Evaluation of an Accelerated Characterization Technique for Reliability Assessment of Adhesive Joints

Adhesively bonded joints were failed statically and in fatigue to test the validity of a fatigue-life assessment model. The results of the tests were in agreement with both the assumptions and the predictions of the model. In particular, the failure mode was constant for all tests and the observed static strength and fatigue lives were adequately modeled by the Weibull family of distributions with constant, but different, shape parameters over the range of test conditions considered. The predicted relationship between the shape parameters as a function of an experimentally determined material property was observed. The predicted distribution of residual strength as a function of time in the fatigue environment was verified and agreement between prediction and observation for an accelerated fatigue test was obtained.