SH ultrasonic guided waves for the evaluation of interfacial adhesion

Shear-Horizontally (SH) polarized, ultrasonic, guided wave modes are considered in order to infer changes in the adhesive properties at several interfaces located within an adhesive bond joining two metallic plates. Specific aluminium lap-joint samples were produced, with different adhesive properties at up to four interfaces when a glass–epoxy film is inserted into the adhesive bond. EMAT transducers were used to generate and detect the fundamental SH₀ mode. This is launched from one plate and detected at the other plate, past the lap joint. Signals are picked up for different propagation paths along each sample, in order to check measurement reproducibility as well as the uniformity of the adhesively bonded zones. Signals measured for four samples are then compared, showing very good sensitivity of the SH₀ mode to changes in the interfacial adhesive properties. In addition, a Finite Element-based model is used to simulate the experimental measurements. The model includes adhesive viscoelasticity, as well as spatial distributions of shear springs (with shear stiffness K_T) at both metal–adhesive interfaces, and also at the adhesive–film interfaces when these are present. This model is solved in the frequency domain, but temporal excitation and inverse FFT procedure are implemented in order to simulate the measured time traces. Values of the interfacial adhesive parameters, K_T, are determined by an optimization process so that best fit is obtained between both sets of measured and numerically predicted waveforms. Such agreement was also possible by adjusting the shear modulus of the adhesive component. This work suggests a promising use of SH-like guided modes for quantifying shear properties at adhesive interfaces, and shows that such waves can be used for inferring adhesive and cohesive properties of bonds separately. Finally, the paper considers improvements that could be made to the process, and its potential for testing the interfacial adhesion of adhesively bonded composite components.