Fracture strength of an

adhesive-bonded joint
P. Czamocki and K. Piekarski

(University of Waterloo, Canada)

The finite element method has been used for the non-linear analysis of a
symmetric, adhesively bonded lap joint. The fracture strength of the joint predicted
using the selected fracture criterion is within 10% of that obtained experimentally.
The analysis shows that the fracture is not caused by shear stresses, as generally
believed, but is initiated at the front end of the joint by the biaxial normal stresses.
The strength capacity of the joint increases with its length asymptotically to its
maximum value beyond which it remains constant.

Key words: adhesive-bonded joints; adhesive strength; mathematical modelling;

fracture criteria; finite element analysis

A large number of papers has been published on the Strength analysis

distribution of stresses in adhesive-bonded joints, but
only a few of them have discussed the strength of such The geometry of the joint considered is shown in Fig.
joints. Motsumoto et a l I carried out experiments on 2. The adherends were T2004 aluminium alloy
three different types of joint: simple asymmetric lap (E -~ 70 GPa), glued together with adhesive EA9320,
joints, tapered asymmetric lap joints, and scarf joints. a modified two-component epoxy which cures at
In his paper, the variation of joint strength with length 200°C. The true stress/strain relationship for this
depended on the configuration of the joint. For tapered adhesive is shown in Fig. 3.
and scarf joints the relationship was linear. The scarf The analysis was performed for joints of various
joints were the strongest and displayed the highest rate lengths between 5 and 100 mm. To determine the dis-
of increase of strength with length. tribution of stresses in the adhesive layer, an iterative
Ikegami et a l 2 evaluated the strength of simple method similar to that described by Gaii et a l ~ was
asymmetric lap joints by the finite element method applied. The calculations were performed with the use
(FEM). Two different criteria were applied for the of the finite element program 'ABAQUS', capable of
prediction of fracture: yon Mises criterion for stress analysis for large strains. On the basis of the
the adhesive and adherends and an experimentally failure criterion given by Equation (4), the failing load
obtained 'strength law' for the strength of interfaces. for each length was determined.
Good correlation was reported with the experimental
results.
According to Raevskii 3, failure occurs in the
adhesive when the adherends are properly treated.
Various fracture criteria for the adhesive were cow
sidered4, 5, but none of them had sufficient experi-
mental verification. For this reason, biaxial tensile
tests were performed on adhesive EA9320, and the
criterion predicting the best results was chosen.
Simplification of the geometry of an adhesive layer
by neglecting spew fillets and modelling it with square
ends leads to the prediction of an unrealistic, very high
concentration of stresses and to the underestimation of
the strength of a joint. To avoid this, a number of
joints were made and the typical geometry of the spew
fillets was used (see Fig. 1) in designing the finite
element model. Fig. 1 Typical profile of the spew fillet

0143-7496/86/020093-03 $03.00 © 1986 Butterworth Et Co (Publishers) Ltd

INT.J.ADHESION AND ADHESIVES VOL.6 NO.2 APRIL 1986 93
 1.5

1.O
-- L

] 2L

2
\

Fig. 2 Geometry of the symmetric lap joint. L = 5, 15, 30, 50,

100, 200 or 300 mm 0.5

60

o
o 0.5 1.o 1.5
o2 / outs
Fig. 4 Fracture criteria (curves 1-4 correspond to Equations (1)-(4)
4O respectively) and experimental results
n
vE
and
1 1
O~
2
~- 20
1
C2 = ~ucs

To choose the criterion providing the best results,

biaxial tensile tests were performed with the use of
pressurized tubular specimens made from the bulk
O l I adhesive (see Fig. 5). Five specimens were tested. It
0 0.025 0.050 was possible to produce only one ratio of stresses,
True stroin Ohoop/Craxiai-~ 2/1; however, it was considered sufficient
Fig. 3 True stress/strain curve for adhesive EA9320 under tension for this particular problem.

Four different fracture criteria were considered (see Results and discussion
Fig. 4):
Experimental results of the biaxial tensile tests on
1. Maximum normal stress criterion adhesive EA9320 and a graphical representation of the
fracture criteria considered (Equations (1)-(4)) are
O'max ~ Outs ( 1) shown in Fig. 4. Numerical analysis of the stresses
2. Modified distortion energy criterion, suggested by indicated that failure will occur at the free edge of the
Bronfman et al 4, which for tension quadrant adhesive layer (regardless of the fracture criterion
returned to applied), where a biaxial state of normal stress exists.
Near fracture, adhesive EA9320 has a Poisson's ratio,

~.~1 ~ts + \ Outs! ~< 1 (2)

3. Two criteria suggested for polymers by Kusenko et 55
al 5 which for biaxial state of stress reduced to
A l f f I "Jr- Cl(O~l - - OlO 2 "q'- O"2) ~ 1 (3)
and
A2~ + C2(~ -- olo2 + o~2)~< 1 (4)
where
1 1
AI=
Outs O'ucs
1
Cl---- Figure 5 Geometry of the tubular specimens of adhesive used in
O'ucsouts the biaxial test

94 INT.J.ADHESION AND ADHESIVES APRIL 1 986

 v, of approximately 0.5, therefore the ratio of principal 1000
stress, ~rl/o'2, is approximately the same as that in the
tests. It should be clearly stated that the tests per-
formed have not verified application of any of the A

criteria considered in general, but only have indicated E

which of them is the most applicable for the problem Z
v
considered.
Fig. 6 presents a typical broken joint. It can be seen
500
that the fracture was almost entirely cohesive. Fig. 7
depicts the end-region of the adhesive layer as used in
~r Predictednt°'t~s°',u~'t~
e-

