The NAFEMS Eastern European 2020 Virtual Conference took place on the 23rd and 24th of September 2020. The event gave participants access to high level presentations in the field of structural mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, electromagnetics and discrete element methods.

Resource Abstract

Adhesives are used in home appliance industries due to its good adhesion , high bond strength and long aging properties. The adhesives are designed to provide a preferential load transfer path between sheet metal and plastic resins. Major challenge is predicting adhesive failure and capturing its physics. Mode I and mode II failures prediction is important under the tensile and shear loading conditions.The prediction of the normal and shear strength of the joints are depending on the various parameters like adhesive properties ,dimensions and position. The T Block test (ASTM C297) and Dynamic Shear Test (ASTM C393) are used to generate material data, subjected to special treatments like temperature, humidity and curing time as per the standard. Simulation helps in expediting the design cycles , saving time and cost associated with testing. Cohesive zone modelling techniques is preferred in the simulation domain due to its multiple advantages. Material calibration of adhesive plays a critical role in CZM technique. This paper consists of two major case studies.

In Case Study 1,the traction separation law for the identified adhesives is measured experimentally. The traction-separation law measurements have enabled us to calibrate a cohesive zone model (CZM).The calibrated material data is used in simulation models to predict the normal and shear strength of the joints and validated against the empirical data.

In Case Study 2, the baseline study is performed to predict the adhesive strength applied to hold the pocket panel with the front panel on the dishwasher door. Further optimization is performed on key factors like the adhesive tape dimensions, adhesive area, position were undertaken to run a design of experiments in order to understand the most critical factors affecting the debonding force. The optimization is performed using the Response Surface technique in commercial code ANSYS. Optimization showcased ~40% of adhesive material saving. This robust simulation methodology and proven correlations, can be effectively incorporated in early design cycles to optimize the design parts to meet their success criteria.