Metal-Polymer Integrated Molding using Surface Nano-structures: Effects of Manufacturing Conditions on Joining Strength

Abstract

This study experimentally investigated effects of manufacturing conditions on metal-polymer direct joining. The direct joining was processed by a special insert molding using a surface treated metal piece. The metal piece had a nano-structures on a surface that were created by a chemical etching. In this particular work, we focused on the effects of cavity pressure during molding and of an annealing time length. We evaluated the joining samples that were processed under various conditions by tensile shear tests. From results of the tests, we can see that both cavity pressure and annealing time length had positive correlations with joining strength. Some samples were broken at base materials （polymer parts） by the tests, which indicates that the joining was significantly strong.