EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF BONDED, RIVETED

AND HYBRID JOINTS IN GLASS-JUTE FIBER

COMPOSITE LAMINATES

MAJOR PROJECT REPORT

FOR
B.E. (MECH. ENGG.) 8TH SEM

Submitted By

Rajat Saini (UE159055)

Pratham Bhatia (UE159053)
Ronit Verma (UE159064)
Rishabh Panjwani (UE159059)

under the guidance of

Er. Harbhinder Singh

Mechanical Engineering Department

University Institute of Engineering and Technology
Panjab University, Chandigarh – 160014, INDIA
MAY 2019
 CERTIFICATE

We hereby certify that the work which is being submitted in this report titled
“Experimental Evaluation of Bonded, Riveted and Hybrid Joints in Glass-Jute Fiber
Composite Laminates”, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
degree “Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering” submitted at UIET,
Panjab University, Chandigarh, is an authentic record of our work carried out under
the supervision of “ Er. Harbhinder Singh ” and refers to others’ work which are
duly written in this report. It is further certified that the report has also been
thoroughly checked on anti-plagiarism software and nothing has been found which
can be considered as plagiarism. The matter presented in this report has not been
submitted for the award of any other degree of this or any other university.

Rajat Saini (UE159055)

Pratham Bhatia (UE159053)
Ronit Verma (UE159064)
Rishabh Panjwani (UE159059)

This is to certify that the statements made above by the candidates are correct and
true to the best of our knowledge.

(Er. Harbhinder Singh)

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Mech. Engg.
UIET, Panjab University,
Chandigarh - 160014
 ACKNOWLEDGEMNET

We take immense pleasure in expressing our deep sense of gratitude to our

supervisor Er. Harbhinder Singh ,Department of Mechanical engineering ,UIET for
his constant support and encouragement and for bringing excellent academic
climate to finish our work successfully .His timely advice ,meticulous scrutiny,
scholarly advice and scientific approach have helped us to a great extent to
accomplish this project .
We want to thank all the non-teaching staff of department of Mechanical
Engineering for sharing knowledge and helped in the analysis of data and an
endless help to finish this project work.
We are also very thankful to our friends and others who in one way or another
shared their valuable support, either morally, financially and physically.
At the end, we are very grateful to the faculty of BABA BANDA SINGH BAHADUR
ENGINEERING COLLEGE, FATEHGARH SAHIB, PUNJAB for letting us perform our
required tests on their UTM facility.

Thanks You
 ABSTRACT

The composite structural members are highly used in the following applications
such as aerospace, automobiles, robotic arms, architecture etc., has attracted
extensive attention in the past decades. One of the important issues in the
composite technology is the repairing of aging aircraft structures. In such
applications and also for joining various composite parts together, they are
fastened together either using adhesives or mechanical fasteners.
To utilize the full potential of composite materials like Glass Fiber - polyester as
structural elements, the strength and stress distribution of these joints namely,
bonded, riveted and hybrid joints must be understood while conducting
experimental works.
Various joint like bonded, riveted and hybrid joint were prepared by glass fiber
polyester/polyester composite laminates as well as using a Jute-Glass Fiber hybrid
to undergo for tensile test, impact test and two point bending test by universal
testing machine with data acquisition system. The results will then be compared
with the joints. The Best Joint is identified by their load Bearing Capacity.
 Table of Contents
Certificate……………………………………………………………………………..2
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….3
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………4
Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………..5
List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………6
List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….7
Chapter 1. Introduction/ Literature Review 8
Chapter 2. Problem Formulation 14
Chapter 3. Work Carried Out 15
Chapter 4. Experimental Results and Comparison 26
Chapter 5. Conclusions 30
Chapter 6. Future scope 31
References 32
 List of figures
Figure No. Title Page No.
1 Composites 9
2 Jute Threads 16
3 Application of resin 17
4 Finished composite 17
5 Table saw machine 19
6 Final pieces 20
7 Bonded joints 21
8 Three types of joints 22
9 Rivet Gun 23
10 Joint of glass fiber 23
11 Joint of transverse glass jute fiber 24
12 Joint of longitudinal glass jute fiber 24
13 Joint of 45 degree glass jute fiber 25
14 Bending, impact and tensile test 26
 List of Tables

Table No. Title Page No.

