Shear behaviour of adhesive layers

An experimental method to determine the complete stress versus deformation relation for a thin adhesive layer loaded in shear is presented. The method is based on a classic specimen geometry; the end-notch flexure specimen. The experiments are evaluated using an inverse method. First, the variation of the energy release rate with respect to the shear deformation at the crack tip is measured during an experiment. Then the traction–deformation relation is derived using an inverse method. The theory is based on the path-independence of the J-integral and considers the effects of a flexible adhesive layer. Quasi-static experiments on three different specimen geometries are performed using a servo-hydraulic testing machine. The experiments give consistent results. This shows that the traction–deformation relation can be taken as independent of the dimensions of the adherends. Thus, the constitutive relation can be considered as a property of the adhesive layer. The deformation process at the crack tip is also monitored during the experiments by the use of a digital camera attached to a microscope.