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In this study, the effect of cork particles on the failure behavior of SLJs was investigated
experimentally through tensile testing and non-contact digital image correlation (DIC) methods.
Cork particles within size range of 125-250 μm were added at 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0% wt. in
a brittle epoxy. SLJs with and without cork particles were tested under a displacement control
condition of 1.3 mm/min and digital images were captured during the deformation in order to
analyze the fracture process. VIC 2D 7 software was used to determine the peel and shear strain
distributions in the overlapped area of bonded joints. Tensile test and DIC results reveal that cork
particles enhance the strength and ductility of adhesive joints. However, the effect of cork particles
on ductility is more significant than strength of joint. The visual inspection of the captured images
shows cork particles act as crack stopper and slow down the crack propagation along the bondline.