CHARACTERIZATION OF IMPACT RESPONSE FOR JOINTS OF EXPOXY-BASED STRUCTURAL ADHEIVES

Adhesive connection is a traditional connecting technique in the manufacturing of lightweight bodies of vehicles. The modeling of adhesive joints is a crucial precondition for the crash safety design of lightweight vehicles. To fully capture the mechanical response of epoxy-based structural adhesive with high tenacity and improve the accuracy of existing models of joint failure under impact loading, a constitutive model that considers the stress state effect, strain rate effect, and damage accumulation simultaneously is introduced in this study. Based on the constitutive model, this paper presents a method to recognize the model parameters and a corresponding parameter calibration process. Then, two material models for different epoxy-based adhesives are established. The constitutive model and characterization approach introduced in this study are verified through a result comparison between FE simulations and multi-level impact tests. The bulk specimen tests, adhesive joints tests, and structural impact tests are included in this study.