Numerical and experimental investigation on weld strength of thermoplastic polymers with carbon fiber

Polymer welding can be successfully used in joining process of two or more parts made from plastics. This method can be used in several fields such as biomaterials and microelectronics. In this research, welding a thermoplastic polymer using carbon fiber has been investigated. Thermoplastic specimens are welded by a localized energy input with carbon fiber and without addition of any reinforcement. For this purpose, two approaches are followed to join parts of thermoplastic polymer. The first approach, the parts were welded without using any additive. In the second one, the Carbone fibers were placed between two parts and then the parts were welded. The result revel that using carbon fibers increases the tensile strength of the thermoplastic polymer. A finite element method was used for a lap-joint geometry and the unreinforced and reinforced specimens were modeled. Finite element method is a useful tool for evaluation of problems encounter in this area; we used Abaqus software and compared its result with experimental data for samples (with and without carbon fiber).