Joining method and assembly for an aircraft
AssigneeAirbus SAS
InventorsUwe Beier, Christian Metzner, Thomas Meer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A joining method and assembly for an aircraft. To improve the characteristics or permit hitherto impossible connections between thermoplastic and thermoset components, a multi-material joining method is disclosed in which a thermoplastic connecting region is formed on the thermoplastic component. The connecting region is connected to the thermoset component by interdiffusion. For this purpose, the uncured second component is brought into contact with the connecting region and heat is supplied. An interdiffusion layer is formed which fixedly connects the second component and the connecting region to one another and thus joins the first component to the second component.
Claims19
A joining method for joining together a fiber-reinforced first component, which contains a first polymer material as a matrix, to a fiber-reinforced second component, which contains a curable thermosetting second polymer material as a matrix, the method comprising:
- providing the first component;
- forming a connecting region on the first component to generate a joining surface on the first component, the connecting region comprising thermoplastic polymer materials and being formed with a plurality of adjacent spatial regions, wherein two adjacent spatial regions each comprise different thermoplastic polymer materials from each other;
- forming, for the connecting region, a plurality of first and second spatial regions, wherein the first spatial regions and the second spatial regions extend in a thickness direction of the connecting region, which is normal to the joining surface of the connecting region, and are arranged alternately in the thickness direction;
- and
- arranging a portion of the second component in contact with the joining surface and applying heat to fix the connecting region to the second component while curing the second polymer material to join the second component and the first component together;
- wherein the first spatial regions comprise fibers;
- wherein all of the fibers in the first spatial regions extend predominantly in a first direction;
- wherein the second spatial regions comprise fibers;
- and
- wherein all of the fibers in the second spatial regions extend predominantly in a second direction, which is orthogonal to the first direction.
A joining method for joining together fiber-reinforced first and second components, the method comprising:
- forming a connecting region, which comprises a plurality of adjacent spatial regions, including at least a first spatial region and a second spatial region that are laterally adjacent to, and coplanar with, each other, in a manner of a planar layer, and, in each case, the first and second spatial regions comprise fibers and have different thermoplastic polymer materials from each other;
- forming, via additive manufacturing, a first fiber-reinforced component, which comprises a first polymer material as matrix, on the connecting region, such that the connecting region and the first component are attached together to provide a joining surface on the first component;
- forming a fiber-reinforced second component, which comprises a curable thermosetting second polymer material as matrix;
- and
- arranging, after the connecting region and the first component are attached together, a region of the second component in contact with the joining surface and supplying heat to fix the connecting region to the second component while curing the second polymer material to join the first component to the second component;
- wherein all of the fibers in the first spatial region extend predominantly in a first direction and all of the fibers in the second spatial region extend predominantly in a second direction, the second direction being orthogonal to the first direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.