Failure Behavior of Diffusion Bonded Transition Structures for Integral FRP-Aluminum Compounds

Components in hybrid design become more and more important in terms of their lightweight potential. In this context the demand for weight saving in aerospace structures leads to increasing numbers of applications of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) for structural components. Besides FRP, metallic components are still parts of the primary structures. In consequence the use of FRP-metal compounds is necessary.Within the researcher group “Schwarz Silber” (FOR 1224) funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) integral interface structures for advanced CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) - aluminum compounds are currently being studied. This work focuses on realizing the transition structures by the usage of wires (titanium) as transition elements between CFRP and aluminum. For the connection of aluminum sheet and the transition element die-casting and laser beam welding are commonly used. As a possible alternative to the liquid phase processes the solid state process diffusion bonding has been applied. The experimental results showed high application potential of this process in view of the transferable loads for integral transition structures.