The adhesive bond is not the weakest link in current carbon fiber reinforced plastic stiffener to skin structures

摘要

A common design feature in aircraft to strengthen skin sections is adhesively bonding stiffeners to them. This has been successfully applied in metal aircraft for years. Those adhesive bonds are usually backed up by rivets, because we are not totally confident about adhesives. So it might be a surprise to learn, that while testing stiffeners made of carbon fiber reinforced plastics, Dr. Sofia Teixeira de Freitas discovered that the adhesive bonds were not the weakest link.