Ultrasonic Evaluation of Environmental Durability of Adhesive Joints

An angle-beam ultrasonic technique is used to investigate the interfacial properties of lap shear adhesive joints subjected to severe environmental degradation under load. The mode of failure during the process of degradation changes from cohesive (through the bulk adhesive) to predominantly interfacial (along the adhesive/adherent interface). It is found that the minimum shift in the frequency spectrum of the reflected ultrasonic signal is more sensitive to changes of properties in the interphasial region than in the bulk adhesive. The shift of the minimum to lower frequencies is related to the fraction of interfacial failure area and to the joint strength. This could lead to a methodology for predicting the residual lifetime of the joint in service. The joint degradation is described by a mathematical model of an adhesive joint with nonhomogeneous interphase structure. Reasonable agreement between the experimental results and computer simulations on the basis of the proposed model is obtained.