Direct measurement of longitudinal strains and stresses within single lap shear adhesive joints using neutron diffraction

The neutron diffraction technique has been used to investigate the longitud inal stresses in the adherend produced as a result of cure and due to the a pplication of a tensile load in a single lap shear joint. A comparison has also been made between the stress distributions in loaded "aged" and "unage d" joints. The neutron diffraction technique is the only viable method of i nvestigating these stresses within metal adherends and enables comparisons between predicted and measured stresses to be made. The results of these ex periments cast doubt on some of the predictions from finite element modelli ng of adherend stress levels.