Double cantilever beam tests on a viscoelastic adhesive: effects of the loading rate

In the present work, we evidence some strain rate sensitivity at the bondline scale by performing DCB test under different opening rate conditions. At first, the viscoelastic behaviour of the adhesive is studied by performing creep test in a Dynamic Mechanical Analyser. The DCB tests results are interpreted with several methods including the Simple Beam Theory. It is shown that fracture energy is not an appropriate quantity to evaluate the crack propagation condition.