Comparative analysis of in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical behaviour of spot-welded and mechaincally fastened joints in thermoplastic composites

Conference paper (2016)

Authors

T. Zhao Structural Integrity & Composites - Aerospace Engineering
G. Palardy Structural Integrity & Composites - Aerospace Engineering
C.D. Rans Structural Integrity & Composites - Aerospace Engineering
R. Benedictus Aerospace Structures & Materials
Research Group
Structural Integrity & Composites (Aerospace Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2016 T. Zhao, G. Palardy, C.D. Rans, R. Benedictus
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2016

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Structures & Materials

Research Group

Structural Integrity & Composites

Abstract

Ultrasonic welding is a promising assembly technique for thermoplastic composites and it is well-suited for spot welding. In this paper, the in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical behaviour of ultrasonically spot-welded and mechanically fastened joints are investigated by double-lap shear and pull-through tests, respectively. Special attention was paid to the comparison of onset failure load and joint stiffness of both types of joints in either type of test. Fractography was utilized to analyse the teste specimens. Failure of welded specimens was found limited in the joints but catastrophic damage was introduced into composite substrates of mechanically fastened specimens. The possibility of the substitution for mechanically fastened joints by spot-welded joints is discussed.