Experimental study of adhesively bonded joints with dissimilar composite laminates under different loading rates and ambient temperatures

An experimental study of the single-lap joints at different loading rates and ambient temperatures was investigated. In the experiment, a single lap joint was formed using plain woven glass fiber reinforced epoxy (GFRE) laminates, plain woven aramid fiber reinforced laminates (AFRE), and Araldite 138 M / HV998 epoxy adhesive. The composite laminates were produced using Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process. Adhesively bonded joints were created using similar and dissimilar adherends. Experiments were carried out under different loading rates (1 mm/min, 10 mm/min, 50 mm/min, 100 mm/min) and ambient temperatures (23°C,60°C,100°C). Stress–strain graphs were obtained for each experimental condition. It is seen that the maximum stress values increase as the loading rate increases in all single lap joints at all different temperatures. However, in all single lap joints, at all different loading rates, the maximum stress value decreases as the ambient temperature increases.