Introduction:

The field of materials science and engineering continually strives to enhance the performance and
reliability of structural components through innovative designs and advanced materials. One key
aspect of this endeavor involves evaluating the mechanical behavior of materials under various
loading conditions. The current study employs the Shimadzu Universal Testing Machine to conduct
comprehensive tensile and compression tests on metal plates and struts bonded with Araldite 2015
adhesive. This research aims to contribute valuable insights into failure prediction and the
performance of mechanical systems, focusing on the application of lap joint finite element (FE) data
analysis, sensitivity to design considerations, and viscoelastic properties.

Adhesives are increasingly being used in mechanical designs and structural applications due to their
ability to distribute stresses evenly across joints, their corrosion resistance properties, and the ease
with which they can join dissimilar materials (Karachalios et al., 2013). Understanding the failure
mechanisms of adhesively bonded joints and being able to accurately predict the failure load is
therefore critical for ensuring the integrity and safety of adhesive-based mechanical systems. This
report details a series of experiments conducted to evaluate the failure load and mechanisms of
adhesively bonded aluminium struts and lap joints using Araldite 2015, a two-part epoxy paste
adhesive. Aluminium was chosen due to its common use in mechanical assemblies, whilst Araldite
2015 was selected for its high strength and ability to withstand high service temperatures
(Huntsman, 2023). The overarching aim of this work was to utilise experimental data to derive
accurate failure predictions and load-deflection trends that can inform the design and assembly of
strut-based mechanical systems. Meeting this aim required several key objectives.