Modeling the Interfacial De-Bonding Behavior Between Steel Wire and Adhesive

A polyethylene pipe reinforced by winding steel wires (PSP) has been widely used in petroleum, chemical engineering, and water supply, etc. The PSP has outstanding mechanical properties due to its unique composite structure. However, according to earlier research, interfacial de-bonding between steel wire and adhesive is the cause for bulging failure of PSP joint, which is more likely to occur when the temperature and inner pressure increases to some extent in the application. In this study, the interfacial behavior between steel wire and adhesive was investigated and the interfacial failure process was analyzed. The pull-out test was conducted using specimens that were manufactured following PSP process parameters. Finite element models were established to represent the mechanical behavior and the de-bonding failure process of the steel-polymer interface. Contact surface with cohesive behavior based cohesive zone model was utilized to characterize the interfacial properties. The interfacial de-bonding failure process included stick-slip interaction and frictional sliding interaction. Both the stick-slip interaction and the adhesive-friction transition were modeled in the simulation. Results were presented in terms of pull-out load-displacement relationships, maximum pull-out force, and nonlinear stress distributions. The simulation result agreed well with the experimental result.