Study on ASTM shear-loaded adhesive lap joints

Finite element analyses and experiments are conducted to analyze the mechanical behavior of ASTM shear-loaded adhesive lap joints. Adhesive is characterized for the stress-strain relation by comparing the apparent shear-strain relations obtained from finite element analysis and experiments following ASTM D 5656 Standard. With the established stress-strain relation, two failure criteria using equivalent plastic strain and J-integral are adopted to predict the failure loads for joint specimens following ASTM D 5656 and ASTM D 3165 Standard, respectively. Good correlation is found between the finite element results and the experimental results. The strength of ASTM D 3165 specimens with debonding defects is also studied. Calculation results shows that experiment data following the standards provide only relative material constants, such as apparent shear modulus and strengths. Further investigation is required to find out the engineering properties needed for actual joint design. For the specimens with debonding defects, the locations of defects have great effects on their load bearing ability.