Fatigue failure criterion of adhesively bonded CFRP/metal joints under multiaxial stress conditions

Abstract In order to investigate the fatigue failure criterion of adhesively bonded CFRP/metal joints under multiaxial stress conditions, a series of fatigue tests was carried out on three kinds of adhesively bonded joint specimens; butt joint, scarf joint and thick-adherend lap-shear joint, where these joints have considerably uniform stress distributions in the adhesive layer. In addition, stress distributions of these joints were analysed by the finite element method. The results show that the fatigue limits of respective joints are governed by the maximum principal stress except when negative hydrostatic pressure acts on the adhesive.