Influence of activation temperature and prestress on behavior of Fe-SMA bonded joints

Abstract

The prestressed strengthening of structures via use of bonded iron-based shape memory alloys (Fe-SMAs) has proven promising, albeit with concerns regarding the temperature dependency of the adhesive properties. In this study, the effect of activation temperature and generated prestress are investigated experimentally. Six Fe-SMA-to-steel adhesively bonded joints, comprising different Fe-SMA strips (non-prestrained and prestrained) and activation strategies (full activation and partial activation), were prepared, activated via electrical resistance heating, and tested under quasi-static loading. It is found that the bond–slip behavior of a joint with activation can be modeled by that of an equivalent non-activated joint. The generated prestress influences the full-range behavior by raising the base tensile stress level of the Fe-SMA strip, with negligible effects on further aspects of the full-range behavior. With the increasing activation temperature, the fracture energy is initially increased and eventually reduced, while the bond capacity and effective bond length are retained almost constant.