\
the FEM analysis and shows the predicted origin of
o--
failure. Fig. 8 shows the experimentally determined c~
c

strengths of 15 and 30 mm long joints superimposed on U~

the curve predicting variation of the strength with
lengths ranging between 5 and I00 ram. For short
joints the strength increased approximately linearly 0 I I
0 50 1O0
Length (mm)

Fig. 8 Comparison of predicted and experimental strengths of the

symmetric adhesive-bonded lap joints vs length

with increasing length, in agreement with the pre-

dictions made by Motsumoto e t a l ~ for asymmetric
joints. For joints longer than 15 mm the strength
increased asymptotically to its maximum value and for
joints longer than 100 mm it was practically constant.
The experimental results were within 10% of the
predicted values, which were generally lower.

References
1 Motsumoto, E. end Sekiya, T. 'Comparison of static strength
among adhesively bonded joints' Proc 1982 Joint Conf on
Experimental Mechanics
2 Ikegami, K. and Sugibayashi, T. 'Strength evaluation of adhesive
Fig. 6 Surface of a broken specimen bonded joints of metals' /nt Adhesion Conf 1984. University of
Nottingham, UK 12-14 September 1984 (Preprint booklet
published by The Plastics ~ Rubber Institute, 11 Hobart Place,
London SW1W OHL UK)
3 Raevskii, V.G, "Some aspects of the theory of adhesive joints'
J Adhesion 5 (1973) pp 203-210
4 Bronfman, L.J., Krishnakumav, S.M. and Mollich, P.K. 'Com-
bined stress failure tests for glassy plastics" J Appl Polym Sci
14 (1970) pp 1477--1489
5 Kueenko, V.S. and Tammzs, V.P. "Fracture Micromechanics of
Polymer Materials" (Maritinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague/
Boston/London, 1981 )
6 Gall, S. end Ishai, O. "lnterlaminar stress distribution within an
adhesive layer in the nonlinear range' J Adhesion 9 (1978)
pp 253-266

Fig. 7 End-region of the adhesive layer used in the FEM analysis
showing the location of possible fracture
Authors
The authors are with the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Watedoo, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1. Inquiries should be
addressed to Professor Piekarski in the first instance.

INT.J.ADHESION AND ADHESIVES APRIL 1 986 95

 IT'S YOUR
FIRST RESORT
Working with plastics, rubber or polyurethane
needn't present problems.
Now there's somewhere to turn for expert
advice on all these materials. Immediate answers
on what to buy, where to buy, and how to get top
results. Advice that will cost you nothing.
The Plastics and Rubber Advisory Service -
PRAS - is a logical progression from the
successful Plastics Advisory Service, which
helped so many businesses.
That's why - with the full backing of the BPF
and BRMA - rubber and polyurethane are now
included in the new service.
With today's expansion in high technology you
need to know how to best exploit the materials
available to you.
So make PRAS your starting point - your first,
rather than your
last resort.
5 BELGRAVE SQUARE
LONDON SW1X 8PH
TEL: 01-235 9888
TELEX 8951528 Plastics & Rubber Advisory Service
Reprints of all articles in this journal are available
in quantities of 100 or more.
Reprints are essential --
• for the company that wants to distribute
impartial comment on its activities to potential
customers and clients
• for the company that wants to up-date its
technical staff on new techniques and new
technologies
For full details of prices and availability of reprints,
please write to
The Reprint Department
Butterworth Scientific Limited
PO Box 63 Westbury House Bury Street
Guildford S u r r e y G U 2 5 B H England
96 INT.J.ADHESION AND ADHESIVES APRIL 1 9 8 6
W.A.Lees
Adhesives, the subject of our latest engineering title, have a
great deal to offer the modern production engineer and designer
in terms of their
• ease of application
• flexibility over wide ranging conditions of use
A D H E S I V E S IN E N G I N E E R I N G DESIGN aims to provide
the reader with a guide to all the stages and potential problems
involved in bonding and sealing, including
• surface preparation
• performance assessment
• the special role of anaerobic adhesives in mechanical
engineering
Dr Lees. Technical Director of Permabond Adhesives,
presents this information in order that the reader may then make
a rational decision regarding the selection and use of adhesives.
Also available
COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR SELECTING ADHESIVES
EASel - Engineers" Adhesive Selector program
This inexpensive microcomputer program is intended to help
the user select a suitable industrial adhesive from among
different types in order to join two of 43 possible surfaces. It uses
a variable question and answer sequence to determine the exact
nature of the bond required and the conditions under which it
must operate. The program then offers a selection of first and
second choice adhesives, together with notes indicating why
a particular choice has been made and which factors have
excluded which adhesives.
EASel is available on 5~,'~inch floppy disks in three forms: for
Apple//, lie and//c computers: for the IBM-PC; and for the BBC
Microcomputer. The program comes complete with instructions
and a reference list correlating adhesive types with common UK
trade names.
ORDER FORM Send to Miss Jcan Christie, Design Ccntrc Bookshop
Havmarkct, London SW1Y 4SU
Please send mc . . . . . . . copies of ADHESIVES IN
ENGINEERING DESIGN at £ 1695 plus £2.1~) p&p per copy
Please send me the following EASel programs at £15 plus J.2.25VAT
each:
disks for Apple//, Apple//e, or Apple//c computers
. . . . . disks for [BM-PCV computer
disks for BBC Microcomputer Model B
I enclose £ made payable to The Design Council
Name ........................................................................................................
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .