Stress Analysis and Strength Evaluation of Scarf Adhesive Joints with Dissimilar Adherends Subjected to Static Tensile Loadings

Abstract

The interface stress distributions in scarf adhesive joints with dissimilaradherends under static tensile loadings are analyzed using two-dimensionaland three-dimensional finite element calculations. The effects ofthe adherends and adhesive Young's modulus, the scarf angle and theadhesive bond thickness on the interface stress distributions areexamined. In addition, the joint strength is predicted using theinterface stress distributions based on the maximum principal stresstheory. It is found that when the scarf angle is around 60 deg, thesingular stress at the edges of the interfaces is minimum in the3-Dimensional FEM calculations. Furthermore, it is noticed that thestrength of the joints with dissimilar adherends is smaller thanthat of the joints with similar adherends. For verification of theFEM calculations, the strain in the adherends and the joints strengthwere measured in the experiments. The measured strain are in fairlygood agreement with those obtained from FEM calculations. Also, themeasured joint strength is fairly consistent with the calculatedresults.