Mechanical response of adhesive and hybrid joints containing novel additive manufacturing adherends

Abstract

The paper presents a novel concept of purely adhesive and hybrid joints fabrication with the application of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology. 5 different models of metal-polymer single lap joints (SLJ) were manufactured using VHB (Very High Bonding) 5925 double-sided tape and experimentally tested. To reduce the SLJ eccentricity during the tensile loading an appropriate chamfering of the polymer part shape was proposed by applying the AM technology. The Zortax M300 printer was used to produce the polymer adherends and “dog bone” type specimens, which allowed the determination of tensile strength, which value was 6.62 MPa. The effectiveness of the joints was assessed by the maximum force values, the absorption energy, and the repeatability of the results for each model. The highest force of 400.4 N was obtained for the single-lap reference model. Finally, hybrid joints were produced by the application of double-sided tape and mechanical connectors, like tenons placed in the 3D printed polymer part and mortises situated in the aluminium adherends. This new joining technique allowed for an increase in maximum force to a value of 832.5 N.