Fatigue Threshold Analysis of Adhesives: Displacement Control vs. Load Control Strategy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the response of a two-part polyurethane-resin adhesive under quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions, to compare load control and displacement control approaches for the mode I fatigue threshold analysis of the tested material. To achieve this, double cantilever beam (DCB) joints were manufactured and tested. For the post-processing of the raw data, a compliance-based beam method was used. Out of this analysis, R curves and Paris law curves were obtained.

Both approaches showed a similar Paris law slope meaning a low sensibility of the crack growth rate between them. As the displacement control load decreases gradually during the test, it can give more precise threshold energy than the load control technique.