Numerical Optimization by Finite Element Method of Stainless Steel/Glass-Epoxy Composite Bolted Joint under Tension and Compression

The aim of this study was to optimize the geometry and the design of metallic/composite single bolted joints subjected to tension-compression loading. For this purpose, it was necessary to evaluate the stress state in each component of the bolted join. The multi-material assembly was based on the principle of double lap bolted joint. It was composed of a symmetrical balanced woven glass-epoxy composite material plate fastened to two stainless sheets using a stainless pre-stressed bolt. In order to optimize the design and the geometry of the assembly, ten configurations were proposed and studied: a classical simple bolted joint, two joints with an insert (a BigHeadR insert and a stair one) embedded in the composite, two “waved” solutions, three symmetrical configurations composed of a succession of metallic and composites layers, without a sleeve, with one and with two sleeves, and two non-symmetrical constituted of metallic and composites layers associated with a stair-insert (one with a sleeve and one without). A tridimensional Finite Element Method (FEM) was used to model each configuration mentioned above. The FE models taked into account the different materials, the effects of contact between the different sheets of the assembly and the pre-stress in the bolt. The stress state was analyzed in the composite part. The concept of stress concentration factor was used in order to evaluate the stress increase in the highly stressed regions and to compare the ten configurations studied. For this purpose, three stress concentration factors were defined: one for a monotonic loading in tension, another for a monotonic loading in compression, and the third for a tension-compression cyclic loading. The results of the FEM computations showed that the use of alternative metallic and composite layers associated with two sleeves gived low values of stress concentration factors, smaller than 1.4. In this case, there was no contact between the bolt and the composite part and the most stressed region was not the vicinity of the hole but the end of the longest layers of the metallic inserts.

Theoretical study and numerical simulation of the stress fields of the Al_2O_3 joints brazed with composite filler materials

Non-linear finite element code MSC. Marc was utilized to analysis the field of stress of the Al2O3 joints brazed with composite filler materials. The properties of the filler materials were defined by using the mixing law, method of Mori-Tanaka and theory of Eshelby to ensure the accuracy and reliability of results of finite element method （FEM）. The results show stress in brazed beam is higher than that in base material. The maximal stress can be found in the interface of joint. And the experimental results show that the shear strength of joints increases from 93.75 MPa （ Al2O3p Ovol. % ） to 135.32 MPa （ Al2O3p 15vol. % ） when composition of titanium is 3wt% in the filler metal.

Role of friction stir welding parameters on tensile strength of AA6061-B_4C composite joints

Friction stir welding（FSW） is a solid state joining technique developed to join high strength aluminum alloys and various ceramic reinforced metal matrix composites（MMCs）.FSW produces sound welds in MMCs without any deleterious reaction between reinforcement and matrix.The present work focused on the effect of FSW parameters on the tensile strength of Al-B4C composite joints.The central composite design of four factors and five levels was used to control the number of experiments.A mathematical model was developed to analyze the influence of FSW parameters.The results indicated that the joint fabricated using rotational speed of 1000 r/min,welding speed of 1.3 mm/s,axial force of 10 kN and the reinforcement of 12% showed larger tensile strength compared with the other joints.The developed model was optimized to maximize the tensile strength using generalized reduced gradient method.The metallographic analysis of the joints showed the presence of various zones such as weld nugget（WN） zone,thermo mechanically affected zone（TMAZ） and heat affected zone（HAZ）.The substantial grain refinement of aluminum matrix as well as significant size reduction of B4C particles was observed in the weld nugget.TMAZ was plastically deformed,thermally affected and exhibited elongated aluminum grains.

Determination of Water Diffusion Coefficients and Dynamics in Adhesive/Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Resin Composite Joints

To determinate the water diffusion coefficients and dynamics in adhesive/carben fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite joints, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis（EDX） is used to establish the content change of oxy- gen in the adhesive in adhesive/carbon fther reinforced epoxy resin composite joints. As water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen, the water diffusion coefficients and dynamics in adhesive/carben fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite joints can be obtained from the change in the content of oxygen in the adhesive during humidity aging, via EDX analy-sis. The authors have calculated the water diffusion coefficients and dynamics in the adhesive/carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite joints with the aid of beth energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The de- termined results with EDX analysis are almost the same as those determined with elemental analysis and the results al- so show that the durability of the adhesive/carbon fther reinforced epoxy resin composite joints subjected to silane cou- pling agent treatment is better than those subjected to sand paper burnishing treatment and chemical oxidation treat- ment.

