Influence of fibres' stiffness on wet lay-up CFRP/steel joints' behaviour under subzero exposures

The current paper characterises and differentiates the bond behaviour of wet lay-up CFRP/steel double-strap joints fabricated with NM (normal modulus) and UHM (ultra high modulus) unidirectional CF (carbon fibres) plies. The influence of infrastructural subzero exposure on the bond attributes of these joints is also investigated. While environmental exposure is maintained at a particular subzero temperature, ranging from −40 to 20 °C, specimens representing these joints are tested in tension. Failure patterns, joints' strength, and strain and LSS (lap-shear stress) distributions for the tested joints are extracted. Pertinent discussions and conclusions, related to the influence of CFRP moduli and subzero temperatures on the aforementioned parameters, are provided.