The effect of elevated temperature on the bond between high modulus carbon fibre-reinforced polymer sheet and steel

The technique of strengthening steel structures with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) has attracted growing attention in research field and in practice, and thus, its environmental durability is of high importance. This paper describes an investigation on the bond characteristics between high modulus CFRP sheets and steel plates under elevated temperature exposures. Tensile tests were carried out on CFRP/steel plate double strap joints at different temperatures (20, 40 and 50 degrees C) that represent the usually encountered conditions for civil infrastructure. High modulus (640 GPa) unidirectional carbon fibre sheets were applied by wet lay-up fabrication method. The fracture surfaces of the failed specimens were studied using a scanning electron microscope and the failure mechanisms were discussed. It was found that the ultimate load decreased significantly when the test temperature was above the glass transition temperature of the adhesive. Larger effective bond lengths were found for the joints tested at the glass transition temperature. It is obvious that the short-term thermal exposure has little effect on their failure patterns. All the specimens failed by fibre breakage at the joint and decohesion accompanied some joints with very short bond length.