Fabrication of Fiber Reinforced Plastics by Ultrasonic Welding

• Published in: Journal of composites science Vol. 2; no. 3; p. 56
• Main Authors: Gomer, Andreas, Zou, Wei, Grigat, Niels, Sackmann, Johannes, Schomburg, Werner
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2018
• Subjects: Automation; Carbon fiber reinforced plastics; Carbon fibers; Clothing industry; Composite materials; fabrication of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP); Fiber composites; fiber reinforced plastics; Fiber reinforced polymers; Foils; Glass fiber reinforced plastics; glass fibers; Polyamide resins; Polymer films; Polymer matrix composites; Polymers; Raw materials; Reinforced plastics; Steel production; thermoplastic resin; Thickness; ultrasonic processing; Ultrasonic welding; Germany
• ISSN: 2504-477X; 2504-477X
• DOI: 10.3390/jcs2030056

Ultrasonic fabrication of fiber reinforced plastics made from thermoplastic polymer films and carbon or glass fibers enables cycle times of a few seconds and requires investment costs of only some 10,000 €. Besides this, the raw materials can be stored at room temperature. A fiber content of 33 vol % and a tensile strength of approximately 1.2 GPa have been achieved by ultrasonic welding of nine layers of foils from polyamide, each 100 µm in thickness, and eight layers of carbon fibers, each 100 µm in thickness, in between. Besides unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite (CFRP) samples, multi-directional CFRP plates, 116 mm, 64 mm and 1.2 mm in length, width and thickness respectively, were fabricated by processing three layers of carbon fiber canvas, each 300 µm in thickness, and eight layers of polyamide foils, each 100 µm in thickness. Furthermore, both the discontinuous and the continuous ultrasonic fabrication processes are described and the results are presented in this paper. Large-scale production still needs to be demonstrated.