LASER THROUGH TRANSMISSION WELDING OF PIGMENTED GLASS-PEI TO GLASS-PEI

摘要

The performance and manufacturing benefits of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics are now widely accepted throughout the aerospace industry. In the field of high power lasers for material processing, advances are also being made with the widespread introduction of new technology multi-kilowatt fiber lasers. The work presented here successfully combines both technologies in the joining of TiO2-pigmented S2 glass-PEI facesheets and S2 glass-PEI stiffeners. These materials are successfully joined via laser through-transmission welding by making a simple modification to the composition of the lower layer of the joint. Weld parameters, mechanical test results (including lap shear and flatwise tensile strength), and micrography are presented. The results indicate that good weld strength can be achieved at realistic speeds using standard laser optics. There is a strong possibility of scaling these results up to much higher speeds, larger panel sizes, and many different material combinations; this will expand the opportunities for this technique considerably.