The present study proposes a comprehensive integrity assessment approach for a full-scale adhesively-bonded bi-material joint for maritime applications. The joint represents a cross-section of the bond-line connection of a ship with a steel hull and a sandwich composite superstructure. The full-scale joint consists of a sandwich composite core adhesively bonded to two U-shaped steel brackets. The joint was subjected to a quasi-static loading profile including 6 load cycles up to the final failure. Each load cycle was followed by a dwell segment holding the joint at the maximum displacement for 30 s and then unloading to 50% of the maximum displacement. Three Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques including Acoustic Emission (AE), Fiber Optic Sensor (FOS), and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) were employed during the test to assess the damage state of the joint. Moreover, a Finite Element Model (FEM) was developed to simulate the evolution behavior of different damage mechanisms in the joint and the FE results were compared against the experimental findings. The obtained results showed that the integration of all the employed techniques could successfully detect the damage initiation, assess the severity of the damage, localize the critical regions of the joint, and distinguish the different damage mechanisms.

Thicker bondlines along with manufacturing-tolerant and fracture-resistant adhesives are trends visible across different industries, especially maritime. In this work, two contrasting adhesives: an elastic-brittle epoxy-based, and a nonlinear-ductile methyl methacrylate (MMA) are characterized and compared via tensile, compact tension (CT) and double cantilever beam (DCB) testing, for steel-to-steel adherends. Significant differences are captured between the two bonding materials in terms of the energy required for crack growth: in the MMA “ductile” adhesive is ∼4 and 10 times more than for the epoxy “relatively brittle” adhesive for CT and DCB testing, respectively. While epoxy bondlines fail due to a symmetric in-plane crack, the MMA bondlines experience multiple cracking originating from high deformations and Poisson's effects. Moreover, in the case of MMA adhesive, the DCB testing led to plastic deformation of steel adherends. The existing evaluation protocols are adopted for data reduction and the effect of plastic dissipation is theoretically addressed. Despite adherend plasticity, it is concluded that the crack growth is driven by the elastic energy release, and thus, after small correction taking into account initial adherend plasticity, the existing simple models can still be used. This study highlights the potential use of ductile adhesive instead of the commonly used brittle ones to significantly improve the adhesively bonded joints in maritime applications in which thick bondlines, manufacturing-tolerant and fracture-resistance characteristics are required.

The aim of this research was to investigate the self-healing potential of damaged Al joints when bonded using novel eco-epoxide adhesives derived from tannic acid (TA). Two eco-epoxy components based on TA, (A) glycidyl ether and (B) glycidyl phosphate ester of TA, were produced. The effect of the eco-epoxy components on the self-healing ability was assessed in terms of the energy dissipation recovery after partial failure in a double cantilever beam (DCB) test, which was compared to the reference epoxy (R). The self-healing process required 2 h and 2 bars in an autoclave at 180 °C. Techniques such as DSC, FTIR and DMA showed residual activity and potential self-healing capability of the used adhesives. A combination of two monitoring techniques, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Acoustic Emission (AE), was used to monitor the strain distribution and damage propagation in the DCB specimens. The healing index for adhesives R, B and A was found to be 8.9%, 3.0%, and 82.5% respectively. The findings of this work highlighted the potential of using bio-based epoxy adhesives in structural adhesive bonding, as well as the prospect of utilizing their self-healing ability to restore the strength of such bonded parts.

Three-point bending analysis, experimental and numerical, is conducted for three different sizes, 30*30 mm, 40*40 mm and 60*60 mm, of one-sided square cross-ply TEXIPREG HS 160 RM carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) patches as well as intact and notched specimens. The tests are carried out with the aim to study the influence of the patch’s size on the flexural properties of the specimen. Hashin-2D damage initiation criterion is adopted to investigate the failure in each ply, and the damage evolution is represented by the stiffness degradation. The intact and notched laminates flexural properties are investigated as well as notch sensitivity. The bonded patch repairs efficiency is investigated in the light of ultimate load, flexural modulus, peel and shear stresses along the bond-line as well as the damage initiation coefficient at critical zones. A significant advancement in the flexural modulus and ultimate load for the repaired laminates is noticed with increasing the patch’s size. A Parametric numerical study is conducted to investigate the influence of the patch size on the damage initiation coefficient at the critical zones. The recommended patch’s size is 44*44 mm in order to avoid failure initiation at the patch corner overlap on the parent laminate.

The development of new adhesives has allowed to expand the application of bonding into the most diverse industrial fields. This review article presents the commonly used experimental methods for the investigation of mechanical performance of adhesively bonded joints in the aerospace, wind energy, automotive and civil engineering sectors. In these sectors, due to their excellent intrinsic properties, composite materials are often used along with conventional materials such as steel, concrete and aluminium. In this context, and due to the limitations that the traditional joining techniques present, adhesive joints are an excellent alternative. However, standardized experimental procedures are not always applicable for testing representative adhesive joints in these industries. Lack of relevant regulations across the different fields is often overcome by the academia and companies’ own regulations and standards. Additional costs are thus mitigated to the industrial sectors in relation with the certification process which effectively can deprive even the biggest companies from promoting adhesive bonding. To ensure continuous growth of the adhesive bonding field the new international standards, focusing on actual adhesive joints’ performance rather than on specific application of adhesive joints are necessary.

This paper presents a new process for obtaining eco-epoxide adhesives synthesized from bio-renewable raw material (tannic acid-TA) and used for bonding lightweight materials (aluminum (Al) and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). Two synthesized bio-epoxy components based on TA, (A) glycidyl ether and (B) glycidyl phosphate ester of TA, were used as a replacement for the toxic epoxy component based on Bisphenol A. The effect of eco-epoxy components on the interface adhesion was measured by the determination of adhesion parameter b, which was compared to the reference epoxy (REF). The increase of adhesion parameter b was 77.5% for A and 151.5% for B. The adhesion of both eco-adhesives was tested using the bell peel test (BPT) with the Al and CFRP adherends. When compared to REF, the average peel load for B was 17.6% (39.3%) and 58.3% (176.9%) higher for the Al and CFRP adherends, respectively. Complete adhesion failure of REF reflected the weak adhesion to both Al and CFRP, which was improved by the addition of eco-epoxy components A and B showing the presence of cohesive failure. The microhardness testing method of interface adhesion was proven to be a fast and reliable testing method, providing a qualitative indication in adhesive selection.