Fatigue life enhancement of cracked aerospace grade aluminium repaired with bonded composite patch: experimental study

• Main Authors: Khan, S. M. A., Es Saheb, M., Mohsin, M. E. A.
• Format: Article
• Published: Italian Association of Chemical Engineering - AIDIC 2017
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/75837/; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85019453884&doi=10.3303%2fCET1756313&partnerID=40&md5=65bb3933c647bc4e59ca703fec14745d

Bonded composite patch repair of cracked components and weakened aircraft structures has gained high acceptance and demand. In the present study, fatigue crack behavior of 2 mm thick V-notched aluminum 2024-T3 plates, repaired with composite patch was experimentally investigated. This includes assessment of repair efficiency and fatigue life of cracked samples repaired at different levels of crack length. The experimental results showed that the reinforcement of patch increases the fatigue life about 4.5 times. However, the repair efficiency decreases with initial crack length. Consequently, cracks must be repaired as soon as detected. The SEM images clearly demonstrate that the fracture mode of 2024-T3 is predominantly trans-granular with small sized dimples.