Characterization of adhesively bonded aluminum plates subjected to shock-wave loading

Adhesive joint technology is gaining acceptance since it leads to weight reduction, provides uniform stress distribution across the joints, allows the bonding of similar and dissimilar materials, and contributes to shock and vibration damping. The literature on adhesive joints subjected to static loads is extensive. However, the response of adhesive joints to high loading rates such as blast or ballistic loading has not been studied extensively. In this study, fully bonded plates composed of aluminum plates (381 mm in diameter and 1.59 mm thick) and commercial epoxy adhesive were tested under shock wave loading. Full displacement field over the test plates was obtained by digital image correlation techniques, and full-field strains of the plates were computed by classical plate theory for large deflections. An axisymmetric Finite Element Method model was used to gain more insight on the response of fully bonded plates to shock-wave loading. The material properties of the epoxy film subjected to high loading rates were estimated through an algorithm developed for an FEM-based parametric study. Finally, the influence of the adhesive thickness and Young's modulus on the behavior of the bonded adhesive under shock-wave loading were investigated using an FEM model.