Bearing Failure Optimization of Composite Double-Lap Bolted Joints Based on a Three-Step Strategy Marked By Feasible Region Reduction and Model Decoupling

To minimize the mass and increase the bearing failure load of composite double-lap bolted joints,a three-step optimization strategy including feasible region reduction,optimization model decoupling and optimization was presented.In feasible region reduction,the dimensions of the feasible design region were reduced by selecting dominant design variables from numerous multilevel parameters by sensitivity analyses,and the feasible regions of variables were reduced by influence mechanism analyses.In model decoupling,the optimization model with a large number of variables was divided into various sub-models with fewer variables by variance analysis.In the third step,the optimization sub-models were solved one by one using a genetic algorithm,and the modified characteristic curve method was adopted as the failure prediction method.Based on the proposed optimization method,optimization of a double-lap single-bolt joint was performed using the ANSYS®code.The results show that the bearing failure load increased by 13.5%and that the mass decreased by 8.7%compared with those of the initial design of the joint,which validated the effectiveness of the three-step optimization strategy.

Evaluation of microstructure and mechanical properties of squeeze overcast Al7075-Cu composite joints

Al7075-Cu composite joints were prepared by the squeeze overcast process.The effects of melt temperature,die temperature,and squeeze pressure on hardness and ultimate tensile strength(UTS)of squeeze overcast Al7075-Cu composite joints were studied.The experimental results depict that squeeze pressure is the most significant process parameter affecting the hardness and UTS.The optimal values of UTS(48 MPa)and hardness(76 HRB)are achieved at a melt temperature of 800℃,a die temperature of 250℃,and a squeeze pressure of 90 MPa.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)shows that fractured surfaces show flatfaced morphology at the optimal experimental condition.Energy-dispersive spectroscopy(EDS)analysis depicts that the atomic weight percentage of Zn decreases with an increase in melt temperature and squeeze pressure.The optimal mechanical properties of the Al7075-Cu overcast joint were achieved at the Al2Cu eutectic phase due to the large number of copper atoms that dispersed into the aluminum melt during the solidification process and the formation of strong intermetallic bonds.Gray relational analysis integrated with the Taguchi method was used to develop an optimal set of control variables for multi-response parametric optimization.Confirmatory tests were performed to validate the effectiveness of the employed technique.The manufacturing of squeeze overcast Al7075-Cu composite joints at optimal process parameters delivers a great indication to acknowledge a new method for foundry practitioners to manufacture materials with superior mechanical properties.

Experimental and Numerical Study on Mechanical Properties of Z-pins Reinforced Composites Adhesively Bonded Single-Lap Joints

The mechanical properties of Z-pins reinforced composites adhesively bonded single-lap joints(SLJs)under un-directional tension loading are investigated by experimental and numerical methods.Three kinds of joint configurations,including SLJs with three/two rows of Z-pins and“I”array of Z-pins,are investigated by tension test.The failure modes and mechanism of reinforced joints with different Z-pins numbers and alignment are analyzed,and the comparison is performed for the failure strengths of no Z-pins and Z-pins reinforced joints.According to experimental results,failure modes of three kinds of joints are all mixed failure.It turns out that the Z-pins are pulled out ultimately.The strength of joints of more Z-pins at the end of the overlap area is relatively bigger for the joint of the same Z-pins numbers.The strength of joints with Z-pins compared with non Z-pins joints is growing at 16%.Finally,the three-dimensional distribution of interfacial stress in the lap zone of three kinds of Z-pins reinforced joints is simulated,and the numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results.It is effective that the numerical calculation of stress analysis is verified.

