Högskolan i Skövde

Fracture behaviour of adhesive joints under mixed mode loading is analysed by using the beam/adhesive-layer (b/a) model, in which, the adherends are beamlike and the adhesive is constrained to a thin flexible layer between the adherends. The adhesive layer deforms in peel (mode I), in shear (mode II) or in a combination of peel and shear (mixed mode). Macroscopically, the ends of the bonded part of the joints can be considered as crack tips. The energy release rate of a single-layer adhesive joint is then formulated as a function of the crack tip deformation and the mode-mixity is defined by the shear portion of the total energy release rate. The effects of transversal forces and the flexibility of the adhesive layer are included in the b/a-model, which can be applied to joints with short crack length as well as short bonding length. The commonly used end-loaded unsymmetric semi-infinite joints are examined and closed-form solutions are given. In comparison to the singular-field model in the context of linear elastic fracture mechanics, the b/a-model replaces the singularity at the crack tip with a stress concentration zone. It is shown that the b/a-model and the singular-field model yield fundamentally different mode-mixities for unsymmetric systems. The presented closed-form b/a-model solutions facilitates parametric studies of the influence of unbalance in loading, unsymmetry of the adherends, as well as the flexibility of the adhesive layer, on the mode mixity of an adhesive joint.

A beam/adhesive-layer model is developed. For this model a closed-form solution method applicable to arbitrary boundary conditions is presented. This enables the solution of a large number of practical problems which may be statically indeterminate. The stress state in the adhesive layer and the adherends of the beam/adhesive-layer model is also scrutinized. The method is exemplified in an analysis of the end-loaded split (ELS) specimen, commonly used to determine fracture energies of adhesive layers. The effect of the flexibility of the adhesive layer on the energy release rate and the critical crack length for stable crack growth is examined. Both symmetric and unsymmetric ELS-specimens are studied.

The experimental methods to determine the fracture properties for adhesives under mixed mode loading is not as well established as compared to such methods for adhesives under pure mode loading. Some controversies exist regarding the decomposition of the mode mixity. For a flexible linear elastic adhesive, the mode mixity of a single-layer adhesive joint is directly related to the deformation of the adhesive layer at the crack tip. The governing equations for linear elastic single-layer adhesive joints show that the mode mixity depends on the external loads, the properties of the adherends and often on the flexibility of the adhesive layer. This implies some fundamental problems that have to be addressed before an experimental method can be established. The purpose of this paper is to investigate different specimen configurations for mixed mode loading. Requirements for the design of a specimen configuration are given. A new specimen configuration is proposed based on the geometry of a semi-infinite symmetric DCB-specimen. According to this study, the proposed test specimen offers exceptional flexibility, variety and stability.

Mixed mode testing of adhesive layer is performed with the Mixed mode double Cantilever Beam specimen. During the experiments, the specimens are loaded by transversal and/or shear forces; seven different mode mixities are tested. The J-integral is used to evaluate the energy dissipation in the failure process zone. The constitutive behaviour of the adhesive layer is obtained by a so called inverse method and fitting an existing mixed mode cohesive model, which uses a coupled formulation to describe a mode dependent constitutive behaviour. The cohesive parameters are determined by optimizing the parameters of the cohesive model to the experimental data. A comparison is made with the results of two fitting procedures. It is concluded that the constitutive properties are coupled, i.e. the peel and shear stress depend on both the peel and shear deformations. Moreover, the experiments show that the critical deformation in the peel direction is virtually independent of the mode mixity.

A traction-separation relation to model the fracture process is presented. The cohesive law captures the linear elastic and softening behaviour prior to fracture. It also allows for different fracture parameters, such as fracture energy, strength and critical separation in different mode mixities. Thus, the fracture process in mode I (peel), in mode II (shear) or in mixed mode (a combination of peel and shear) can be modelled without the limitation of a common fracture energy in peel and shear. Examples are given in form of FE- implementations of the normalised cohesive law, namely for the Unsymmetrical Double Cantilever Beam (UDCB) specimen and the Mixed-mode double Cantilever Beam (MCB) specimen. Both specimens are adhesively bonded and loaded in mixed-mode

The Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) specimen is a common test geometry for testing of mode I fracture properties of adhesive joints. However, when unbalances are introduced to the adherends, the adhesive layer is loaded in a combination of peel (mode I) and shear (mode II). In this work the unbalanced DCB-specimen is studied by the use of the beam/adhesive layer (B/A) model, in which the adherends are considered as beams and the adhesive layer as a generalised spring media. The effect of the thickness of adhesive layer together with the effect of the geometrical and material unbalances is analysed. The result of the B/A model is compared to the continuum model through FE-simulations. Finally, an unsymmetric DCB-specimen is dimensioned for mixed mode testing of adhesive layer.