DEVELOPMENT OF NUMERICAL MODEL FOR PREDICTING BRIDGING EFFECT IN ADHESIVELY BONDED COMPOSITES WITH ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED POLYMER INSERTS

• Main Author: Andika Pratama, Sofyan
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/73992
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The utilization of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites has witnessed a significant increase in the past few decades. One of the methods of joining CFRP composite structures is through adhesive bonding. However, this method is highly susceptible to brittle delamination, leading to catastrophic failures. Therefore, researchers have been continuously developing methods to enhance the delamination resistance. One such method that has been investigated introduce the polymer insert that was embedded into the adhesive bondline, which can arrest delamination by artificially made bridging from the inserted material. In this project, a numerical model was developed to replicate the experiments conducted in the aforementioned study and elucidate the factors contributing to bridging development. The modeling will focus on a Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) model with a Nylon PA6 wavy net-like insert. The adhesive bonding will be simulated using connector elements with contrasting strong and weak properties following a Weibull distribution and randomly arranged along the bonding zone. Additionally, a control specimen modeling will be conducted, which is a DCB without the insert material to examine the role of bridging. From the load-displacement curves obtained through the modeling, results closely match the experimental curves for both the control and insert specimens. These results also provide evidence of the bridging effect in inhibiting crack propagation. Furthermore, a study will be conducted to investigate the influence of various bridging formation parameters on the modeling results. It is expected that these modeling results can serve as a preliminary reference for further similar research developments.