1 Materials Used 25
2 Specific Properties 25
3 Experimental values for glass fiber composite 27
4 Experimental values for glass jute composite (transverse) 27
5 Experimental values for glass jute composite (longitudinal) 27
6 Experimental values for glass jute composite (45 deg) 27
 INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW

Over the past three decades, application of composite materials are continuously
increasing from traditional application areas such as military aircraft, commercial
aircraft to various engineering fields including automobiles, robotic arms and even
architecture. Due to its superior properties, composites have been one of the
materials used for repairing the existing structures.
In such applications and also for joining various composite parts together, they are
fastened together either using adhesives or mechanical fasteners. Nowadays, a
novel method called hybrid joint is also being employed, where a combination of
both adhesive and mechanical fasteners is used.

OBJECTIVE :
In the present project, an attempt is made to analyze and compare the strength of
three configurations of single lap joint, namely, bonded, riveted and hybrid joints
and also to make an attempt to do it experimentally by performing various tests
physically.

IMPORTANCE OF THE WORK :

Composite materials have been widely used as structural elements in aircraft
structures due to their superior properties. Aircraft structure is a huge assembly of
skins, spars, frames etc. The structure consists of an assembly of sub-structures
properly arranged and connected to form a load transmission path. Such load
transmission path is achieved using joints.
Joints constitute the weakest zones in the structure. Failure may occur due to
various reasons such as stress concentrations, excessive deflections etc. or a
combination of these. Therefore, to utilize the full potential of composite materials,
the strength and stress distribution in the joints has to be understood so that
suitable configuration can be chosen for various applications.
 COMPOSITE MATERIALS – AN OVERVIEW

fig1

A composite is a structural material which consists of two or more constituents

combined at a macroscopic level. The constituents of a composite material are a
continuous phase called matrix and a discontinuous phase called reinforcement.
Matrix gives shape and protects the reinforcement from the environment. It also
makes the individual fibers of the reinforcement act together and provides
transverse shear strength and stiffness to the laminated composites. The matrix
factors which contribute to the mechanical performance of composites are
transverse modulus and strength, shear modulus and strength, compressive
strength, inter-laminar shear strength, thermal expansion co-efficient, thermal
resistance and fatigue strength.
Reinforcement provides strength and stiffness and controls thermal expansion co-
efficient. It also helps to achieve directional properties. Reinforcements may be in
the form of fibers, particles or flakes. The fiber factors which contribute to the
mechanical performance of a composite are length, orientation, shape and
material .The factor which influences the mechanical performance of composites
other than the fiber and the matrix is the fiber matrix interface. It predicts how well
the matrix transfers load to the fibers.

Composites are classified by

1. The geometry of the reinforcement as particulate, flakes and fibers
2. The type of matrix as polymer, metal, ceramic and carbon

The most commonly used advanced composites are polymer matrix composites.
These composites consists of a polymer such as polyester, polyester, urethane etc.,
reinforced by thin diameter fibers such as carbon, graphite, aramids, boron, glass
etc. The building block of a laminate is a single lamina. Therefore the mechanical
analysis of a lamina precedes that of a laminate. A lamina is an anisotropic and non-
homogeneous material.

But for approximate macro-mechanical analysis, a lamina is assumed to be

homogeneous where the calculation of the average properties are based on
individual mechanical properties of fiber and matrix, as well as content, packing
geometry and shape of fibers. The lamina is considered as orthotropic, so it can be
characterized by nine independent elastic constants: three Young’s moduli along
each material axis, three Poisson’s ratio for each plane and three shear moduli for
each plane. Once the properties for each lamina are obtained, properties of a
laminate, made of those laminae can be calculated using those individual
properties.

In the highly competitive airline market, using composites is more efficient. Though
the material cost may be higher, the reduction in the number of parts in an
assembly and the savings in the fuel cost makes more profit. It also lowers the
overall mass of the aircraft without reducing the strength and stiffness of its
components.

COMPOSITE JOINTS

Ideally, it is always preferred to make monolithic structures, that is, structures

without joints. This ideal can never be realized for many reasons like size limitations
imposed by materials or the manufacturing process, need for disassembly of
structure for transportation and access for inspection and repair etc. Basically,
there are two types of load-carrying joints available: mechanically fastened joints
and adhesively bonded joints.
Nowadays, a novel method called hybrid joint is also being used in certain
applications. Reaching a decision about the type of joints to be used requires
careful considerations of several parameters together with the knowledge of the
service that the joint is expected to provide.
Thus a requirement for disassembly and lack of adequate preparation facilities
would certainly preclude bonding; a requirement to join thin sheets might rule out
the use of mechanical fasteners whereas heavily loaded joints are designed using
mechanical attachments.
A short description of the type of joint used in the present work namely, bonded
joint, riveted and hybrid joints is given below.

