Improving performance of composite/metal T-joints by using corrugated aluminum stiffeners

The present work addresses the mechanical performance of adhesive bonded composite/metal T-joints comprising a CFRP skin bonded to an aluminum (AA5754) stiffener. Prior research on the subject has shown that the structural performances of T-joints can be enhanced by a variety of methods, including stitching and z-pinning. Here we propose an alternative approach that does not compromise the integrity of the skin, as it only relies on tailoring the architecture of the stiffener. Our results show that using corrugated flanges with a square wave profile, superior performances, i.e., ＋65% pull-off strength and ＋416% absorbed energy, can be achieved with respect to the conventional configuration.