Damage mechanisms of directly bonded carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastics and aluminium with nanostructured surface

The current study presents a direct bonding method making it possible to obtain a high interface strength of aluminium joined to carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) plates by hot pressing. This is achieved by subjecting the aluminium to a combination of anodising, etching, and silane-coupling treatments prior to bonding. Different types of aluminium are subjected to different treatments and bonded to different types of CFRTP laminates. The effect of the surface structure on the static bonding strength and fatigue life measured by single-lap testing is compared and discussed. The bonding strength is found to be highly dependent on the anodisation conditions along with the type of thermoplastic resin.