Experimental and FEM Studies on Secondary Co-Curing Reinforcement of Laminates

In this study, a static tensile test of secondary co-cure reinforcement (SCR) of laminates revealed the damage and fracture locations in the respective structure. Test results indicated that adhesive debonding was the primary cause of structural failure. Finite element modeling (FEM) performed on the large opening laminate and strengthening structure consisted of simulations of the axial tension experiment, damage assessment, and the final load estimate. It was observed that the tensile strength of SCR was increased by 10.81% in comparison with the unrepaired structure. The results of FEM indicated that the initiation and propagation of damage, and final failure, were located in the layer of reinforcing section which was bonded to the adhesive layer, proving that the performance of the adhesive layer was the dominating factor with regard to the reinforced structure and that the thickness of the reinforcing section could be reduced to lessen the weight.