Rainer Kocik

Development of a new joining technology for hybrid metal aircraft structures

With the introduction of the laser beam welding of skin-stringer-joints into the aircraft industry, Airbus set a new standard for the processing of metallic materials. New design principles and joining processes for high performance materials enhance the overall performance of the integral metallic fuselage. Improved exploitation of material properties is driving the development of ‘tailored’ hybrid components. The newly developed laser beam joining process of aluminium and titanium offers the chance to create low weight and corrosion resistant hybrid structures like seat tracks.With the introduction of the laser beam welding of skin-stringer-joints into the aircraft industry, Airbus set a new standard for the processing of metallic materials. New design principles and joining processes for high performance materials enhance the overall performance of the integral metallic fuselage. Improved exploitation of material properties is driving the development of ‘tailored’ hybrid components. The newly developed laser beam joining process of aluminium and titanium offers the chance to create low weight and corrosion resistant hybrid structures like seat tracks.

Laser joining of aluminum to titanium with focus on aeronautical applications

For aeronautical applications, hybrid structures made of titanium and aluminum alloys offer advantages in comparison to conventional designs. Due to the demands of the aircraft industry for new material combinations based on commercially available and qualified materials, laser processes for joining aluminum to titanium in different configurations are developed.By utilizing laser technique instead of conventional thermal joining processes, joining of aluminum-titanium Tailored Blanks and structures with desirable properties can be achieved. In such dissimilar material joints, the properties are generally dominated by the intermetallic phase layer, which is formed during thermal joining of aluminum with titanium. By minimization of the overall energy input due to high joining speed and geometrically restricted energy input, the intermetallic phase formation can be limited to a minimum size, resulting in good tensile strength and promising forming behavior.Within this paper, an overview about laser joining of aluminum to titanium in different joint configurations will be presented, including FEM-simulation, characterization of the seam morphology and the mechanical properties.For aeronautical applications, hybrid structures made of titanium and aluminum alloys offer advantages in comparison to conventional designs. Due to the demands of the aircraft industry for new material combinations based on commercially available and qualified materials, laser processes for joining aluminum to titanium in different configurations are developed.By utilizing laser technique instead of conventional thermal joining processes, joining of aluminum-titanium Tailored Blanks and structures with desirable properties can be achieved. In such dissimilar material joints, the properties are generally dominated by the intermetallic phase layer, which is formed during thermal joining of aluminum with titanium. By minimization of the overall energy input due to high joining speed and geometrically restricted energy input, the intermetallic phase formation can be limited to a minimum size, resulting in good tensile strength and promising forming behavior.Within this paper, an overview about laser joining ...