학술논문

Optimizing the Process of Spot Welding of Polycarbonate-Matrix-Based Unidirectional (UD) Thermoplastic Composite Tapes
Document Type
article
Source
Polymers, Vol 15, Iss 9, p 2182 (2023)
Subject
thermoplastic composites
unidirectional tapes
spot-welding
optimization
Organic chemistry
QD241-441
Language
English
ISSN
2073-4360
Abstract
The aim of this work was to optimize spot welding of unidirectional tapes made of polycarbonate and carbon fibers. Three studies were performed to investigate the influences of various welding conditions on the quality of the welded spot. First, we used a full factorial experimental design to analyze the influence of temperature and time on the welds’ tensile stress at break. Second, we repeated the experiment with optimized settings and conditions. Finally, we adopted a central composite design (CCD) to investigate the stability of the process. Our results show that temperature had the greatest influence on weld quality. The maximum tensile stress achieved was 23 MPa. Using a relatively high temperature for a short welding time resulted in self-cleaning of the welding head and in a faster and more stable process, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) confirmed that these conditions caused no additional degradation.