Development of direct laser joining for metal and plastic

Abstract

Recently simultaneous pursuit of economic development and environmental preservation has been one of the most important issues for establishment of sustainable gravel production. For example, metals and plastics have been used in several industrial applications such as aircrafts, automobiles and electronics devices. Therefore, joining metals and plastics is worthy of note in fundamentals of manufacturing. However, the joining with adhesive has environmental burdens and limited the high through put in mass production. It is thus expected that a new innovative method should be developed for joining metals and plastics without adhesion bonds. Therefore, we have developed a new Laser-Assisted Metal and Plastic (LAMP) joining method unique in the world. It was found that LAMP joining method could produce joints between various metals and plastics. Type 304 stainless steel and polyamide plastic joint samples of 30 mm width possessed tensile shear loads of about 3,300 N, and LAMP joining achieved the shear load of 2,500 N in the same sized samples of SUS 304 and polyethylene terephthalate. In LAMP joints, a metal and a plastic were closely bonded in micro size, and the tight physical bond may be expected. Such high shear strengths suggest a possibility of both physical and chemical bonding.Recently simultaneous pursuit of economic development and environmental preservation has been one of the most important issues for establishment of sustainable gravel production. For example, metals and plastics have been used in several industrial applications such as aircrafts, automobiles and electronics devices. Therefore, joining metals and plastics is worthy of note in fundamentals of manufacturing. However, the joining with adhesive has environmental burdens and limited the high through put in mass production. It is thus expected that a new innovative method should be developed for joining metals and plastics without adhesion bonds. Therefore, we have developed a new Laser-Assisted Metal and Plastic (LAMP) joining method unique in the world. It was found that LAMP joining method could produce joints between various metals and plastics. Type 304 stainless steel and polyamide plastic joint samples of 30 mm width possessed tensile shear loads of about 3,300 N, and LAMP joining achieved the shear load ...