adherend regions are the most critical regions, and the adherend edge conditions play more important role in the critical adherend and adhesive stresses. Therefore, the first initiation of the joint failure can be expected along the left and right free edges of the upper and lower adherend–adhesive interfaces.     

Effects of adhesive fillers on the strength of tubular single lap adhesive joints

When an adhesively bonded joint is exposed to a high environmental temperature, the tensile load capability of the adhesively bonded joint decreases because the elastic modulus and failure strength of the adhesive decrease. In this paper, the elastic modulus and failure strength of the adhesive as well as the tensile load capability of the tubular single lap adhesively bonded joint were experimentally and theoretically investigated with respect to the volume fraction of filler and the environmental temperature. Two types of fillers - Al₂O₃ (alumina) and chopped fiber E glass - were used. From the experiment, it was found that the elastic modulus and failure strength of the adhesive increased in accordance with the increase of volume fraction of the filler and decreased with the environmental temperature rise. It was also found that the tensile load capability of the tubular single lap adhesively bonded joint decreased as the environmental temperature increased; however, it had no correlation with the volume fraction of filler because of the effect of the fabrication thermal residual stresses generated by the CTE difference between the adherend and adhesive.     

The influence of hydroxyl group concentration on epoxy–aluminium bond durability

The influence of hydroxyl group (OH) concentration on the durability of adhesive bonds formed between an epoxy resin and aluminium adherend has been examined. Initially, surface analysis in combination with chemical derivatisation was employed to characterise the OH and epoxy functional groups present in FM-73, a structural epoxy adhesive. Bulk FM-73 indicated a higher degree of cure than the surface of FM-73 present at the interface of an epoxy–aluminium adhesive joint. Plasma and water treatment of the aluminium adherend was employed to alter the metal oxide's surface OH concentration. Despite a several-fold difference of aluminium surface OH concentrations for the different metal pre-treatments, there was no significant variation in the adhesive joint fracture toughness in a humid environment, G _Iscc. In contrast, grit-blasting the aluminium prior to bonding increased G _Iscc almost 15-fold. Simple calculations indicate that the aluminium surfaces used in the bonding experiments would have a large excess of OH groups available to react with a standard epoxy resin and that the influence of surface roughness on adhesion durability is not insignificant.     

Use of Ion Scattering and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry to Characterize Apparent “Adhesive” Failure in an Adhesive Bond

Frequently it is not easy using visual or even microscopic examination of an adhesive joint to determine after physical testing whether an apparent adhesive failure occurred at the original interface due to improper wetting or at some new interface leaving behind a thin layer of adhesive. Elemental analysis techniques such as ion scattering spectrometry (ISS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) are easily capable of determining the locus of failure in an adhesive joint. The use of these two techniques in combination is shown for investigating adhesive bonding phenomena. The operating parameters as well as advantages and disadvantages of each are summarized. ISS-SIMS data are shown for two adherend surfaces which broke in a lap shear test by apparent cohesive failure in both the adhesive and adherend.     

Use of Ion Scattering and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry to Characterize Apparent “Adhesive” Failure in an Adhesive Bond

Frequently it is not easy using visual or even microscopic examination of an adhesive joint to determine after physical testing whether an apparent adhesive failure occurred at the original interface due to improper wetting or at some new interface leaving behind a thin layer of adhesive. Elemental analysis techniques such as ion scattering spectrometry (ISS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) are easily capable of determining the locus of failure in an adhesive joint. The use of these two techniques in combination is shown for investigating adhesive bonding phenomena. The operating parameters as well as advantages and disadvantages of each are summarized. ISS-SIMS data are shown for two adherend surfaces which broke in a lap shear test by apparent cohesive failure in both the adhesive and adherend.