Nickel-Aluminum Thermal Spray Coatings as Adhesion Promoter and Susceptor for Inductively Joined Polymer-Metal Hybrids

Hybrid joints of metal- and fiber-reinforced-polymer offer great potential for lightweight applications. Thereby, a fast and reliable joining process is mandatory for mass-production applications. To this end, this study assesses inductive spot-joining in combination with prior thermal spray coating of the metal adherent. A nickel–aluminum 95/5 coating was applied to achieve high adhesion through mechanical interlocking and to act as susceptor for the inductive joining process. The joint strength was assessed with lap shear specimens consisting of EN AW-6082 aluminum alloy and glass fiber reinforced polyamide 6 or polypropylene, respectively. The joints were further investigated in terms of heating time and hygrothermal cyclic loading. The results showed that significant time savings for the joining process as well as strong adhesion were achieved due to the coating. Moreover, the high strengths were even preserved under hygrothermal cyclic loading.