Prediction of mass adhesive damage based on the Rousselier model: Experimental and numerical analysis

The study of the mechanical strength of adhesives remains an important area of research for researchers. These adhesives must be prepared in the form of mass test pieces to characterize them under different mechanical stresses. However, during the preparation of the test pieces several defects are likely to be present, namely air bubbles, cavities, or impurities. The behavior of the adhesive differs depending on the presence of one of these defects and, in most cases, the real behavior of the adhesive is not precisely known. For this purpose, several tests are necessary to have a close estimate of the adhesive's behavior. To numerically model the behavior of the adhesive it is necessary to consider the presence of these types of defects. This paper proposes a damage criterion based on the Rousselier model, which describes the damage due to crack growth from the presence of cavities in an adhesive, assumed as a ductile material. The proposed damage model was developed and implemented in a user-defined subroutine in the ABAQUS finite element code. Other damage models integrated into ABAQUS were used. In addition, the extended finite element method (XFEM) was used in the numerical simulations to study automatic damage modelling by the appearance and propagation of cracks in highly stressed areas. The main objective of this work is an analysis by the finite element method to determine the elastoplastic behavior coupled with the damage in the mass adhesive, considering the size, position, and shape of the defect (porosities) by the proposed models. Initially, experimental tests were carried out on mass specimens of adhesive to characterize the tensile response and to determine their mechanical properties depending on the position and size of the defect, which may exist in the specimen following its fabrication. The numerical results were validated by uniaxial tensile tests on the mass adhesive. Comparisons with the damage models integrated into ABAQUS have proven their effectiveness in predicting the behavior of the adhesive in the presence of a cavity.