Numerical analysis on stress distribution in adhesive-welded double lap joint of aluminum

The influence of the elastic modulus of adhesives and nuggets position on the stress distribution in adhesive-welded double lap joints of aluminum was investigated by elastic-plastic finite element method(FEM).The results obtained show that the influence of the elastic modulus of adhesive on the stress distribution in adhesive-welded double lap joints of aluminum is significant. The load subjected by the nuggets is greater when the elastic modulus of adhesive is lower and the load subjected by the adhesive layer increases when the elastic modulus of adhesive is higher.The effect of nuggets location is also significant when the center of the nugget is moved to the left end of the overlap zone. The peak stress along the mid-bonding line of the aluminum double lap joint increases when the center of the nuggets are moved to near the left end of the overlap zone.The peak value of the von mises equivalent stress increases from 55.2 MPa to 77.4 MPa when the nugget center is shifted from the point at 12.5 mm to 5.5 mm.Therefore, the load bearing ability of the adhesive-welded double lap joints of aluminum can be improved by lower elastic modulus adhesive and the center overlapping of the nugget and the lap zone.