Influences of Defects on the Performance of Adhesively Bonded Sandwich Joints

Abstract

Unique and desirable properties of composites, converted them to one of the favorablematerials in a wide range of applications. At present, various composites are utilized in aircraftinterior such as overhead bins, side walls, ceiling and bulkheads. Since adhesively bondedcomposite joints play crucial role in performance of various engineering components,manufacturing of the joints is an important issue. In the present work, an overview of compositesandwich joints is presented, and different types of defects on this component are outlined. Later,some techniques for detection of defects in the sandwich-structured composites are mentioned.Moreover, as a case study, strength and fracture of sandwich T-joints with and withoutmanufacturing defects are compared. The case study proved the role of manufacturing defects inunfavorable performance of the joints. Results of the case study indicated that it is necessary to usedifferent advanced techniques to investigate and assess performance of sandwich joints prior totheir utilization. Concerning to high applications of sandwich composite joints and limitations ofnondestructive tests, there is still a potential to provide a method or a technique which wouldestimate performance of the joints under different loading conditions.