BIOMIMETIC-INSPIRED CFRP TO PERFORATED STEEL JOINTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank God Almighty for providing all the timely resources for the
completion of this seminar. Next I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to
Rev.Dr.ClementValluvassery, Manager, AISAT, and Prof.Dr.K.E.George,
Principal, AISAT, for providing me such a wonderful opportunity to do this
Seminar. Then I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Ms. Asha K.R,
HOD-in-Charge, Ms. Shilpa Francis, seminar in charge and staff of the
Mechanical Engineering department of AISAT for their support. My seminar
guide, Mr. Kiran Robert, Faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
should be given special mention for his never ending guidance throughout my
endeavor. Finally I would like to extend my whole hearted thanks to each and
every one of my family and friends who lent me their helping hands during the
entire course of the seminar.

Place: kalamassery Signature of the student

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AISAT, Kalamassery Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
BIOMIMETIC-INSPIRED CFRP TO PERFORATED STEEL JOINTS

ABSRTACT

In many high-performance applications there is a need to join steel to

CFRP parts. However the stiffness mismatch between these materials leads to high
stress concentrations in such joints. This paper uses the biomimetics approach to
help develop solutions to this problem. Nature has found many ingenious ways of
joining dissimilar materials, with a transitional zone of stiffness at the insertion site
commonly used. In engineering joints, one way to reduce the material stiffness
mismatch is to gradually decrease the effective stiffness of the steel part of the joint
by perforating it with holes. This paper investigates joining of flat perforated steel
plates to a CFRP part by a co-infusion resin transfer moulding process. The
possible effect of mechanical interlocking as resin fills the perforations is assessed
by filling the holes with PTFE prior to moulding to prevent such resin ingress. The
joints are tested under static tensile loading. The perforated steel joints show a
175% increase of joint strength comparing to non-perforated joints. Finite element
analyses are used to interpret the experimental results. It has been found that the
model is able to reproduce with accuracy the experimental load–displacement test
curves and show the failure mechanisms of the joint.

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AISAT, Kalamassery Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
BIOMIMETIC-INSPIRED CFRP TO PERFORATED STEEL JOINTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sl.no Content Page no

1 Introduction 5

2 History 6
Steps in Biomimetic inspired Approach for The
3 Joints 7

4 Design Concept 8

5 Numerical Modelling 10

6 Experimental Methodology 13

7 Result 16

8 Conclusion 22

9 Reference 23

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AISAT, Kalamassery Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
BIOMIMETIC-INSPIRED CFRP TO PERFORATED STEEL JOINTS

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES

Page no

Figure 4.1 CFRP to perforated steel model design configuration …..…...8

Figure 4.2 Steel perforation patterns ………………………………..….. 9

Figure 5.1 Numerical model………….…………………….……….…..10

Table 5.1 Material Properties of the CFRP adherends …………………10

Table 5.2 Properties of adhesive Araldite LY564/ Aradur 2954 ………. 11

Figure 5.2 (a) Joint geometry (b) loading and boundary conditions…... 12

Figure 6.1 (a) without PTEE (b) with PTEE insert in the holes ……….13

Figure 6.2 Comparison between Numerical and Experimental ………..15

Figure 7.1 Load–displacement response …………………………….…16

Figure 7.3 Failure observation using high speed camera ……………... 18

Figure 7.4 Failure observation using low speed camera ……………… 19

Figure 7.5 load–displacement curve for SH steel perforation pattern….20

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AISAT, Kalamassery Dept. of Mechanical Engineering