The effects of graphene nanostructure reinforcement on the adhesive method and the graphene reinforcement ratio on the failure load in adhesively bonded joints

This study experimentally determines the tensile failure load of the nanocomposite adhesive - obtained by adding nanostructures to the adhesive - using four different methods in single-lap joints. For the study, adhesively bonded single-lap joints were produced by using DP460 liquid structural epoxy as the adhesive, AA2024-T3 aluminum alloy as the adherend and graphene as the nanostructure. When the failure load obtained from the experiments was examined, it was seen that, while the nanostructure-reinforced methods indicated in the literature have a great effect on the failure load of the joint and the standard deviation, a new method developed in this study increased the failure load of the joint and minimized the standard deviation. These improvements increased the reliability and reproducibility of the joint. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.