BONDED JOINT
Bonded joints can be made by gluing together pre-cured laminates with the
suitable adhesives or by forming joints during the manufacturing process, in which
case the joint and the laminate are cured at the same time (co-cured). Here, load
transfer between the substrates take place through a distribution of shear stresses
in the adhesive.
In general, there are numerous advantages of adhesive bonded joints over the
traditional mechanical fastened joints. These advantages include large bond area
for load transfer, low stress concentration, smooth external surfaces at the joint,
less sensitivity to cyclic loading, time and cost saving, high strength to weight ratio,
electrical and thermal insulation, Conductivity ,corrosion and fatigue resistance,
crack retardation, damping characteristic and so on.
Some of the disadvantages of bonded joints are:
1. Disassembly is impossible without component damage.
2. They can be severely weakened by environmental effects.
3. They require surface preparation.
4. Joint integrity is difficult to confirm by inspection. Thus ensuring a quality of
bonding has been a challenging task.

RIVETED JOINT
There are mainly two types of riveted joints, based on the rivet arrangement.
1. Lap joints
2. Butt joints
Both joints are also sub-classified into single riveted and double riveted. Sometimes
based on joints strengths, triple riveted are also possible. Single riveted means one
row of the rivet in joint.

Advantages of riveted joints:

 Cheaper fabrication cost
 Low maintenance cost
 Dissimilar metals can also be joined, even non-metallic joints are possible
with riveted joints.
 Ease of riveting process.
Disadvantages of riveted joints:
 Skilled workers required
 Leakage may be a problem for this type of joints, but this is overcome by
special techniques.
 Applications of riveted joints:
 Boiler shells
 Structures members and bridges parts
 Railway wagons and coaches
 Buses and trucks

Properties of Jute Fibers:

1. Jute fiber is 100% bio-degradable and recyclable and thus environmentally

friendly.

2. It has high tensile strength, low extensibility, and ensures better breathability
of fabrics. Therefore, jute is very suitable in agricultural commodity bulk
packaging.

3. It helps to make best quality industrial yarn, fabric, net, and sacks. It is one of
the most versatile natural fibers that has been used in raw materials for
packaging, textiles, non-textile, construction, and agricultural sectors. Bulking
of yarn results in a reduced breaking tenacity and an increased breaking
extensibility when blended as a ternary blend.

4. Jute is one of the most versatile natural fibers that has been used in raw
materials for packaging, textiles, non-textile, and agricultural sectors.

5. Jute is a natural fiber with golden and silky shine and hence called The Golden
Fiber.
 PROBLEM FORMULATION

As we know in the new modernized world every sector is trying to outsmart all
other competitors by improving their technologies and upgrading to the level best.
So is the case with composite sector as we all cherish that composite gives us
various advantages over pure material or alloy.
That’s why we have decide to take the stock of study of how the composite material
materials fare when glass fiber with jute is reinforced and takes the shape of lap
joint which further categorized into bonded ,riveted and hybrid joints.
Our key inspiration for taking up this problem is to check whether these composites
stand any chance in front of traditional materials .Because if it is so we can leverage
upon this because it is accessible, affordable as well as cheap in price.
We will be checking the strength of aforementioned joints by performing three
basic tests on the UTM and we will be comparing those among themselves firstly
and then with the other present materials. We hope that it goes well and result
comes in our favor. Because we all know composite are lighter and are going to be
very handy in imminent events of the world level industries.
WORK CARRIED OUT

1. Selection of laminate to be worked upon as glass fiber and jute.

2. Selection of resin.
3. Selection of hardener.
4. Fabrication of composite.
5. Layout of specimens to be cut off on the composite.
6. Precise cutting of specimens to be tested with dimensions.
7. Grinding of the specimens for accuracy.
8. Drilling and riveting of the samples.
9. Impact, bending and tensile tests for each specimen under each type of
composite.

