On adhesively bonded joints with a mixed failure mode-An experimental and numerical study

Cohesive zone model (CZM) has been extensively used to study interfacial failure behaviors such as fracture of adhesively bonded joints (ABJs). Accurate and efficient identification of traction-separation law (TSL) in CZM signifies an important issue for design and analysis of adhesive structures. In this study, a modified Arcan fixture was developed and employed to investigate the mixed mode failure behaviors of ABJs for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) substrates under a tensile-shear coupling load, in which the double cantilever beam (DCB) test was carried out to characterize fracture toughness for benchmark data. With the help of digital image correlation (DIC) technique, the interfacial displacement field was obtained. The virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) was adopted to decouple the mode mixture at different tension-shear angles of the Arcan specimens. Based on the traction-separation law for each mixed ratio of failure mode, a refined CZM was established. In this study, the Arcan and DCB specimens bonded with a flexible adhesive of 3M DP190 were prepared and tested. The experiments were carried out for the ABJs with two adhesive layer thicknesses of 0.3 mm and 1 mm, respectively, to investigate the influence of bonding thickness. Based on the extracted CZM parameters, a finite element (FE) analysis model was developed and validated with the experimental results. Unlike the traditional predetermined damage evolution law, a new CZM was established without a priori cohesive damage evolution; and the effectiveness of the proposed model for the TSL extraction was verified. By using this method, the mechanical response of the bonding interface under complex stress state was well predicted and the FE modeling of ABJ's fracture was accurately achieved. The study is anticipated to gain new understanding and fundamental data on mixed failure mode, thereby enabling better design of ABJs for engineering applications.