Experimental Investigation of Processing Welding Parameters for PPS/Carbon Fiber Laminates for Aeronautical Applications

Abstract

An experimental investigation of the resistance welding of PPS/carbon fiber is presented in this manuscript. Currently, one of the main problems of the structural polymer composites consists in its effective integration of the components. The electrical resistance welding has been considered as one of the promising techniques for bonding composites, because it is a quick process with easy surface preparation. To improve the process to welding poly-(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) reinforced with carbon fiber laminates, it was used a full factorial design (23). Considering the factors pressure, electrical current and time, the more appropriate conditions for welding were evaluated based on a criterion of maximum lap shear strength, according to ASTM D1002-10. A comparison between welded and non-welded specimens in terms of analysis dynamic mechanical (DMA), thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and vibration tests was performed. It was demonstrated that large-scale DMA presented a similar results but according to TMA and vibration test were observed that welded specimens presented different results when compared to non-welded laminates, due probably to the presence of metallic heating element.

Moisture and temperature influence on mechanical behavior of PPS/buckypapers carbon fiber laminates

“…It can be seen that the PPS/CF* presented an increase in E of ~49% compared to the same composite before conditioning. The values obtained were lower than those reported in previous studies [41]. Analogously, the PPS/BP/CF* also showed an increase in E of ~15%, when compared to PPS/BP/CF before conditioning.…”

“…a 6% increment in the value of the glass transition temper ature after the hygrothermal conditioning. These changes of Tg imply a lower mobility in the polymer chains of the material [40], compared to the other samples that are in the range of ~107 °C (also depicted in table 1) and as reported in previous works [41]. Table 1 presents the results from the modulus of elasticity (E) obtained from the IET test.…”

Enhanced adhesion between PEEK and stainless-steel mesh in resistance welding of CF/PEEK composites by various surface treatments

“…However, the long and chemically inert molecular chain of thermoplastic polymer can hardly form effective chemical bonding with any reinforcement, especially the chemically inert SSM. 13,14 The fracture morphologies of thermoplastic composites investigated in other works such as CF/PEEK, 15 CF/poly(ether-ketone-ketone) (PEKK), CF/poly(etherimide) (PEI), 16 CF/poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) 17 and SSM/PEEK 18 all exposed this puzzled issue. Because of the lack of chemical bonding, physical entanglement is considered as the only effective bonding at the metal/thermoplastics interfaces, and many researchers are committed to developing new methods for enhancing the interfacial bonding.…”

Development of heating elements based on conductive polymer composites for electrofusion welding of plastics

“…Welding with a heating element (HE) is widely used for joining plastic parts with complex geometry and in hard‐to‐reach places 1–3 . In electrofusion welding, an electrically resistive heating element, normally a metal mesh, 4–7 or a carbon prepreg 8,9 are sandwiched between two adherents to be welded. When an electrical current is applied, the HE will heat up due to Joule heating, and, as a result, the temperature at the interface of the two adherents will increase, reaching the melting point of the welded joint elements, allowing segments of macromolecules to interdiffuse at the interface.…”