Micro-pins: the next step in composite–composite and metal–composite joining

• DOI: 10.1007/s12567-019-00251-1
• Publication Date: 2019-05-23T10:04:17Z
• Authors: N. Sarantinos; V. Kostopoulos; G. Di Vita; G. Campoli; L. Bricout
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

This study researches a novel advanced joining technique, utilizing metal additive manufacturing, named μPinning. μPins are small pin-like structures manufactured on a metal substrate and used to penetrate and be consolidated inside a fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) laminate as through-the-thickness reinforcement during curing (Ucsnik et al. in Composite to composite joint with lightweight metal reinforcement for enhanced damage tolerance. ECCM16—16th European Conference on Composite Materials, Seville, Spain, 2014, Parkes et al. in Compos Struct 118:250–256, 2014). Prior studies have shown a significant increase in the load bearing capabilities of the joint [1, 2], as well as greater performance in dynamic and fatigue loads (Graham et al. in Compos Part A 64:11–24, 2014, Chang et al. in Compos Sci Technol 66(13):2163–2176, 2006, Ko et al. in Compos Struct 119:59–66, 2015]. The main objective of this research is to use numerical optimization tool to optimize the shape of a μPin, as studies have shown that the shape of the μPin exhibits a significant role in the mechanical response [1, 2, 5, 7]. After the numerical optimization, experimental testing was performed to validate the assumption of the importance of the μPin shape in the joint loading response. Finally, this study aims to lead to future research on the design of metal inserts in sandwich structures and struts for use in space applications.