Failure Load Prediction by Damage Zone Method for Single-lap Bonded Joints of Carbon Composite and Aluminum

Abstract

A damage zone method based on 3D finite element analysis was proposed to predict the failure loads of single-lap bonded joints with dissimilar composite-aluminum materials. To simulate delamination failure, interply resin layers between any two adjacent orthotropic laminas of composite adherend were assumed with a thickness of one-tenth of a composite lamina. Geometrically non-linear effects due to the large rotation of the single-lap joint were included in the analysis. Analysis also considered the material nonlinearity of the aluminum adherend due to the stress exceeding yield level. Based on the experimental observation that the failure modes of the specimens were dominated by delamination and debonding, the Ye-criterion was applied to account for the out-of-plane failure of composite adherend and the Von Mises strain criterion was applied for the adhesive layer. The failure indices were multiplied to the predicted damage zone as a weight factor and the calculated damage zones were divided by an area or volume considering the joint geometry. Predicted failure loads show deviation within 18% from experimental results for nine different bonding lengths or adherend thicknesses.