PSI - Issue 28

Jamal A. Abdalla et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 28 (2020) 2342–2349 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000–000

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Table 2. Mechanical properties of CFRP sheet and epoxy Thickness (mm)

Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

Ultimate tensile strength (MPa)

Elongation at failure (%)

CFRP sheet

1.4

170

3100

2.0

Epoxy (Adesilex PG2) 2.0

6.0

--

--

2.3. Specimen preparation and test setup For each beam specimen, holes of 20 mm depth and with diameter of 15 mm, 25 mm, and 35 mm were drilled. The spacing between the bores were kept at 20 mm, i.e., 5 holes were drilled for each CFRP sheet. The position of the holes were first marked and then they were drilled as shown in Fig. 2 (a). The drilled holes then filled with epoxy as shown in Fig. 2 (b) and CFRP sheets were bonded, using epoxy, as shown in Fig. 2 (c).

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 2: Beams preparation (a) bore holes drilling; (b) bore-epoxy filling; (c) installation of CFRP sheets

As shown in Fig. 3, the specimens were subjected to four-point bending until failure. All beams were loaded monotonically at a rate of 10 kN/min using a digitally controlled universal testing machine (UTM) as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Beam mounted on universal testing machine.