New experimental press for the production of hybrid material composites
The company Mieruch & Hofmann from Limbach-Oberfrohna developed a special joining system for hybrid metal-plastic composites for the WOT professorship, which achieves particularly high cooling rates of significantly more than 100 Kelvin per minute.
Multi-material lightweight structures have been used for many years, for example in aircraft construction. However, the production of these components takes many hours. As part of the Cluster of Excellence MERGE, the WOT researchers want to demonstrate a significant reduction in production cycle times and utilise existing lightweight construction potential for further applications. The aim is to develop combined coating and joining processes for multi-material lightweight structures and to precisely research the influence of the joining process parameters on the inner material structure in the joining zone. The different materials are joined using a hot pressing process in which the thermoplastic melts and thus bonds with the coated surface of the metal. The plastic forms an interpenetrating network with the coating, creating a very large number of bonds at molecular level and achieving a high level of adhesive strength. The process control has a decisive influence on the properties of the entire composite. The decisive parameters are the time it takes for the molten polymer to penetrate the surface layer of the metal, the contact pressure applied during joining and the cooling rate after joining. The latter determines the crystallisation of the thermoplastic partner in the joining area and therefore the strength of the joint. Thanks to the new, customised system, a wide variety of sample geometries can now be reproducibly varied with specifically adjustable temperature and contact pressure during heating, melting and cooling, thereby generating all relevant material states at the metal coating-polymer interface.
Further information:
Central press release:
https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/tu/pressestelle/aktuell/9745
Cluster of Excellence MERGE:
https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/MERGE/
Company Mieruch & Hofmann:
https://www.mieruchundhofmann.de/
Picture (Photo: Diana Schreiterer)
Tino Mieruch (right), Managing Director of Mieruch & Hofmann, and Axel Dittes from the WOT professorship look at a sample of aluminium and polyamide that was produced using the new experimental press.
3.10.2019 – Equipment of the professorship ( thomas.grund@mb… )