Process carried :

1) Preparation of Composite laminates

Firstly, the preparation of glass fiber composite was done. It constituted two layers
of glass fiber along with the polyester resin used to bind them. An appropriate
hardener for the polyester resin was used. Following steps were followed.
1. A rectangle of dimension 16 * 21 was cut out of the total glass fiber sheet.
2. The polyester and hardener was applied on to the layer of glass fiber evenly
and uniformly with the help of a brush.
3. A miler sheet was applied on it and pressed thoroughly onto the wet
composite laminate.
4. It was left to dry for a day.
Similarly, more samples were made.
Apart from the glass fiber composite, the next step was to create a jute-glass fiber
composite laminate which had three configurations, transverse, longitudinal and at
an angle ( 45 degrees) so that it could be compared with the glass fiber only
composite on the basis of various strength tests like impact test, bending test and
tensile test. Also, the comparison of various types of joints within a particular type
of composite was to be done, i.e. namely bonded, riveted and hybrid joints. So, for
the preparation of jute-glass fiber composite laminate, the following steps were
covered.

1. The untangling of jute fibers were done till the point it converted into single
thread of jute.
2. Two bricks were placed some distance apart according to the dimension of
the rectangular sheet.
3. The jute threads were added in between the two bricks until it filled up the
whole space.
4. Jute threads were evenly stretched and a with the help of a tape, were held
firmlytogether.

Fig 2
5. Glass fiber was kept on the base sheet and the mixture of resin and hardener
was applied with the help of a brush.

Fig 3
6. The closely packed jute threads were kept on the glass fiber.
7. Then, again, mixture of resin and hardener was applied with the help of a
brush on the jute layer.

Fig4
8. On top of the jute layer, another glass fiber layer was added and was pressed
thoroughly.
 9. The whole sample was left to dry for a day and more samples were made for
the longitudinal as well as cross angled (45 degree) configurations.

2) Cutting of samples
Next step was to cut the samples. According to different ASTM codes for various
tests, the dimensions were to be cut.
 For tensile tests, ASTM D638/ D3039 the total length to be taken was
165mm. Width = 20 mm and thickness = 3 mm. The common length where
the bonded, riveted and hybrid joint had to be made was 30mm.
 For flexural test or bending test, ASTM D790, the total length taken =
125mm. Width = 12.7 mm and thickness was 3 mm.
 For impact test (Charpy test), ASTM D256, total length = 64 mm. Width = 2
mm.
The overlap length taken for each sample was 20 mm with reference to the
research paper.

For each type of laminate, i.e. glass fiber, jute-glass fiber longitudinal, transverse,
cross angled (45 degrees), three types of test is to be conducted. And each type of
test has three sub types of joints that is bonded, riveted and hybrid. So total pieces
cut for each type were 18.

Cutting was done with the help of Table Saw Machine.

Table Saw Machine

A table saw (also known as a saw bench in England) is a woodworking tool,

consisting of a circular saw blade, mounted on an arbor, that is driven by an electric
motor (either directly, by belt, or by gears). The blade protrudes through the
surface of a table, which provides support for the material, usually wood, being cut.
In a modern table saw, the depth of the cut is varied by moving the blade up and
down: the higher the blade protrudes above the table, the deeper the cut that is
made in the material. In some early table saws, the blade and arbor were fixed, and
the table was moved up and down to expose more or less of the blade. The angle
of cut is controlled by adjusting the angle of blade. Some earlier saws angled the
table to control the cut angle.

fig5
 fig6

Grinding
After the cutting of samples, for each piece, grinding was done with the help of a
grinding machine to make sure that the precision to which the samples were cut
was accurate with minimum error.

Making of joints
1. For bonded joints, Flex Kwik instant adhesive was used.

fig 7

2. For riveted joints, 4mm diameter aluminum rivets were used having Pitch =
12 mm (Pitch = 3*diameter) and head size = 6 mm (Maximum). Riveting was
done with the help of a riveting gun.

3. For hybrid joint, riveting was done after the application of the adhesive.
 fig8
(a)Riveted (b) Bonded (c) Hybrid

Rivet Gun

A rivet gun, also known as a pneumatic hammer, is a type of tool used to

drive rivets. The rivet gun is used on rivet's factory head and a bucking bar is used
to support the tail of the rivet. The energy from the hammer in the rivet gun drives
the work and the rivet against the bucking bar. As a result, the tail of the rivet is
compressed and work-hardened. At the same time the work is tightly drawn
together and retained between the rivet head and the flattened tail (now called
the shop head, or buck-tail, to distinguish it from the factory head). Nearly all rivet
guns are pneumatically powered.
fig9

Sample types and their Orientations

1. (Glass Fiber)

fig10
 2. Jute – Glass Fiber (Transverse)

Fig 11
3. Jute – Glass Fiber (Longitudinal)

fig 12
 4. Jute – Glass Fiber (Cross angled 45 degree)

