Reinforcement of fibre-reinforced plastic components using metal inserts

Multi-material structures in the automotive industry offer significant potential for lightweight design, body construction and functional integration, thanks to their advantageous mechanical properties and lower structural weight. Specifically, combining metal and plastic is a widely employed approach to improve the overall performance of the final product compared to structures made from a single material. This paper describes an alternative approach to join metal and fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) during the forming process (in-mould assembly). This enables the direct integration of metal structures into FRP components. To this end, a manufacturing method is being developed with which a metal insert is integrated into the FRP by means of extrusion moulding. This doubles the available joining surface compared to bonding the metal reinforcement. The project is based on the hypothesis that the integrated metal inserts both reinforces the component itself and improves the connection to surrounding structures and thus the maximum force transmission. In this regard, investigations into the adhesion behaviour between FRP and metal are shown and the tool concept is presented.