Continuous Ultrasonic Welding of Thermoplastic Composites LCI Modelling for the Eco-Statement
ACTIVITY IN CLEAN SKY OBJECTIVES
EXPECTED TECHNICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT
Modelling of an innovative assembly process by contiuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites to:
perform Life Cycle Assessment (LCA / eco-statement) of thermoplastic composite parts
contribute to extend the Clean Sky Aviation Database (CS-AED) with Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) data
High speed joining method (increased effi ciency) Clean process compared to riveting (less waste)
Low energy consumption compared to riveting (in total)
Reduce material damage by avoiding drilling (higher performance) Increased recyclability of welded parts compared to riveting
(no metal plastic separation)
TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION
LCI MODELLING
CONCLUSIONS
Used to join diff erent thermoplastic parts, e.g. skin panels and omega stringers to produce stiff ened fuselage panels Main process parameters: force, amplitude of vibration and speed
Force and amplitude of vibration are responsible for the rate at which heat is generated during the welding process and, hence, defi ne the range of welding speeds that result in high-strength welded joints
Energy director: additional thermoplastic layer to focus the heat generation at the welding interface and made of the same material as the matrix from the adherends Thickness of materials in Test Case: Adherends approx. 1.85 mm; Energy director 0.20 mm [1,2]
LCI model for this process is ready to be used in an LCA of thermoplastic ultrasonic welded aircraft demonstrators
End of life phase will be considered in the modelling at demonstrator level. The comparison to other welding/joining technologies is ongoing
Clean Sky is the largest European research programme for the development of the aeronautics industry with focus on reducing aviation‘s environmental impacts. In this programme participate:
Delft University of Technology (TUD): developed an innovative continuous ultrasonic welding process Fraunhofer: Eco Design Transversal Activity Leader-coordinating all ecoDESIGN activities in CS and is res- ponsible for the extention of the CS-AED, supporting the development of LCIs from aircraft technologies University of Stuttgart – IABP: part of the data collection team from ecoTECH Corepartner consortium in Airframe ITD for the development of innovative eco-friendly airframe technologies
Bram Jongbloed B.C.P.Jongbloed@tudelft.nl
Irene Fernandez Villegas I.FernandezVillegas@tudelft.nl
Ana Salles, ana.salles@ict.fraunhofer.de
Corinna Lätsch, corinna.laetsch@ict.fraunhofer.de Thomas Reichert thomas.reichert@ict.fraunhofer.de
Andreas Gess, andreas.gess@iabp.uni-stuttgart.de Simon Pfeuff er, simon.pfeuff er@iabp.uni-stuttgart.de
CONTACTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These research activities received supporting funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.
945549 (ECO-TA) and No. 945521 (Airframe ITD). This publication refl ects only the author’s views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
1 Omega stiff ened demonstrator panel
2 Basics of ultrasonic welding: energy director in between two adherends while ultrasonic vibrations are exerted 3 Continuous ultrasonic welding setup at TUDelft
4 Close-up of continuous welding process. Adherends clamped by bar clamps and welding direction indicated in fi gure
2 3 1
1
4
Degreasing Place plate 1
in jig Placing ED at
overlap Place plate 2 in jig (par�ally
overlapping plate 1)
Clamping
plates in place Welding Removing
clamps Part is ready
• Energy
• Isopropyl alcohol
• Time & Space • Time & Space • Time & Space
• Time & Space
• Time & Space
• Nitril gloves
• Paper wipes
• Thermoplas�c parts
• PPS energy director (ED)
1 Simplifi ed fl ow chart of materials, processes and fl ows
2 LCI model includes two life cycle phases:
material production/electricity generation and part manufacturing
2
[1] Jongbloed B, Teuwen J, Palardy G, Fernandez Villegas I, Benedictus R. Continuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites: Enhancing the weld uniformity by changing the energy director. Journal of Composite Materials. 2020;54(15):2023-2035. doi.org/10.1177/0021998319890405 [2] Jongbloed B, Teuwen J, Palardy G, Fernandez Villegas I, Benedictus R. On diff erences and similarities between static and continuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites. Composites part B: Engineering. 2020; 203:108466. doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.108466
Ultrasonic welder
PC
X Y Sonotrode
Sonotrode
Bar clamps top plate
Energy director
Alignment pins
Bottom plate X-Y table
Fixture
