Influence of microcork particles on the lap shear strength of an epoxy adhesive subjected to fatigue loading and different environmental conditions

Abstract

The present study deals with the effects of temperature and cyclic loading on the strength of single lap adhesive joints enhanced with different amounts of microcork particles. To achieve this, different joints with various overlap lengths were manufactured and tested. The joints were tested at two different temperatures (−20 ℃ and 75 ℃) in quasi-static conditions. Results of high temperature (75 ℃) show that the joints tensile strength decreases with the amount of cork particles. For low temperature (−20 ℃), the strength of the joint with 1 vol.% of cork increased; however, higher amounts of cork led to a reduction of the joint strength. To investigate the influence of cork particles on the fatigue endurance, joints were tested at room temperature under sinusoidal cyclic loading. Based on the experimental data it was found that the cork particles can significantly improve the fatigue life of adhesive joints (up to 4.6 times). Microfailure analysis of the tested joints was also performed using the scanning electron microscope technique.