Investigation of mechanical behavior of transverse stitched T-joints with PR520 resin in flexure and tension

An investigation of the mechanical behavior of transverse stitched T-joints using a fiber insertion process and PR520 toughened epoxy resin was undertaken. Experimental and numerical analysis was performed under flexure loading and preliminary experiments were conducted under tensile loading. These conditions were selected as representative of the in-service loads found in the application of this type of joint in industry. Experiments were conducted to determine the modes of failure and ultimate failure strength for each load condition. Flexure specimens were instrumented with strain gages to measure far field strains. Initial and ultimate damage moment is investigated and failure mechanisms are discussed. The results indicate that the flexural specimens fail in part from unsymmetrical loading of the fiber insertions and in part from high stress concentration in the "resin-rich" fillet region. Tensile specimens have symmetric loading of both sets of fiber insertions and initially fail due to matrix cracking at the web-to-flange interface. Both flexure and tension specimens are shown to exhibit additional load-carrying capability beyond initial failure indicating a significant damage tolerance. A linear elastic finite element model was developed for flexural loading and results are compared to experimental data.