Resistance welding of glass fiber reinforced PET: Effect of weld pressure and heating element geometry

The objective of this paper is to present an investigation of resistance welded thermoplastic joints using stainless steel wire mesh and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with unidirectional E-glass fiber reinforcement. Five weld pressures and six heating element types were investigated to achieve high quality welds. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of welded heating element cross-sections were analyzed to provide a phenomenological description of the weld. Welded joints were also subjected to experimental lap shear evaluation and joint strengths were compared with values from the literature to assess the overall quality of welded joints. Characteristic B-basis strengths and corresponding SEM images are compared to lead to a recommended weld pressure of 345 kPa with a stainless steel wire mesh with 100 openings per inch.