Abstract
The ultrasonic welding (UW) technique is an ultra-fast joining process, and it is used to join thermoplastic composite structures, and provides an excellent bonding strength. It is more cost-efficient as opposed to the conventional adhesive, mechanical and other joining methods. This review paper presents the detailed progress made by the scientific and research community to date in the direction of the UW of thermoplastic composites. The focus of this paper is to review the recent development of the ultrasonic welding technique for thermoplastic composites to thermoplastic composites, and to dissimilar materials. Different ultrasonic welding modes and their processing parameters, namely, weld time, weld pressure, amplitude, type of energy directors (EDs) affecting the welding quality and the advantages and disadvantages of UW over other bonding techniques, are summarized. The current state of the ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites and their future perspectives are also deliberated.
Highlights
Composite materials are considered as the wonder material, as all the industries are obsessed to reduce weight and increase the specific stiffness
We present the available literature on various material systems, such as Thermoplastic composite/Thermoplastic composite, Thermoplastic composite/Thermoset composite and Thermoplastic composite/metal, which are used for ultrasonic welding, and will be explained in detail
Selected research advances in ultrasonic welding of the thermoplastic composite are depicted in brief in Tables 2 and 3
Summary
Composite materials are considered as the wonder material, as all the industries are obsessed to reduce weight and increase the specific stiffness. Polymer matrix composites are increasingly used in aerospace, automotive, marine, transport, sports and many other applications, as compared to conventional metals [1,2,3]. This is due to lower weight, specific stiffness, corrosion resistance and high fatigue life, as compared to metals. Thermoplastic (TP) composites are preferred due to their excellent vibration damping [4], high impact resistance [5,6,7,8,9], high productivity, high damage tolerance, fracture toughness [10,11,12], recyclability, reformability, being weldable and repairable, having flexural strength [13,14,15] and their cost-effectiveness compared to thermoset composites [16,17], and these properties attracted its usage for high-end applications, such as manufacturing the fuselage and wing sections of an aircraft. Thermoplastic resin has an inherent ability to become softer once heated
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