Kleffel, Tobias
Polymer-metal composites with high tightness based on electrochemically generated microstructures
Tobias Kleffel
With polymer-metal composites, the targeted use of polymer and metal can enable component properties and functions that are not possible with one material alone. This include, for example, the media-tight enclosure of electronic. While the polymer is used as housing material in this application, metallic structures are used for electrical contact and signal transmission. When housing electronic using polymer-metal composite components, a key challenge is to achieve a reliably tight connection between the two materials. Various strategies exist for increasing tightness. Adhesion optimization between the two materials has proven to be particularly effective. A promising new approach uses electrochemically generated microstructures on the surface of the metallic structure. Provided that these are sufficiently filled with polymer during composite manufacturing, the formation of gaps as a central cause of leakage is significantly impeded. This work is dedicated to the investigation of the relationships between microstructure shape, distribution, interaction, material properties, process-side boundary conditions and resulting component properties with a focus on tightness. For this purpose, microstructures with different shapes, distributions and interactions are electrochemically produced on inserts by varying the structuring parameters and analyzed afterwards. In injection molding trails based on this, test specimens are manufactured by varying the insert variant and process parameters and characterized afterwards. In addition to tightness and bond quality under various conditioning conditions and thermomechanical load tests, this includes the investigation of the boundary area between polymer and metal as well as the reconstruction of the leakage networks. Parallel to the component tests, a comprehensive material characterization and computer-aided process analysis are carried out, in order to build up an analytical model for describing the penetration depth of the polymer within the microstructures.
Pages: 150
ISBN: –