Hugo C. Biscaia

Pseudo-cyclic and cyclic loading were applied to CFRP-to-steel bonded joints built with two different CFRP laminates. In this paper, the strength capacity and bond-slip curves are presented and compared. The modes of failure are also described and associated with the types of material used, and the observed performances are correlated. The analysis of the results showed a threshold value for loading and amplitude level, below which the cyclic loading caused no detectable damage. For cycles above that limit, the region of the joints around the loaded end presented degradation reflected on the bond-slip stiffness and on the increase of residual deformation. It was found that the normalized dissipated energies either obtained from the bond-slip relationship or from the load-slip response had the same trend. The experimental data allowed also to establish a relationship between the damage developed within the interface and the normalized slip. A preliminary estimate of fatigue limit based on those data is suggested. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Mechanical anchorage devices have the potential to efficiently improve the bond behavior of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) Externally Bonded (EB) onto steel with an adhesive. Existing relevant studies, however, have been very limited. Against this background, experimental and numerical studies on the double overlapped CFRP-to-steel bonded joints with an end mechanical anchorage were carried out in the present study. Two types of CFRP laminates (i.e., SIKA CFRP and the other type made in Harbin Institute of Technology – HIT) were used in the bond tests, with or without end mechanical anchorage devices. The test results showed that the end mechanical anchorage had marginal effect on the bond-slip relationship between EB CFRP and steel as well as debonding load, but could increase the ultimate load. It was also found that CFRP laminate from HIT had a better bond performance than that from SIKA, in terms of both debonding load and ultimate load. Using ABAQUS, Finite Element (FE) model was established on such bonded joints and the accuracy was verified with test results. The verified FE model was adopted in a parametric study to further clarify the effect of key parameters on the bond behavior of such bonded joints. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Deterioration of adhesively bonded CFRP/steel systems in salt fog environment, i.e., deicing salts and ocean environments, has to be taken into account in the design of steel strengthened structures. In the present work, monotonic and quasi-static cyclic loading were applied to CFRP-to-steel double strap joints for two kinds of CFRP laminates after being aged for a period of 5000 h to evaluate the bond behavior. The bonded joints exposed to salt fog had a different failure mode than that observed in the control specimens (0 h of exposure). The severe reduction of the maximum bond stress resulted from damage initiation that occurred in the corrosion region of the steel substrate, associated with final partial rupture on the corroded steel substrate around the edge of the bonded area: it was also correlated with reduced load carrying capacity. Results of pseudo-cyclic tests showed that the relationship between a local damage parameter (D) and normalized local dissipated energy (W d /G f ) and the normalized slip increment (ΔS/ΔS ult ) exhibited almost the same trend in the un-aged and aged bonded joints. The normalized slip increment can be seen as a direct indicator for the local and global damage for the un-aged and aged bonded joints. However, monotonic and quasi-static cyclic tests results revealed that the stress concentration due to local corrosion of steel substrate could lead to brittle rupture or accelerated cumulative damage once the aged bonded interface had become weaker. The bonded joints have exhibited also a smaller relative deformation capacity between CFRP and steel. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

The degradation mechanisms of bonded joints between CFRP laminates and steel substrates under severe environmental conditions require more durability data and studies to increase the database and better understand their causes. Studies on bond properties of double-strap CFRP-to-steel bonded joints with two different composite materials as well as adhesive coupons subjected to freeze-thaw cycles for 10,000 h were conducted to reduce that gap. In addition, the equivalent to the number of thermal cycles and their slips induced in the CFRP laminates was replicated by an equivalent (mechanical) loading-unloading history condition imposed by a static tensile machine. The mechanical properties of the adhesive coupons and the strength capacity of the bonded joints were only slightly changed by the artificial aging. It was confirmed that the interfacial bond strength between CFRP and adhesive is critically related to the maximum shear stress and failure mode. The interfacial bond strength between adhesive and steel degraded with the aging. However, the equivalent thermal cyclic bond stress caused no detectable damage on the bond because only the interfacial elastic regime was actually mobilized, which confirmed that pure thermal cycles aging, per se, at the level imposed, have a low impact on the degradation of CFRP-to-steel bonded joints. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

In this paper, the influence of salt fog and ambient condition exposure on CFRP-to-steel bonded joints (CSJs) with a near end mechanical anchorage was studied. The tests of the CSJs were carried out with a monotonic loading history respectively with and without a near end mechanical anchorage both unaged and after being exposed to the ageing conditions. The results revealed failures in the adhesive for some CSJs with a near end mechanical anchorage, among which also exhibited the best bond performance both in aged and unaged specimens. Due to the high state of degradation after ageing exposure, local damage of the CFRP located at the gap position of the CSJs was induced by a torsion action during the fixation of the specimen in the tensile machine even prior to the testing, which caused, although locally, severe delamination of the CFRP of the aged CSJs. From the torsion test results, a decrease in the torsional capacity of the CFRP after aging revealed the degradation of the carbon fiber-to-matrix interface. Additional results reflected that a drop in the initial stiffness of the load vs. slip relationship can be observed, caused by a pre-crack with a length of 30 mm in the CSJs. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd