A team of researchers from the US National Laboratory Oak Ridge has developed a laser process that can reduce the cost and improve the process of joining carbon fiber composites with aluminum.. The process will help reduce the cost of high-quality components used in the automotive industry..
Attaching carbon fiber composites to aluminum requires manual surface preparation, which is both labor and time consuming. Both surfaces must be cleaned. All this interferes with the automation of the process..
Laser testing has shown that the joints can be produced without a laborious process in mass production, and they are strong enough. These results could lead to greater use of aluminum-carbon fiber in industry, including the automotive industry..
