Design tool for composite-to-metal joints

Reference number: SM12-0041
Start and end dates: 130101-151231
Amount granted: 1 595 937 SEK
Administrative organization: KTH - Royal Institute of Technology
Research area: Materials Science and Technology

Summary

A key factor for introducing lightweight materials such as carbon fibre composites as load bearing members in large scale, high volume applications are design methods for cost effective hybrid joints as identified by several leading Swedish companies e.g. ABB, Volvo Car, Scania, SAAB, Kockums and Volvo Aero. The KTH-LWS research group believes that this area of research will become more important in the next few years. This is thus an area that the LWS group strategically wants to build up to meet future needs. Johan Ekh will be actively involved in relevant projects running at LWS/KTH. The research focus will be on modular joining techniques for multi-material load bearing structures in road vehicles, marine structures and aircraft components with the outlook on additional areas such as robotics, energy and infrastructure applications. The research work will address the topics of: - phenomenological understanding and description of governing parameters in hybrid joining - design methodologies for lightweight part integration - design guidelines for multi-material joints - machining aspects of multi-material joints - long-term behaviour of multi-material joints, e.g. fatigue, vibration, creep and environmental degradation - methods for dismantling, easy repair and recycling The result from the collaboration will be an increased knowledge base on key aspects in hybrid joint design presented as a guideline and recommendation for multi-material joints.

Popular science description

Sverige har en stark industristruktur inom marin-, flyg-, och fordonssektorn som genererar viktiga exportintäkter. Ökade miljökrav för användning och tillverkning tillsammans med krav på högre säkerhet och mer integrerad funktionalitet gör att kraven på lättare grundstrukturer inom dessa sektorer kommer att öka. Produkter med lätt vikt och bra miljöegenskaper kräver dock teknologi och kompetens från en mängd discipliner. För att kunna använda rätt material på rätt plats är fogning av olika material till varandra av största vikt. Flera industrisektorer har identifierat hybridfogar av metall till fiberkomposit som speciellt intressant för att nå betydande viktreduktion. Fogning mellan kompositer och metallstrukturer existerar idag inom främst flyg och den marina sektorn. Beräknings och produktionsmetoder härifrån kan dock inte direkt implementeras i andra sektorer såsom väg-, och spårfordon, robot eller energiapplikationer (våg och vinkraftverk). Detta projekt syftar till att skapa metoder för att konstruera och tillverka lastbärande komposit - metall förband i ovan nämnda applikationer.