Open Access

In lightweight car body shell mass production, due to requirements on vehicle weight reduction and carbon dioxide emissions, joining of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) with different joining procedures and especially hybrid bonding techniques is becoming more and more important. One of these hybrid bonding techniques is the combination of resistance spot welding and adhesive bonding called weldbonding. One of the important advantages of weldbonded joints in comparison to resistance spot welded joints are the enhanced mechanical properties. To guarantee sufficiently high quality conditions regarding the strength of the weldbonded joints, the influences of the applied adhesive systems and of different base metal combinations are studied. This is carried out for both non-corrosive and corrosive environments and for the choice of different joining parameters settings. In particular, the mechanical behaviour of the weldbonded joints is investigated under quasi-static, impact and fatigue loads. Furthermore, the energy absorption of the weldbonded joints for both non-corrosive and corrosive environments is studied. It is shown that the weldbonded joints possess higher mechanical strengths in all load cases (quasi-static, impact and fatigue). Corrosive attack affects weldbonded joints, and the quasi-static strength is reduced. Resistance spot welded joints are not affected by the corrosive attack, but even after several weeks of corrosive attack, the quasi-static strength of weldbonded joints remains higher than that of resistance spot welded joints.

Bulk metallic glasses (BMG) are amorphous metal alloys known for their unique physical and mechanical properties. In the present study, the formation of femtosecond (fs) laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on the Zr-based BMGs Zr46Cu46Al8, Zr61Cu25Al12Ti2, Zr52.5Cu17.9Al10Ni14.6Ti5 (Vit105) and Zr57Cu15.4Al10Ni12.6Nb5 (Vit106) was investigated as a function of their different chemical composition. For this purpose, LIPSS were generated on the sample surfaces in an air environment by fs-laser irradiation (λ = 1025 nm, τ = 300 fs, frep = 100 kHz). The surface topography was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Moreover, the impact of LIPSS formation on the structure and chemical surface composition was analyzed before and after fs-laser irradiation by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as well as by transmission electron microscopy in combination with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Despite the different chemical composition of the investigated BMGs, the fs-laser irradiation resulted in almost similar properties of the generated LIPSS patterns. In the case of Zr61Cu25Al12Ti2, Vit105 and Vit106, the surface analysis revealed the preservation of the amorphous state of the materials during fs-laser irradiation. The study demonstrated the presence of a native oxide layer on all pristine BMGs. In addition, fs-laser irradiation results in the formation of laser-induced oxide layers of larger thickness consisting of an amorphous ZrAlCu-oxide. The precise laser-structuring of BMG surfaces on the nanoscale provides a versatile alternative to thermoplastic forming of BMG surfaces and is of particular interest for the engineering of functional material surfaces.

As groundwork for thickness determination of polymeric surface protection systems for concrete, we present a method for measuring the thickness of isolated semitransparent solids using pulse thermography both in Transmission and reflection geometry. Since standard models do not capture semitransparency, an advanced analytical model by Salazar et al. is applied. Physical material parameters are deduced by fitting experimental data from samples of well-known thickness. Using those, the thickness of samples of the material can be obtained by fitting, as demonstrated for different semitransparent polymer materials.