The influence of temperature on creep behavior of Cu particle enhanced SnPb based composite soldered joints

Creep property of solder alloys is one of the important factors to affect the reliabdity of soldered joints in SMT （surface mount technology）. Particle-enhancement is a way to improve the properties of solder alloys and has caused much more attention than before. Temperatures applied to soldered joints are one of the primary factors of affecting creep properties of particle enhancement composite soldered joints. In this paper single shear lap creep specimens with a 1 mm^2 cross-sectional area were fabricated using Cu particle enhancement 63Sn37 Pb based composite soldered joints and 63Sn37 Pb eutectic soldered joints to examine the influence of temperature on creep behavior of soldered joints. Results indicated that the creep resistance of soldered joints of Cu particle enhancement 63Sn37Pb based composite soldered joint was generally superior to that of the conventional 63Sn37Pb soldered joint. At the same time, creep rupture life of the composite soldered joint was declined with increasing temperature and drop faster than that of the conventional 63Sn37 Pb eutectic soldered joint.

Static behavior of semi-rigid thin-walled steel-concrete composite beam-to-column joints with bolted partial-depth flush end plate:experimental study

A new type of semi-rigid thin-walled steel-concrete composite beam-to-column joint has been proposed in this paper.Five semi-rigid composite beam-to-column joint specimens subjected to hogging moments under monotonic loading were tested to study the static behavior of this new type of joint.The main variable parameters for the five joint specimens were the longitudinal reinforcement ratio and the joint type.The experimental results designated that the magnitude of extension of the longitudinal reinforcement is the most important factor that influenced the moment-rotation characteristic of the new type of joint.The concrete slabs could resist 3.8%-19.1% of the total shear load applied to the cross-sections near the beam-to-column connection.The edge stiffened elements,such as the flange of the lipped I-section thin-walled steel beam,were capable of having considerable inelastic deformation capacity although they had comparatively large width-to-thickness ratios.The shear failure of the concrete cantilever edge strip must be taken into account in practical design because it has significant influence on the anchorage of the longitudinal reinforcement in the new type of external joints.

Progressive Failure Analysis of Composite/Aluminum Riveted Joints Subjected to Pull-Through Loading

Out-of-plane mechanical properties of the riveted joints restrict the performance of the wing box assembly of airplane.It is necessary to investigate the pull-through performance of the composite/metal riveted joints in order to guide the riveting design and ensure the safety of the wing box assembly.The progressive failure mechanism of composite/aluminum riveted joint subjected to pull-through loading was investigated by experiments and finite element method.A progressive damage model based on the Hashin-type criteria and zero-thickness cohesive zone method was developed by VUMAT subroutine,which was validated by both open-hole tensile test and three-point bending test.Predicted load-displacement response,failure modes and damage propagation were analysed and compared with the results of the pull-through tests.There are 4 obvious characteristic stages on the load-displacement curve of the pull-through test and that of the finite element model:first load take-up stage,damage stage,second load take-up stage and failure stage.Relative error of stiffness,first load peak and second load peak between finite element method and experiments were 8.1%,-3.3%and 10.6%,respectively.It was found that the specimen was mainly broken by rivet-penetration fracture and delamination of plies of the composite laminate.And the material within the scope of the rivet head is more dangerous with more serious tensile damages than other regions,especially for 90°plies.This study proposes a numerical method for damage prediction and reveals the progressive failure mechanism of the hybrid material riveted joints subjected to the pull-through loading.

