Studies on Manufacturing Polymer-Metal Hybrid Components Through Integrated Bulk Forming

The development of components with tailored properties is one of the ways to increase efficiency in areas such as the automotive sector. Hybrid components, in particular plastic-metal composites, meet this requirement by combining different material properties. In this context, this paper presents preliminary investigations regarding the use of fibre-reinforced plastics as an active medium for forming metallic materials. Several challenges arise for such a processing method, such as, the compressive strength of the plastics depending on the fibre fraction, -length and -orientation. Furthermore, the dissimilar elastic behavior of the two materials has a decisive influence on the composite- and bond strength. Therefore, in a first step, a material selection was performed, followed by material characterization. In addition, this paper presents a preliminary numerical analysis showing the feasibility of manufacturing a hybrid component using as example a spur gear with a polymer core made of glass fibre reinforced polypropylene and an outer geometry made of aluminum alloy AA6082.