Product Code: ICA12_402

Laser-Based Hot-Melt Bonding of CFRP and GFRP - A Novel Joining Technology for Multi-Material-Design
Authors:
Philipp Amend, Bayerisches Laserzentrum GmbH; Erlangen Germany
Thomas Frick, Bayerisches Laserzentrum GmbH, Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Friedrich-Alexander Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg; Erlangen Germany
Michael Schmidt, Bayerisches Laserzentrum GmbH, Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Chair of Photonic Technologies, Friedrich-Alexander Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg; Erlangen Germany
Presented at ICALEO 2012

Due to increasing ecological awareness, lightweight design became a focus in the past few years. For lightweight constructions , fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) with a thermosetting matrix are used because of their high strength-to-weight ratio in comparison to metallic construction materials. However, in many cases the product-specific requirements can only be achieved by multi-material systems. Therefore, an integration of different materials and suitable joining technologies are necessary. According to the current state of the art the joining of thermosetting composite to thermoplastic is limited by the available joining techniques. A solution for this problem offers the laser-based hot-melt bonding. This paper presents experimental results of joining carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) as well as glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) to thermoplastics by means of the laser-based hot-melt bonding. Thereby, the influence of the surface treatment and the used thermoplastic on the join connection is investigated. All specimens are characterized by microscopy and tensile shear tests. Additionally, climate tests are performed to analyze the long-term durability of the join connections. A thermal simulation of the joining process is also developed that predicts the temperature fields in the join connection. Finally, a process comparison of laser-based hot-melt bonding and conventional adhesive bonding is given.