Manufacturing of threads direct into a carbon fibre reinforced polymer

This paper describes the manufacturing of threads directly into a carbon fibre reinforced polymer. For the investigation, a specimen of prepreg is made and used. The curing is done via an autoclave cycle. For the manufacturing of the thread a CNC machining center is used. The process starts with the drilling of a start hole. The threads geometry is elaborated with a specific end mill. The manufactured threads are tested by a tensile test machine. The results show, that the direct tapping into a carbon fibre reinforced polymer is possible. The two tested threads have both shown a good load capacity of averaged 4.42 kN for M5 and 6.56 kN for the M8 thread. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.