Effect of Humidity on The Fatigue Behaviour of Adhesively Bonded Aluminium Joints

Abstract The present work focuses on the effects of water degradation on the fatigue behaviour of adhesive joints bonded with aluminium adherends. The objective of this study is to measure the influence that humidity has on the fatigue crack growth velocity of two distinct adhesives characterized using the Paris Law, using double cantilever beam (DCB) specimens in unaged and various aged conditions loaded in mode I in order to understand the influence that water content has on the Paris Law constants. It was found that the slope of the Paris Law curve is not heavily changed with the presence of water, but a shift in the curves does occur, generally resulting in a crack initiating at a lower threshold than in the unaged adhesive. Based on this behaviour, it can be concluded that an increase in water content reduces the fatigue joint strength and lifespan of adhesive joints bonded with the studied adhesives.