Experimental study on structural adhesive properties of aluminum plate and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer heterogeneous materials

Structural adhesive bonding between aluminum and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is an important part of the vehicle's lightweight design and must ensure high strength and durability during the life of the structural member. The paper presents a precise assessment scheme to accurately and reliably infer the performance of adhesive joints through a short-term experimental test method that focuses on intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting bond strength. The experimental results show that the surface of CFRP is polished, which is beneficial to improve the bonding quality, and the damage type transitioned from adhesion damage to substrate or cohesion damage. Aluminum alloy electrophoresis and non-electrophoresis have no significant effect on the bonding performance. Secondly, the design of the bonding nodes should be considered to bring them into a state of shear stress and be able to withstand greater loads. Meanwhile, the moderate thickness of the adhesive layer and increased bonding area serve to enhance bond reliability. In addition, various environments can cause various physical and chemical changes within structural adhesives, which can reduce the cohesive strength and durability of adhesives. This experiment is designed to select process parameters and adhesive applications for structural adhesives, which are crucial in predicting and evaluating the performance of newly developed structural adhesives and bonded joints.