Measuring the interfacial transverse strength:: a novel test for evaluating polymer joints

The paper presents a novel method to determine the adhesion strength of a polymer joint. The experimental arrangement provides a uniform transverse tensile stress at the interface, which does not have concentrations or singularities at the edges. The stress state at the interface is purely tensile and does not contain shear components. A special optimised sample geometry generates this stress state. The connection between the applied load and the interfacial transverse stress is obtained from a three-dimensional finite-element analysis. The first experimental results are presented for a polyethylene sample with a glued interface. The possibilities of improvement and also of extending the application field are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.