Stiffness and toughness of soft/stiff suture joints in biological composites

Biological composites can overcome the conflict between strength and toughness to achieve unprecedented mechanical properties in engineering materials.The suture joint,as a kind of heterogeneous architecture widely existing in biological tissues,is crucial to connect dissimilar components and to attain a tradeoff of all-sided functional performances.Therefore,the suture joints have attracted many researchers to theoretically investigate their mechanical response.However,most of the previous models focus on the sutural interface between two chemically similar stiff phases with(or without)a thin adhesive layer,which are under the framework of linear elasticity and small deformation.Here,a general model based on the finite deformation framework is proposed to explore the stiffness and toughness of chemically dissimilar suture joints connecting soft and stiff phases.Uniaxial tension tests are conducted to investigate the tensile response of the suture joints,and finite element simulations are implemented to explore the underlying mechanisms,considering both material nonlinearity and cohesive properties of the interface.Two failure modes are quantitively captured by our model.The stored elastic energy in the soft phase competes with the energy dissipation due to the interface debonding,which controls the transition among different failure modes.The toughness of the suture joints depends on not only the intrinsic strengths of the constituent materials and their cohesive strength,but also the interfacial geometry.This work provides the structureproperty relationships of the soft/stiff suture joints and gives a foundational guidance of mechanical design towards high-performance bioinspired composites.

Seismic Behavior of Confined RC ColumnComposite Beam Joints

In order to evaluate the seismic behavior of confined RC column-composite beam joints, five interior joints were tested under low cyclic reversed load. The weakening extent of flanges, the number of studs, and whether to reinforce weakened flanges were used as parameters in designing these five joints. Failure characteristics, hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, ductility, energy dissipation, strength degradation, and stiffness degradation were analyzed. The test results revealed that the steel beam flanges in the joints were equivalent to the tie rod. Weakened flanges resulted in poor seismic behavior; however, the seismic behavior could be improved by increasing studs and reinforcing weakened flanges. The joint steel plate hoops, equivalent to stirrups, did not yield when the maximum load was reached, but yielded when the failure load was reached for the joints with shear failure. Increasing stud-type joints and reinforcing flange-type joints ensured good seismic behavior and met project requirements. Based on the experimental results, the failure mechanism of the joints was discussed, and the shear capacity equations of the joints was presented.

Numerical and Experimental Study on Stiffened Composite Panel Repaired by Bolted Joints under Compressive Load

Numerical and experimental study was conducted to investigate the failure mode and strength performance of stiffened composite panel repaired by bolted joints under compressive load, and the results were then compared with those from virgin stiffened composite panel without any damage. A finite element analysis model was established for repaired and virgin stiffened composite panels under compressive load, the 3D Hashin criteria was applied to identify the composite structure failure, and the secondary stress criteria was adopted to identify the adhesive failure between the base laminate and the stiffener. The failure modes of repaired stiffened composite panels were stiffened composite panels breaking off along the bolt joints. The experimental results were consistent with the finite element analysis results, indicating the reliability of the finite element analysis model.

Dimensioning of Punctiform Metal-Composite Joints: A Section-Force Related Failure Criterion

Reliable line production processes and simulation tools play a central role for the structural integration of thermoplastic composites in advanced lightweight constructions. Provided that material-adapted joining technologies are available, they can be applied in heavy-duty multi-material designs (MMD). A load-adapted approach was implemented into the new fully automatic and fault-tolerant thermo mechanical flow drill joining (FDJ) concept. With this method it is possible to manufacture reproducible high strength FRP/metal-joints within short cycle times and without use of extra joining elements for the first time. The analysis of FDJ joints requires a simplified model of the joint to enable efficient numerical simulations. The present work introduces a strategy in modeling a finite-element based analogous-approach for FDJ-joints with glass fiber reinforced polypropylene and high-strength steel. Combined with a newly developed section-force related failure criterion, it is possible to predict the fundamental failure behavior in multi-axial stress states. The functionality of the holistic approach is illustrated by a demonstrator that represents a part of a car body-in-white structure. The comparison of simulated and experimentally determined failure loads proves the applicability for several combined load cases.

Characterisation of wear particles from biomedical carbon/carbon composites with different preforms in hip joint simulator

A hip joint simulator was employed to predict the clinical wear behaviour of carbon/carbon （C/C） composites with needled carbon cloth preform and carbon felt preform. Wear particles generated from the two kinds of C/C composites were isolated and characterised by the size distribution and morphology. The evolvement of wear particles in the hip joint simulator was proposed. The results show that the wear particles from two kinds of C/C composites have a size ranging from submicron to tens of micrometers. The wear particles have various morphologies including broken fiber, fragment fiber, slice pyrolytic carbon and spherical pyrolytic carbon. C/C composites with needled carbon cloth preforms have larger size range and more broken fiber particles and slice pyrolytic carbon particles in comparison with C/C composites with carbon felt preforms. The evolvement of pyrolytic carbon particles is caused by surface regularization, whereas, the evolvement of carbon fiber particles is related to stress direction in the hip joint simulator.

