Experimental Study of the Impact of Notches Made in the Front Edge of Adherends on the Properties of Static and Fatigue Strength of Adhesive Joints

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of simple structural changes consisting in making notches on the edge of adherends on the static and fatigue properties of adhesive joints. The study is based on the set of experimental static strength tests of the single lap shear adhesive joints. It has been shown that a slight increase in load capacity is possible by using adhesive-filled notches. However, this structural modification leads to an increase in the standard deviation of test results. Based on the fatigue strength tests done at the limit number of cycles equal to 2×106, it was shown that the use of notches on the front edge of adherends, which are filled with adhesive, can significantly increase the fatigue lifetime of the joint. The effect is shown in the area of low-cycle fatigue, where for fatigue stress with a maximum value of 11.5 MPa, an increase in the average value of fatigue lifetime by 481.5% was shown for joints with notches. On the basis of fractography analyses using SEM microscopy, it was shown that the positive effect of the notches is caused by the absorption of some energy by the adhesive filling the notches, due to the increased susceptibility of the adhesive in this area to elastic deformations.