Failure Strength of the Composite Mechanical Joint according to the Stacking Angle

Abstract

Generally, joints are the weakest part in the composite structures. Composite joints can be classified into adhesive joints and mechanical joints, and mechanical joints are mainly used in areas less sensitive to environmental conditions. In this paper, the failure loads of composite mechanical joints with five different stacking angles are tested and predicted. Finite element analysis of mechanical joints were performed and failure loads were predicted by the FAI(Failure Area Index) method using Tsai-Wu and Yamada-Sun failure criteria, and the predicted failure loads were compared with experimental results. From the experiment and analysis, the failure loads of the mechanical joints were decreased as the ratio of 0 degree layer was low and they could be predicted within 13.03% using the FAI method and Yamada-Sun failure criteria.