Adhesion properties of the hybrid system made of laser-structured aluminium EN AW 6082 and CFRP by co-bonding-pressing process

A parameter investigation for manufacturing a hybrid system through the prepreg pressing process was carried out within the scope of this work to achieve optimal adhesion properties. The hybrid specimen comprises an aluminium sheet of alloy EN AW 6082 in T6 condition and a thermoset Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastics prepreg. The prepreg pressing process allows the curing reaction of epoxy resin and the joining process to occur simultaneously to avoid an additional bonding process step. The surface of the aluminium sheet was pretreated in advance using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to enhance the bonding properties. In the first step, the shear edge tests investigated the adhesion properties achieved with different consolidation (temperature, time and pressure) and laser parameters. Then, 3-point bending tests were carried out to investigate the influence of the consolidation parameters on the mechanical properties of the Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastics-laminate. In this way, the optimal parameter sets for manufacturing hybrid structures were determined.