Hot Water Degradation of Mechanically Fastened GFRP Joints

Abstract

FRP is often used in various environments where excellent corrosion resistance is requived. For composite structures such as vessels, it is very important to clarify the liquid degradation behavior. Since joints are a most important factor in composite structures, special attention must be given to their design. In this study, we investigated the hot water degradation behavior of mechanically fastened GFRP joints. Immersion tests were carried out for the double lap joint specimens with different failure modes. Tensile and bearing failure tests were performed to examine the residual tensile and bearing strengths of the joint after the immersion tests. It is cleared that immersion in hot water has a considerable effect on the bearing strength. Furthermore, the change in the failure mode according to the degradation behavior was estimated from the stress distribution of the joint calculated by FEM. The calculated results weve found to agree well with the experimental results.