Analysis of various composite patches effect on mechanical properties of notched Al-Mg plate

In this study, the effect of various adhesively bonded composite patches on mechanical properties of notched Al-Mg alloy plates was analyzed. For this purpose firstly, the un-notched and notched specimens were fabricated from 5086 Al-Mg alloys which have been used in armor-plated military vehicles. The surface notches as a flaw were machined with circular cutting tool to form notch aspect ratio a/c=0.15 and notch-to-thickness ratios a/t=0.5 in the radial direction on the test specimens. Then, various composite patches which reinforced by glass, carbon and Kevlar fibers were bonded adhesively at elliptically surface notches. Finally, experimental measurements conducted by applying tensile static loading. The experimental results showed that repairing with composite patches with order of carbon, glass and Kevlar fibers have remarkable effect on tensile strength of the notched plate. Also the finite element models were developed using Abaqus/Explicit code to predict the tensile strength and elongation of unrepaired notched specimen and specimen repaired by carbon fiber composite patch. The comparison between numerical and experimental results showed good agreement between them and proved the accuracy of numerical modeling.