Investigating Failure Behavior of Adhesive Joints with Dissimilar Materials of Steel and Additively Manufactured PLA

Abstract

In this study, the failure behavior of adhesive joints comprising two dissimilar materials of stainless steel (SS) 304 and additively manufactured polylactic acid (PLA) in different dimensions was investigated. The adherends were attached through a thin layer of structural adhesive called Araldite 2011 to prepare single-lap joint specimens. The specimens were mechanically tested in a uniaxial tensile test. Finite element analyses (FEAs) of the single-lap joints were carried out to simulate the damage initiation and propagation by employing the three-dimensional cohesive zone model (CZM). The comparison of FEA results with the results of the physical tensile tests for the single-lap joints showed high accuracy reflecting that the applied FE process was successful in modeling PLA/SS adhesive joints. Stress analyses were also performed to depict the stress distribution in the single-lap joints and reveal the critical points of each adherend and the adhesive layer.