Crack growth in adhesives: Similitude and the Hartman-Schijve equation
File(s)Comp. Structures. 2021.pdf.pdf (1.3 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Jones, Rhys
Kinloch, Anthony
Michopoulos, John
Iliopoulos, A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Structural adhesives are widely used for joining composite components in many industries and crack growth in such materials is far more likely to occur when they are subjected to repeated cyclic loading than to monotonic loading. Whilst the Hartman-Schijve equation for fatigue crack growth (FCG) has been shown to hold for cohesive crack growth in adhesives under Mode I, Mode II and Mixed-Mode I/II loading, little attention has been paid to its ability to capture the effects of the thickness of the adhesive layer or the test temperature. The present paper examines FCG, that occurs cohesively through the adhesive layer, in two toughened epoxy adhesives typical of those used in the automotive and the aerospace industries. Firstly, it is established that when the FCG rate, da/dN, curves are expressed as a function of Δ√G, or ΔG, where G is the energy release-rate, then the crack growth curves are a function of the thickness of the adhesive layer. It is then shown that this dependency vanishes when da/dN is expressed as a function of the crack-driving force, Δκ, as defined by the Hartman-Schijve equation. Secondly, it is shown that similar observations are recorded when the effects of test temperature are considered. Therefore, it is suggested that the parameter Δκ appears to be a valid similitude parameter.
Date Issued
2021-10-01
Date Acceptance
2021-06-08
Citation
Composite Structures, 2021, 273
ISSN
0263-8223
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Composite Structures
Volume
273
Copyright Statement
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Materials
09 Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 114260
Date Publish Online
2021-06-12