In situ computed tomography – Analysis of settling effects during single-lap shear tests with clinch points

Abstract. In the field of mechanical engineering, destructive tests such as shear tests of mechanical joints are usually followed by imaging methods such as microsectioning or computed tomography (CT). They can help to interpret the measured load-displacement curves, analyze the failure behavior and validate numerical models. However, due to unloading, springback effects and crack closures can occur, which influence the state of the investigated specimen. In this context, in situ CT is able to explore the testing process with a specimen under load avoiding these influences. For in situ CT investigations, the displacement increase is interrupted at certain stop points. While the displacement is kept constant, the CT scan is performed. However, it was observed that the reaction force reduces during CT scanning, e. g. due to settling effects in the test setup. Although in situ CT is established now in research, little attention is paid to the uncertainties which arise from the discontinuous testing procedure. This study systematically explores the impact of these interruptions on the load-displacement behavior and the geometry of clinch points during tensile shear testing. To quantify the influence of the interruptions, loads at defined displacement levels and the final geometry are evaluated statistically. We found, that the load-displacement behavior of both test groups is similar. Despite some small but significant statistical deviations of the loads and the final geometry, our results show that, discontinuous testing has a high level of significance for the phenomena overserved in shear tests with clinch points.