BENCHTOP CONTINUOUS RESISTANCE WELDING OF STRUCTURAL THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE JOINTS

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present a continuous resistance welding benchtop setup capable of performing large scale welded joints. In this process, a continuous conductive implant (e.g.: metal wire mesh) is placed between the two substrates to be welded. A mobile end-effector moves along the weld length, locally heating the conductive implant via Joule heating while compacting the joint locally throughout the melt and solidification stages of the thermoplastic material. The performance of the joint has been shown to be highly dependent on the process temperature at the weld interface; however, it cannot be measured directly during the process in a non-invasive manner (i.e., without placing thermocouples at the weld interface). Thus, additional process feedback variables that can reliably relate the weld temperature will be discussed and demonstrated as potential process control variables. This paper will demonstrate the continuous resistance welding process as a viable method for joining large thermoplastic aerospace structures.