A FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR EVALUATING DISBONDS AND THEIR IMPACT ON SINGLE LAP JOINTS [Poster #25]

Adhesive technologies are widely employed in the aerospace and automobile industries due to its advantages over the conventional fasteners. However, the adhesive technologies come with its own shortcomings in bonding two materials together. One of the key challenges in using composites is the occurrence of disbonds. A disbond refers to the failure of an adhesive to fully cure or attach to the adherend surface, leading to a lack of stress transfer at the interface. Achieving a strong bond in such situations can be challenging because it's difficult to spread the adhesive evenly over the surface. In this study, a numerical framework is considered to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative effect of disbonds on the single lap joints. Finite element technique showed that there was a reduction in the strength of the lap joints as different discontinuities were applied at the joint area.
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