Abstract

Hybrid joints consisting of metals and fiber-reinforced polymer composites exhibit highly desirable properties for many lightweight design applications. This study investigates the potential of additively manufactured surface structures for enhancing the bond strength of such joints in comparison to face milled and laser structured surfaces. Titanium samples with different surface structures (as-built surface, groove-, and pin-shaped structures) were manufactured via electron beam melting and joined to carbon fiber-reinforced polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) via adhesive bonding and thermal direct joining, respectively. Bond strength was evaluated by tensile shear testing. Samples were exposed to salt spray testing for 1000 h for studying bond stability under harsh environmental conditions. The initial tensile shear strengths of the additively manufactured samples were competitive to or in some cases even exceeded the values achieved with laser surface structuring for both investigated joining methods. The most promising results were found for pin-shaped surface structures. However, the hybrid joints with additively manufactured structures tended to be more susceptible to degradation during salt spray exposure. It is concluded that additively manufactured structures can be a viable alternative to laser surface structuring for both adhesive bonding and thermal direct joining of metal-polymer hybrid joints, thus opening up new potentials in lightweight design.

Highlights

  • IntroductionEven though polymers can be used to reduce structural weight due to their low density, their mechanical properties often do not meet the requirements regarding strength and stiffness of structural components

  • The surface structures obtained via electron beam melting and the two reference groups were evaluated by visual inspection and by means of laser scanning confocal microscopy

  • The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different surface structures fabricated via electron beam melting on the performance of titanium/CF-PEEK hybrid joints

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Summary

Introduction

Even though polymers can be used to reduce structural weight due to their low density, their mechanical properties often do not meet the requirements regarding strength and stiffness of structural components These limitations can be overcome by using composite materials, such as carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP). Lightweight design applications can even be advanced further by utilizing fiber metal laminates consisting of alternating layers of metal and fiber-reinforced polymer composites. These hybrid structures combine the superior fracture toughness of the composite component with the high impact resistance of the metal part, which makes them especially interesting for automotive and aerospace applications [4,5]. An example for the use of hybrid structures in aircraft production is the upper fuselage section of the Airbus A380, which is 25% lighter than a conventional structure [4]

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