FASTENERLESS JOINING OF CARBON FIBER REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE TO ALUMINUM

Continuous efforts are underway for the reduction of the structural weight of transit through the introduction of a multi-material metal-composites system. There are major challenges in joining dissimilar materials to result in optimum structural integrity. The conventional joining techniques have limitations in terms of preparation time, weight penalty resulting from adhesives, and uncertainty in joint integrity. Recently adoption of macro scale mechanical interlocking in the adhesive joining resulted in significant improvement of joint performance. This made mechanical interlocking gain an attention for hybrid joining. In this study, fastenerless method of mechanical interlocking based on Japanese wood joining craft is considered for joining carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide thermoplastic composite to aluminum. Different interlocking joining designs (IJDs) were developed. The joints were obtained by force-fitting the male into the female counterpart. Here the male and female segments joined at macro level with no joining integrity at the interface. Further, these joints were tested and evaluated for tensile strength. A finite element analysis (FEA) model is developed for stress analysis and studying failure mechanisms of the IJDs. It was observed that the geometry of IJD dictates the failure mode and material composition governs the maximum strength achieved by a particular IJD. Each IJD showed higher load capacity with metal as a female counterpart to the composite compared to other way round.