Development of novel form-locked joints for textile reinforced thermoplastices and metallic components

Lightweight constructions in multi-material-design, especially the application of textile reinforced composites in combination with metallic components, gain increasing relevance, e.g., in automotive engineering. To ensure an optimal load bearing capability of the hybrid structure, it is essential to provide adapted joining technologies. In this paper a new joining technology to produce hybrid structures with continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastics and metallic components is introduced, adapting the concept of classical clinching for thermoplastic composites. The technological concept of the thermoclinching process was successfully tested by manufacturing, testing and both non-destructive and destructive analyses of firstthermoclinched joints.