Strength prediction of adhesively bonded ferrite pillar–tin bronze plate under axial shear loading

With the fast development of electronic, automotive and aerospace engineering in recent years, ferrite material has been widely used in devices including inductor, voltage transformer, filter and choke coil, etc. The proper characterisation on the mechanical capacity of the connection between ferrite and traditional metals has become a key issue for both industrial and academic fields. This work focused on the mechanical performance as well as fracture behaviour of adhesively bonded ferrite-tin bronze plate (FTBP), subjected to axial shear loading through experimental and numerical approaches. In the process, a new set of Arcan testing methods was developed for mechanical parameter determination of high flow epoxy adhesives. The material parameters of the epoxy adhesive connecting the ferrite pillar and bronze were experimentally determined. Curing mould was designed for the manufacture of the selected adhesive with high flowability in dumbbell tensile testing and Arcan testing under 0 degrees and 90 degrees loading directions. Quasi-static shear loading test was then conducted on bonded FTBP with a specially designed jig, and the failure surface was studied through optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations. Finite element (FE) modelling was carried out to simulate the loading process up to failure, where the crack propagation in the adhesive layer was modelled using cohesive zone model (CZM) with a bilinear traction-separation response. The experimentally measured and numerically simulated results of the adhesively bonded FTBP were compared with each other, proving the validity of the strength prediction approach developed in this work.