Study on adhesively-bonded surface of tapered double cantilever specimen made of aluminum foam affected with shear force

Aluminum foam is widely used in diverse areas to minimize the weight and maximize the absorption of shock energy in lightweight structures and various bio-materials. It presents a number of advantages, such as low density, incombustibility, non-rigidity, excellent energy absorptivity, sound absorptivity and low heat conductivity. The aluminum foam with an air cell structure was placed under the TDCB Mode II tensile load by using Landmark equipment manufactured by MTS to examine the shear failure behavior. The angle of the tapered adhesively-bonded surfaces of specimens was designated as a variable, and three models were developed with the inclined angles differing from one another at 6°, 8° and 10°. The specimens with the inclined angles of 6°, 8° and 10° have the maximum reaction forces of 168 N, 194 N when the forced displacements are 6, 5 and 4.2 mm respectively. There are three specimens with the inclined angles of 10°, 8° and 6° in the order of maximum reaction force. As the analysis result, the maximum equivalent stresses of 0.813 MPa and 0.895 MPa happened when the forced displacements of 6 mm and 5 mm proceeded at the models of 6° and 8°, respectively. A simulation was carried out on the basis of finite element method and the experimental design. The results of the experiment and the simulation analysis are shown not different from each other significantly. Thus, only a simulation could be confirmed to be performed in substitution of an experiment, which is costly and time-consuming in order to determine the shearing properties of materials made of aluminum foam with artificial data.