Dynamic bond strength between CFRP sheet and steel

The efficiency of the application of adhesively-bonded CFRP materials to rehabilitate and/or strengthen steel structures is completely dependent on the bond between the CFRP composites and the steel. As the repaired and/or upgraded structural elements are likely to be exposed to impact tensile loads during service, this necessitates the importance of understanding the bond strength between CFRP materials and steel under dynamic loadings. This paper presents the experimental procedure, the equipment and the test results for double strap joints at four speeds of loading to highlight the effect of loading rate on the bond strength. Two different CFRP layouts with various bond lengths were examined. It was found that the loading rate has significant influence on bond strength and failure modes, although it has little influence on the effective bond length.