Acoustic Emission on Adhesively Bonded Single-Lap Joints of Composite Laminate during Tensile Test

Abstract

Acoustic emission (AE) was used to monitor the tensile test of composites with adhesive specimens. The mechanical response behavior, damage and failure characteristics, and the corresponding AE characteristics of the composites have been investigated. The results show that the load of the join with defect in the adhesive layer is lower than the join with no defect. The higher AE relative energy and the AE amplitude were obtained in the adhesive specimen with defect in the adhesive layer whereas the variation of the AE relative energy is different from the adhesive specimen with on defect. The characteristics such as AE amplitude distribution, relative energy and cumulative hits are connected with the tensile damage and failure of the adhesively bonded single-lap joints of composite laminate. In the actual AE monitoring, these feature parameters should be considered entirely assess the damage and failure of the composites structures.