Experimental, numerical and analytical investigation of the new metal/composite Comeld Joint

Abstract

Comeld" is a novel technology which can be applied in connecting composites and metals by manufacture of an array of metal pins on the metal part and layup the composite layers on the pins to make an adhesive and mechanical Joint at the same time. The aim of this paper is an experimental, numerical and analytical investigation on strength of comeld joint system and also to calculate the stiffness properties of composite after comeld process. Experimental test were carried out with fabrication of 21 specimens of comeld and uncomeld joints with different geometry and arrays of pins. Samples were tested under pure tensile loading. For the numerical simulation and investigation, the commerical software ABAQUS has been used and the tensile test were carried out to model a 3D Simulation of the joints considering adhesive behaviour. The analytical investigation were focused on the calculation of laminate stiffness properties after comeld process and the results were calculated using MATLAB capabilities. The results of experimental tests showed a good agreement with those of numerical results. The results show that the comeld joint system has a high potential for effective joining of metal and composite.