Delamination failure of multilaminated adhesively bonded joints at low temperatures

A series of experimental investigations of multilaminated joints adhesively bonded by epoxy/polyurethane (PU) glue were conducted in order to examine the delamination failure characteristics under in-plane shear loading at low temperatures. In order to observe these phenomena, a series of lap-shear tests were carried out at various low temperatures (20 degrees C, -110 degrees C and -163 degrees C) and various adhesion areas (15 mm x 50 mm, 30 mm x 50 mm, 50 mm x 50 mm, 75 mm x 50 mm and 100 mm x 50 mm). The test results were used to investigate the delamination and material characteristics, as well as the material properties, e.g., ultimate shear stress and shear elongation. Furthermore, the dependencies of the characteristics of multilaminated adhesively bonded joints (MABJs) on temperature and adhesion area was analyzed using the stress-strain relationship, and closed form formulas that are functions of the dependent parameters are proposed. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.