High-speed polymer-to-metal direct joining system and method

A method of directly joining a polymer to a metal along a joint interface through the formation of C—O-M chemical bonds, where M represents an element in the metal to be joined, the method comprising:

• heating the metal to a predetermined temperature above a glass transition temperature of the polymer and less than a flash ignition temperature of the polymer and less than a metal melting temperature of the metal;
• physically contacting at least one of the metal and the polymer;
• applying compression pressure to the joint interface of the metal and the polymer when the metal is above the glass transition temperature of the polymer and less than the flash ignition temperature of the polymer and less than the metal melting temperature of the metal, the step of applying compression pressure to the joint interface of the metal and the polymer to generate intimate atomic contact between the metal and the polymer to create substantially C—O-M chemical bonds along the joint interface, the C—O-M chemical bond being formed from a carbonyl group (C═O) within the polymer;
• and
• reducing the temperature of the metal below the polymer melting temperature before 5% of the polymer has pyrolyzed.