Mechanical Testing of Flow Drill Screw Joints Between Fibre-Reinforced Plastics and Metals

The paper describes a novel testing method for mechanical joints between fibre-reinforced plastics and metals. As an example, the paper discusses a connection between a continuous carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic and aluminium via a flow drill screw. The failure load of the joints under different loading angles was tested with the help of a modified KS-II testing facility. A detailed analysis of the damage and failure behaviour of the connection was performed by means of optical recordings and micrographs. The results indicate that the tested material combination has nearly the same failure load at different loading angles with various failure mechanisms. The experimental results can be used to devise new failure criteria for these connections and to detect limit values for the design process.