Fracture response of double cantilever beam subject to thermal fatigue

Abstract

When adhesively bonded joints undergo thermal fluctuations, they become fatigued and suffer mechanical degradation. A comprehensive experimental investigation is conducted to examine the performance and degradation of adhesively bonded joints, in the form of the standard double cantilever beam specimen, subject to various levels of cyclic thermal loadings. Results indicate that regardless the number of applied thermal cycles, the joint experiences degradation of its interface adhesive, and that the degradation evolves as the number of thermal cycles increases, leading to the gradual degradation of the overall interface strength. Also, a computational framework, using the cohesive zone modeling technique, is developed for predicting the growth of a crack under the thermal and subsequent mechanical loadings. The good agreement observed between the computational and experimental results validates the integrity of the developed computational framework.