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ABSTRACT
To investigate the mode I fracture properties of adhesively bonded joints after water ageing, the authors reduced here the width of Tapered Double Cantilever Beam (TDCB) specimens to 5 mm (compared to typical values encountered in literature at 10 mm). This was decided in order to reach the desired water absorption levels within a reasonable time. However, this operation was found to increase the impact of the edge effects on the fracture results, which were illustrated by finite element simulations. Hence, to improve consistency and stability of crack propagation, special beaks were added on the surfaces of the substrates close to the adhesive layer, based on previous solutions implemented for Arcan specimens. The results showed that the fracture energy decreased very rapidly to about half of its initial (unaged) value, and remained almost constant for all water ageing times that were examined in this work (4, 8, and 12 months).
Acknowledgements
This study is part of the INDUSCOL project and the authors wish to associate the industrial partner of this project; Naval Group. This work benefited from France Energies Marines in France and State financing managed by the National Research Agency under the Investments for the Future program bearing the reference ANR-10-IED-0006-08.
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Thomas Bonnemains, Eric Lolive, and Frederic Montel, especially for their technical supports and discussions.