Effect of curing condition on mechanical properties of scarf-repaired composite laminates

Composite structures are generally pressurized at both sides when repaired by the scarf repair method. But single-face vacuum bag curing (SVC) may be used in some practical scarf repair of penetration damage due to the low accessibility of composite structures, which can decrease bonding quality and may reduce structural mechanical properties. In this paper, experimental investigations were conducted on tensile and compressive properties of scarf-repaired composite laminates using SVC and double-face vacuum bag curing (DVC) in four hygrothermal environments. Finite element models of composite scarf joints with voids were established to further explore the failure mechanism of scarf-repaired laminates. Results show that the curing condition hardly affects tensile and compressive properties of the repaired laminates though it significantly affects the bonding quality with adhesive inner voids. Failure loads of scarf joints almost keep unchanged with adhesive voids increasing.