An Assessment of the Impact Performance of Bonded Joints for Use in High Energy Absorbing Structures

Using an instrumented impact test, the strength and energy absorption of bonded single lap joints have been measured for single lap joints with four epoxy adhesives and three aluminium alloy adherends. Compared with the static values, joint strength is not significantly affected by the high loading rates. Energy absorption is large when joint strength is sufficient for plastic deformation to occur in the adherends prior to failure, which is only the case for certain adherend/adhesive combinations. Spot welded joints are shown to be inferior in performance in the tests. The effect of loading rate on bonded joint strength has been analysed using a non-linear finite element method, from which predictions of joint strength in keeping with the experimental results have been obtained.

Crush tests carried out on open-ended cylinders have been used to simulate the impact behaviour of an energy absorbing structure. Similar performance was observed for cylinders with either bonded or spot welded longitudinal seams, although the large deformations in the crumple zones led to some debonding and weld fracture.