Investigation on Fatigue Crack Growth in Fiber Adhesive Bond Lines

摘要

Tension mode fatigue tests on a width tapered double cantilever beam (WTDCB) consisting of two aluminum adherends bonded together with an interfacial layer (adhesive or prepreg) were performed in laboratory air and distilled water. Results show that the WTDCB can be used to examine the fatigue crack growth rate in an adhesive or prepreg. For the same set of fatigue parameters the aramid prepreg shows much higher crack growth rates than the adhesive. Distilled water exposure has a detrimental effect on the fatigue behavior of prepreg and adhesive, more pronounced for the prepreg. Load tests prove that the crack growth rates observed in the fatigue experiments are the result of a fatigue mechanism (and not of a quasi-static phenomenon).