Shear decohesion of clamped abraded steel interfaces reinforced with epoxy adhesive

This paper presents an experimental assessment of quasi-static shear strength of the combined mechanically clamped and epoxy adhesive reinforced steel interfaces. The effect of the surface roughness and clamping load on the combined interfacial decohesion and slipping is investigated. The maximum shear strength of the adhesive reinforced specimens with fine ground, coarse ground and grit blasted contact surface finishes is reported with comparison to the results of the identical non-reinforced specimens. Results have been assessed both in terms of calculated fracture energy and interface decohesion. The bonded interfaces with grit blasted finish showed considerably higher maximum shear stresses as compared to the identical ground cases. The shear strength contributions of strong clamping and reinforcing conformed well to the principle of superposition for all experimented interface types.