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Co-Curing of CFRP-Steel Hybrid Joints Using the Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion Process

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Abstract

This study focuses on the one-step co-curing process of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) joined with a steel plate to form a hybrid structure. In this process CFRP laminate and bond to the metal are realized simultaneously by resin infusion, such that the same resin serves for both infusion and adhesion. For comparison, the commonly applied two-step process of adhesive bonding is studied. In this case, the CFRP laminate is fabricated in a first stage through resin infusion of Non Crimp Fabric (NCF) and joined to the steel plate in a further step through adhesive bonding. For this purpose, the commercially available epoxy-based Betamate 1620 is applied. CFRP laminates were fabricated using two different resin systems, namely the epoxy (EP)-based RTM6 and a newly developed fast curing polyurethane (PU) resin. Results show comparable mechanical performance of the PU and EP based CFRP laminates. The strength of the bond of the co-cured samples was in the same order as the samples adhesively bonded with the PU resin and the structural adhesive. The assembly adhesive with higher ductility showed a weaker performance compared to the other tests. It could be shown that the surface roughness had the highest impact on the joint performance under the investigated conditions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the European Union within the scope of the seventh framework programme FP7-NMP3-LA-2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Research Institution for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, Am Technologiezentrum 2, 86159, Augsburg, Germany

    Alexander Streitferdt, Natalie Rudolph & Iman Taha

  2. Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1513 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Natalie Rudolph

  3. Design and Production Engineering Department, Ain Shams University, El-Sarayat Str. 1, Cairo, 11517, Egypt

    Iman Taha

Authors
  1. Alexander Streitferdt
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  2. Natalie Rudolph
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  3. Iman Taha
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Correspondence to Iman Taha.

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Streitferdt, A., Rudolph, N. & Taha, I. Co-Curing of CFRP-Steel Hybrid Joints Using the Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion Process. Appl Compos Mater 24, 1137–1149 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-016-9575-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-016-9575-3

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