Failure in co-cured composite joints enhanced with J-272 film

Abstract

Lightweight and high strength CFRP material has been applied to airspace industry to realize lightweight aircraft. Nowadays, composite T-joint is a common adhesive joint type used in aircraft CFRP load-bearing structure. This study employed T300/7901 prepreg and J-272 film as the adhesive in the deltoid of T-joints, and produce T-shaped specimens via co-curing. The start point of failure location is located at deltoid through pull-off test combined with digital image correlation system. In the pull-off test, the failure of the T-joint specimen, the deltoid of which was filled with T300/7901 prepreg and J-272 film, exhibited progressive failure mechanism from rib web to skin. Compared to adherence with T300/7901 prepreg, the initial failure load and toughness of composite T-joints adhered with J-272 film were increased 24.3% and 34.7%, in which J-272 film boosted the interfacial binding between the rib web and the skin.