- Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) offer great lightweight construction potential. However, the anisotropic high-performance materials can only be fully utilized through the development of material-specific joining processes. A literature study shows that conventional methods such as screwing, riveting and bolting are unsuitable, since the load-bearing fibers are severed in the joining region. This leads to high-stress concentrations. To reduce these, a method is presented in which through holes are created in thermoplastic FRP by reorienting the fibers in this area around the point of disruption in accordance with the load path. For this purpose, the polymer matrix is softened locally by applying heat and penetrated with a needle or mandrel. Based on this, a technology for material-specific joining of FRP and metals has been developed in the form of thermomechanical flow drill joining. In this process, a mandrel forms a bush from the metal component and deflects the fibers of the locally softened organic sheet to suit the material. ColdFiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) offer great lightweight construction potential. However, the anisotropic high-performance materials can only be fully utilized through the development of material-specific joining processes. A literature study shows that conventional methods such as screwing, riveting and bolting are unsuitable, since the load-bearing fibers are severed in the joining region. This leads to high-stress concentrations. To reduce these, a method is presented in which through holes are created in thermoplastic FRP by reorienting the fibers in this area around the point of disruption in accordance with the load path. For this purpose, the polymer matrix is softened locally by applying heat and penetrated with a needle or mandrel. Based on this, a technology for material-specific joining of FRP and metals has been developed in the form of thermomechanical flow drill joining. In this process, a mandrel forms a bush from the metal component and deflects the fibers of the locally softened organic sheet to suit the material. Cold metal transfer (CMT) pin welding is presented as another fully automatable joining process. In this method, the softened plastic component is penetrated with the welding wire, displacing the fibers in the joining area and realigning them to suit the load path.…