Investigating tensile behaviour of toughened epoxy paste adhesives using circumferentially notched cylindrical bulk specimens

Toughened epoxy adhesives are frequently used to bond metals and polymer-matrix composite materials in many structural applications. The mechanical properties of adhesives are often characterised by testing either bulk adhesive specimens or bonded joints (i.e. in-situ form). In this paper, cylindrical bulk specimens with circumferential notches were manufactured and tested to investigate the tensile behaviour of an epoxy paste adhesive toughened with hollow glass microspheres. Bulk specimens were manufactured from the paste adhesive using injection moulding. Tensile tests were conducted for strain-rate and stress triaxiality effects by varying displacement rates and notch radii, respectively. Fracture surfaces were examined using optical and scanning electron microscopy to identify failure mechanisms. The results obtained from the toughened paste adhesive indicate that strain-rate and stress triaxiality influence its tensile fracture behaviour.