Effects of interface slip and semi-rigid joint on elastic seismic response of steel-concrete composite frames

The stiffness matrix of semi-rigidly connected composite beams considering interface slip was established and the calculation method for elastic seismic response of composite frame was derived.The corresponding calculation programs were developed.Introducing the dimensionless quantities that were related to the connector shearing stiffness and the joint rotation stiffness,the influences of interface slip and semi-rigid joint on composite frame were transferred to quantitative parameter analysis,taking account of cross sectional properties,materials and linear stiffness of composite beam synthetically.Based on the calculation programs,free vibration frequencies and seismic responses of semi-rigid joint steel-concrete composite frame considering interface slip were calculated.The influences of interface slip and semi rigid joint on dynamic characteristics and seismic response were analyzed and the seismic design advices were presented.The results show that the interface slip decreases the free vibration frequencies and increase the seismic responses of composite frame.The semi-rigid joint reduces the free vibration frequencies and increases seismic responses of composite frame compared with rigid joint.With the increase of joint rotational stiffness,the elastic seismic responses of composite frame increase firstly and then decrease.The effects are related to the ratio of joint rotation stiffness to linear stiffness of composite beam.

Mechanical Behavior of a Glass-fiber Reinforced Composite to Steel Joint for Ships

The use of a glass-fiber reinforced composite in marine structures is becoming more common, particularly due to the potential weight savings. The mechanical response of the joint between a glass-fiber reinforced polymer （GRP） superstructure and a steel hull formed is examined and subsequently modified to improve performance through a combined program of modeling and testing. A finite-element model is developed to predict the response of the joint. The model takes into account the contact at the interface between different materials, progressive damage, large deformation theory, and a non-linear stress-strain relationship. To predict the progressive failure, the analysis combines Hashin failure criteria and maximum stress failure criteria. The results show stress response has a great influence on the strength and bearing of the joint. The Balsawood-steel interface is proved to be critical to the mechanical behavior of the joint. Good agreement between experimental results and numerical predictions is observed.

Diffusion bonding mechanism and microstructure ofwelded joint of aluminium matrix composite Al_2O_(3p),/6061

Relationships between microstructures of welded joint and welding parameters or weld strength of aluminium matrix composite Al2O3p/6061 subjected to diffusion welding were studied. The results are as follows: key factor affecting strength of welded joint is oxide in the weld zone. The existence of oxide in the welded joint not only hinders the diffusion of the matrix atoms, but also destroys the good interface between the matrix and the reinforced phase. The oxides turn into fine particles from film with increasing welding temperature, and the destroying effect on welded joint decreases, which increases the strength of the welded joint. On the basis of this, the diffusion welding of aluminium matrix composite Al2O3p/6061 was successfully realized.

Using Walsh-m Composite Sequence and LDPC-QPSK Joint Iteration to Reduce ISI in Long-range Underwater Acoustic Systems

To reduce inter-symbol-interference (ISI) in underwater acoustic (UWA) communication systems, a method based on LDPC-QPSK joint iteration and Walsh-m composite sequence is proposed in this paper. The method is intended for use in long-range and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) UWA communications. At the transmitter, Walsh-m composite sequence is introduced to resist multipath effect. At the receiver, a soft-input soft-output (SISO) module is implemented in a joint iterative process between QPSK demodulator and LDPC decoder. This method is demonstrated in three types of UWA channel models: positive, negative and invariable sound velocity gradients channels. It is shown that through contrastive simulation experiments, this method is more efficient than conventional methods based on independent decoding and demodulation. After two rounds of joint iteration, the proposed method can obtain 2.5 dB over conventional method at BER of 10-5. Numerical results verify that the proposed method is a good candidate for long-range underwater acoustic communication systems.