Stress distributions in rubber butt-joints bonding

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of shear modulus of thin adhesive layer on stress distributions and deformations in rubber butt-joints with Finite Element Method (FEM) and shape factor. The research methods comprise of three important tasks. First, the material properties of adhesive layer and rubber are figured out in order to use in 3-D FEM models of the rubber butt joint. Second, the FEM models are verified with experiments in order to evaluate the accuracy. Third, the effect of shear modulus of thin adhesive layer is studied from FEM models. The finding of this research indicates that the shear modulus of thin adhesive layer and shape factor of the rubber joint increases the resistance of lateral deformation and hydrostatic pressure in rubber butt-joints.

Keywords

• rubber
• bonded butt-joint
• thin adhesive layers
• finite element analysis