Effect of low velocity impact at different temperatures on hybrid adhesives in aluminium-composite single lap joints

This study aims to investigate the effect of a small stone impact on aluminum composite adhesive joints used in aircraft after exposure to various temperature conditions. In this context, single lap adhesive joints were prepared using 2024-T3 aluminium alloy sheets and 8-layer carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy hybrid composite sheets, with epoxy adhesive applied to the bonding surfaces. In addition, different types of hybrid adhesives were developed by reinforcing pure epoxy adhesive with various ratios (1%, 3% and 5% by weight) of graphene doped and undoped Nylon 6.6 (N6.6) nanofibers produced by electrospinning method to reduce brittleness. Low-velocity impact tests of 1.04 m/s under five different temperatures (−50, −20, 0, 23 and 50°C) were applied to all single lap adhesion joints produced and tensile tests were applied to the non-failed specimens to examine the loading conditions after low-speed impact. It was determined that approximately 1.5 J of the 3 J energy given by the low- velocity impact was absorbed in common in all samples, while the remaining part was returned and some separation occurred within the adhesion area due to the effect of this impact. While the low- velocity post-impact tensile strength of pure epoxy resin was measured as 2230.3 N at 23°C and 585.15 N at −50°C, the highest values were obtained in N6.6 reinforced epoxy adhesive with 1%GNP additive, which was measured as 3206.39 N at 23°C and 641.82 N at −50°C, and increased by 43.7% and 9.6% for 23°C and −50°C, respectively. In addition, the rupture surfaces of the specimens destroyed by the tensile test were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for damage analysis.