New Possibility for the Connection of Metal Sheets and Fiber Reinforced Plastics

Abstract

This research paper presents a new possibility for the connection of metal sheets and fibre reinforced plastics (FRPs) through a cold metal transfer welding process. Small metal projections (pins) are welded onto metal surfaces by introduction of additional filler wire. These provide the possibility for building up a fixation with composites through fibre-friendly form-closure and co-curing. Results of tensile loaded double-lap shear geometries are presented for three types of pin geometries. The hybrid joints will be characterized and compared in terms of maximum reaction force and failure history. Joints with cylindrical and spiky pins inside show a certain load transfer capability, where ultimate bearing load and post failure behaviour have a high dependence on the quality of the co-cured adhesive bonding and the bending characteristics of the pins. Joints with spherical ending pins show twice as high ultimate bearing loads at a much more distinctive joint expansion.

A review on direct assembly of through‐the‐thickness reinforced metal–polymer composite hybrid structures

“…Ucsnik et al studied the effect of different pin geometries on the mechanical behavior of DA hybrid joints. In their work, ball‐head and cylindrical pins were welded by CMT onto stainless steel substrates, and VARI was used to assemble the CFPR (epoxy matrix).…”

“…By controlling the welding parameters, different pin head geometries can be achieved during the breaking‐off process, such as ball‐head, cylindrical and spike‐like pins . The main CMT process parameters include: current, retraction force, delay time between arc formation and second current pulse, and between the current pulse and retraction .…”

Investigation of the influence of formed, non-rotationally symmetrical pin geometries and their effect on the joint quality of steel and aluminium sheets by direct pin pressing

“…7 Other processes for the production of pin structures that are mainly used for joining metal with fibre-reinforced plastics are additive manufacturing processes such as direct energy deposition with a laser beam (DED-LB), 8 powder bed fusion with a laser beam (PBF-LB) 9 or welding processes such as cold metal transfer (CMT). 10 Furthermore, metal injection moulding (MIM), 11 the Surfi-Sculpt process 12 and classical machining processes 13 can also be used for pin manufacturing. The process used in this work is cold extrusion from the sheet metal plane, which has already been used in 5 to join both steel/aluminium and steel/fibre reinforced plastics.…”

Joining of plastic‐metal hybrid components by overmoulding of specially designed form‐closure elements

“…Due to their process characteristics only non‐repeatable partial undercuts can be created with blasting processes or chemical etching [17–20]. Raised structures can be created by special welding processes like (cold metal transfer) pin welding or additive manufacturing directly on to the metal components surface [21, 22]. In comparison to subtraction‐structures, these structures extend into the plastic component, whereby the entire plastic component contributes to the load‐bearing capacity of the joint.…”