Högskolan i Skövde

The influence of the temperature on the cohesive laws for an epoxy adhesive is studied in the glassy region, i.e. below the glass transition temperature. Cohesive laws are derived in both Mode I and Mode II under quasi-static loading conditions in the temperature range C. Three parameters of the cohesive laws are studied in detail: the elastic stiffness, the peak stress and the fracture energy. Methods for determining the elastic stiffness in Mode I and Mode II are derived and evaluated. Simplified bi-linear cohesive laws to be used at any temperature within the studied temperature range are derived for each loading mode. All parameters of the cohesive laws are measured experimentally using only two types of specimens. The adhesive has a nominal layer thickness of 0.3 mm and the crack tip opening displacement is measured over the adhesive thickness. The derived cohesive laws thus represent the entire adhesive layer as having the present layer thickness. It is shown that all parameters, except the Mode I fracture energy, decrease with an increasing temperature in both loading modes. The Mode I fracture energy is shown to be independent of the temperature within the evaluated temperature span. At C the Mode II fracture energy is decreased to about 2/3 of the fracture energy at C. The experimental results are verified by finite element analyses.

Cohesive modelling provides a more detailed understanding of the fracture properties of adhesivejoints than provided by linear elastic fracture mechanics. A cohesive model is characterized by astress-deformation relation of the adhesive layer. This relation can be measured experimentally.Two parameters of the stress-deformation relation are of special importance; the area under thecurve, which equals the fracture energy, and the peak stress. The influence of temperature of theseparameters is analyses experimentally and evaluated statistically for two structural epoxy adhesivesin the span from of -40°C to +80°C. The adhesives are used by the automotive industry and atemperature span below the glass transition temperature is considered. The results show that thattemperature has a modest influence on the adhesives Mode I fracture energy. For one of theadhesives, the fracture energy is independent of the temperature in the evaluated temperature span.In mode II, the influence of temperature is larger. The peak stresses decreases almost linearly withan increasing temperature in both loading cases and for both adhesives.