+ fig 13
Materials used for the various components of joints and their properties are given
below.
Table 1
Component Material
Laminates Glass Fiber/Polyester Composite
Adhesive Polyester LY556
Hardener HY951

Table 2
1 Thickness of laminate 3 mm
2 Thickness of adhesive 0.1 mm
3 Overlap Length 20 mm
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

fig 14
  Glass fiber

Type Impact(J) Tensile(KN) Bending(KN)

Bonded 5 1.48 0.140
Riveted 3 0.88 0.120
Hybrid 4 1.52 0.160
Table 3

 Jute – Glass Fiber (Transverse)

Type Impact(J) Tensile(KN) Bending(KN)

Bonded 3 1.9 0.120
Riveted 2 1.2 0.140
Hybrid 2.5 2.42 0.100
Table 4

 Jute – Glass Fiber (Longitudinal)

Type Impact(J) Tensile(KN) Bending(KN)

Bonded 4 2.04 0.110
Riveted 2 0.77 0.202
Hybrid 2.5 1.08 0.60
Table 5

 Jute – Glass Fiber (Cross angled 45 degree)

Type Impact(J) Tensile(KN) Bending(KN)

Bonded 4.5 0.58 0.160
Riveted 5.5 0.97 0.100
Hybrid 6.5 1.43 0.190
Table 6
(KN)
Tensile Test
3

2.5 2.42

2.04
2 1.9

1.48 1.52
1.5 1.43
1.2
1.08
0.97
1 0.88
0.77
0.58
0.5

0
Bonded Riveted Hybrid
Glass Fibre Jute (Transverse) Jute (Longitudinal) Jute (45 degree)

(KN)
0.7 Bending Test

0.6
0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.202 0.19
0.2
0.16 0.16
0.14 0.14
0.12 0.11 0.12
0.1 0.1
0.1

0
Bonded Riveted Hybrid
Glass Fibre Transverse Longitudinal 45 degree
 (JOULE)
Impact Test
7
6.5

6
5.5
5
5
4.5
4 4
4

3 3
3
2.5 2.5
2 2
2

0
Bonded Riveted Hybrid

Glass Fibre Transverse Longitudinal 45 degree

 CONCLUSION

After performing all the aforementioned tests, we have come up with following
conclusions.

1. Under Tensile Test

 Among bonded joints, longitudinal jute-fiber has higher strength.
 Among riveted joints, transverse jute-fiber has higher strength.
 Among hybrid joints, transverse jute-fiber has higher strength.

2. Under Bending Test

 Among bonded joints, 45 degree angled jute-fiber has higher strength.
 Among riveted joints, longitudinal jute-fiber has higher strength.
 Among hybrid joints, longitudinal jute-fiber has higher strength.

3. Under Impact Test

 Among bonded joints, glass fiber has higher strength.
 Among riveted joints, 45 degree angled jute-fiber has higher strength.
 Among hybrid joints, 45 degree angled jute-fiber has higher strength.

At the end after comparing each joint made up of 4 different composite materials.
We have finally concluded that best combination which are written as follows.
- Hybrid joint configuration made up of transverse orientation of jute fiber in glass-
jute composite has highest value in the tensile test.
- Hybrid joint configuration made up of longitudinal orientation of jute fiber in
glass-jute composite has highest value in the bending test.
- Hybrid joint configuration made up of 45 degree angled orientation of jute fiber
in glass-jute composite has highest value in the impact test.
FUTURE SCOPE

Although core part of this project has been studied and examined by various
scholars. But still there is a lot of room for throwing light on the further much more
critical aspects of composite joints. Significant amount of scope is there to check
rest of the configurations of joints of different composite materials.
Also failure analysis, elongation percentage and stress distribution in the whole
specimen needs to be done on ANSYS or other software through Finite Element
Analysis (FEA) which will further help us to understand the various reasons that
how specimen fails and what mistakes we did while performing it manually. Further
we can try different adhesives and their performances.
REFERENCES:

1. International journal of engineering trends and technology (IJETT) - Vol. 4

issue September 9, 2013 by S.Venkateshvarlu and K.Raja Shekhar.
2. Design of machine elements by V.B. Bhandari.
3. International Advanced Research Journal in Science, Engineering and
Technology ISO 3297:2007 Certified Vol. 4, Issue 1, January 2017 by
Bhupendra S. Ahire.
4. FEA and Experimental Evaluation of Bonded, Riveted and Hybrid Joints in
Glass Fibre Epoxy Composite Laminates by Raviraja.S and L.Nafeez Ahmed.