Automatic Welding, 2020, №04

2020 №04 (04)

DOI of Article 10.37434/as2020.04.05

2020 №04 (06)

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"Avtomatychne Zvaryuvannya" (Automatic Welding), #4, 2020, pp.34-40

Welding of thermoplastic polymer composites in the aviation industry (a review)

M.V. Iurzhenko¹, M.V. Korab¹, R.V. Kolisnyk¹, O.P. Masiuchok¹, A.S. Andreev², V. Petropolsky²

¹E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NAS of Ukraine, 11 Kazymyr Malevych Str., 03150, Ukraine, Kyiv. E-mail: offi ce@paton.kiev.ua
²Antonov Company, 1, Akademika Tupoleva Str., 03062, Ukraine, Kyiv, E-mail: support@antonov.com

The volume of polymer composite structures in the aircraft industry is steadily increasing. Polymer composites based on thermosetting mats are traditional in this fi eld, but it is important to use new thermoplastic composites (TPKs), which have several advantages over thermosetting ones. The use of thermoplastic composite materials makes it possible to actively use welding processes in the production of structures, which signifi cantly increases the productivity of work and reduces their cost. The most used in the aircraft industry are 3 types of heat-resistant polymers of the class of polyarylene - polyether ether ketones (PEEK and PEKK), polyetherimide (PEI) and polyphenylenesulfi de (PPS). Aeronautical structures are characterized by a large variety and complexity of forms, that’s why almost all known methods of plastic welding are involved for joining. The resistance welding of polymeric materials using embedded elements made of metal mesh or carbon fabric is actively used. Inductive welding technology is suitable for joining structures made of conductive carbon composites. Ultrasonic welding, laser welding, and indirect-heated hot-welding are also used in aircraft engineering. Nowadays, welding processes are usually digitally controlled with permanent data storage, but currently the agenda is to move to linear process control using temperature monitoring. This paper, based on the materials of European publications, presents examples of the application of different welding methods in the manufacture of structures made of modern polymer thermoplastic composites in the aviation industry. 16 Ref., 9 Fig.
Keywords: polymer composites, thermoplastics, welded joints, resistance welding, induction welding, ultrasonic welding.

Received: 13.02.2020

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