In this paper we discuss two models of environmental degradation of adhesive joints developed from experimental observation of the joint failure mode. It is found that after severe degradation, failure is dominated by the interfacial mode, i.e., by failure at the interface between adhesive and adherend. The fraction of failure in the interfacial mode was found to be related to the joint strength and to be proportional to the frequency shift of a minimum in the spectrum of the reflected ultrasonic signal. One model considers an interface as an interphase in the form of a nonhomogeneous layer composed of two phases: lsquo;lsquo;softrsquo;rsquo; which is viscoelastic (degraded part of the interphase) and lsquo;lsquo;stiffrsquo;rsquo; corresponding to the nondamaged interphase. Increase of the lsquo;lsquo;softrsquo;rsquo; phase fraction corresponds to the process of degradation in the interphase. The second model describes degradation in a form of disbonds filled by absorbed water at the interface. The disbonded interface is modeled by transverse spring boundary conditions, with the complex spring stiffness representing the quality of the bond. The influence of different disbond growth scenarios is considered. Advantages and drawbacks of these models are discussed.
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