Interlaminar behavior of infrared welded joints of carbon fabric–reinforced polyphenylene sulfide

Abstract The use of fiber‐reinforced thermoplastics for structural applications is continuously increasing and therefore load‐bearing joints cannot be avoided. Because most well‐established joining techniques for metallic structures are not directly applicable to composites, and because thermoplastics are difficult to bond adhesively because of their chemical inertness, another solution is found, namely fusion bonding. This study assesses the use of infrared welding for a carbon fabric–reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). After a short description of the welding setup, the welding parameters such as heating time, contact pressure, and consolidation time are optimized using lapshear experiments. Two welding procedures are considered, one with and one without prior consolidation of PPS on the specimens. It can be concluded that the infrared process proves interesting for the material under study and that the process with prior consolidation of PPS yields reproducible results. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers