Creep analysis of fibre reinforced adhesives in single lap joints—Experimental study

In this paper, the effect of reinforcing the adhesive on the creep behaviour of single lap joints was studied experimentally. The reinforcement was in the form of fibre and three types of fibres namely aramid, carbon and glass were used. The test was performed at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the adhesive. The effect of fibre orientation was also investigated. The failure time and initial strain for all the specimens were evaluated and compared to the un-reinforced adhesive joint. According to the results, adding fibres in the bondline considerably affects both the initial strain and the failure time and these effects are dependent on the fibre type and orientations. The fracture surfaces of the specimens were also studied to investigate the failure mechanisms of the reinforced adhesive in creep. The fibre breakage was observed along with adhesive and cohesive failures.