EFFECT OF MOISTURE ON

CFRP ADHESIVE BONDED

JOINTS
By,
A.T.Chandrasekar (20053006),
R.Kannan (20053012),
S.Prabhu (20053023),
N.Senthil Kumar (20064901).

Under the guidance

of
Dr.A.JOSEPH STANLEY,
PROFESSOR & DEAN,
DEPT. OF AEROSPACE ENGG.,
MADRAS INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY.

Introduction
This Project is about moisture effect on
CFRP Laminate Adhesive joint.
Degradation of Lap shear strength of the
joint due to moisture will be found.
Acoustic Emission is used to monitor the
propagation of defect.
Ultrasonic(A-Scan) is used to identify the
defects
caused
due
to
moisture
absorption.

DESCRIPTION
25 specimens were made.(Araldite-Bond)
5 specimens were tested in FIE UTM machine.
20 specimens were scanned using Ultrasonic(AScan) and then 10 specimens are immersed in
water,10 are kept in climatic chamber.
After 20 days (which is immersed in water), 5
specimens were scanned
using Ultrasonic(AScan) and then tested in UTM.

Specimen
ASTM D 5868 01 Standard

Specimen Conditioning
Specimens are immersed in water for
different periods.
20 days
30 days 5 specimens each.

Specimens
are conditioned
for
accelerated environment in climatic
chamber. (ASTM-D5229)
o

70% humidity

50c.
20 days
30 days 5 specimens each.

Acoustic Emission
SAMOS E3.10 data acquisition system of
Physical Acoustics Corporation (PAC)
Threshold : 45 dB.
AE measurements were achieved by using
two resonant Nano PAC sensors
Frequency range :1 kHz200 KHz at -3dB
The amplitude distribution range :0100
dB
Peak definition time=30 micro s;
Hit definition time=300 ms;
Hit lock time=600 ms

Sensor Placement

All dimensions are in mm.

Acoustic emission
observation

Purpose of pencil-break study

It ensures that the transducers are in good acoustic
contact with the part being monitored.
It checks the accuracy of the source location setup.

Acoustic emission
observation
Wave velocity study

wave velocity

D1
D2
t1
t2

V = (D2-D1)
(t2-t1)
distance between sensor1 and source
distance between sensor2 and source
time interval at which signal is detected in sensor1
time interval at which signal is detected in sensor2

Acoustic emission
monitoring

Tensile testing of specimens

Acoustic emission sensors were coupled

with specimens and were tensile loaded
on a100 kN FIE servo hydraulic
universal testing machine. The load
rate was set at 0.25 kN/min.
Time for each 0.25kN interval of the
loading is noted.
Test is continued till the specimen fails
and the failure load of specimen is
noted.

FAILURE LOADS OF
SPECIMENS
SPECIMEN

FAILURE LOAD
(KN)

SP-21

4.95

SP-24

5.65

SP-25

4.89

SP-3

4.425

SP-4

4.65

SPECIMEN
IMMERSED IN
WATER FOR 20
DAYS

Acoustic emission Graphs

Specimen-3
Immersed in water for 20 days
Failure load 4.425 kN

ULTRASONIC INSPECTION
Widely used NDT technique
Detection of most manufacturing flaws and inservice flaws
Ultrasonic transducers for NDT consist of
a single active element that both generates and receives
high frequency sound waves,
or two paired elements, one for transmitting and one for
receiving.

ULTRASONICS (A-Scan)
Simple RF waveform presentation showing the
time and amplitude of an ultrasonic signal.
An A-scan waveform represents the
reflections from different layers in the test
piece.
Ultrasonic wave propagation is influenced by
the microstructure of the material.
The velocity of the ultrasonic waves is
influenced by the material properties and the
defects in the material.

Un-bonded region

Bonded region

ULTRASONICS Attenuation
Attenuation in ultrasonics is the reduction in
amplitude of the ultrasound beam as a function of
distance through the specimen.
It is the combined effect of scattering and
absorption.
A = A0 * e / L
Where,
A Amplitude at any
location
A0 Amplitude at reference
location
e Attenuation co-efficient
L Distance from reference
point

Normal
specimen

X-axis Echo
distance
Y-axis Amplitude

Specimen
after 20 days
in water

Comparison of specimensUnconditioned &

conditioned specimen
Bonded
region

Bonded
region

Unconditioned
specimen

Specimen
immersed in
water for 20 days

THANK YOU