Load Carrying Capacity of Repaired Al7075-T6 Alloy Through Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Patch
摘要
Cracks in the structures can lead to catastrophic failures; for this reason, arresting the crack is extremely important. The present research focuses on enhancing the load carrying capacity (LCC) of cracked Al7075-T6 alloy specimens using a composite patch repair technique. A uni-directional carbon-fiber-reinforced epoxy (CFRP) patch was used to repair the cracked aluminum alloy. Uniaxial tensile tests on flat dog bone specimens of aluminum alloy (Al7075-T6) with notch, fatigue pre-crack, and patch were conducted to determine their LCC. The LCC of the repaired specimen improved by 18.4% compared to the cracked specimen. A kink was observed in the load versus displacement curve, indicating the crack arrest. Patch thickness was varied to determine the effect of patch thickness on LCC. The patch thickness doesn’t affect the LCC significantly. As the thickness of the patch decreased, LCC increased slightly. After the test, it was observed that the failure was entirely due to adhesive failure, and the patch remained undamaged. Fractographic analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate crack formation and observe the material’s response to static loading. Notably, the patch did not influence the characteristics of the fractured surfaces, yielding consistent surface impressions.