Effect of Laser Input Energy on the Laser Joining of Polyethylene Terephthalate to Titanium

Authors: Y. J. Chen, T. M. Yue, Z. N. Guo

Abstract:

This paper reports the effects of laser energy on the characteristics of bubbles generated in the weld zone and the formation of new chemical bonds at the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)/Ti joint interface in laser joining of PET to Ti. The samples were produced by using different laser energies ranging from 1.5 J – 6 J in steps of 1.5 J, while all other joining parameters remained unchanged. The types of chemical bonding at the joint interface were analysed by the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth-profiling method. The results show that the characteristics of the bubbles and the thickness of the chemically bonded interface, which contains the laser generated bonds of Ti–C and Ti–O, increase markedly with increasing laser energy input. The tensile failure load of the joint depends on the combined effect of the amount and distribution of the bubbles formed and the chemical bonding intensity of the joint interface.

Keywords: Laser direct joining, Ti/PET interface, laser energy, XPS depth profiling, chemical bond, tensile failure load.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1126079

References:

[1] H. L. Gower, R. R. G. M. Pieters, and I. M. Richardson, “Pulsed laser welding of metal-polymer sandwich materials using pulse shaping,” Laser Applications, vol. 18, 2006, pp. 35–41.
[2] S. Katayama, and Y. Kawahito, “Laser direct joining of metal and plastic,” Scripta Materialia, vol. 59, 2008, pp. 1247–1250.
[3] M. Wahba, Y. Kawahito, and S. Katayama, “Laser direct joining of AZ91D thixomolded Mg alloy and amorphous polyethylene terephthalate,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology, vol. 211, 2011, pp. 1166–1174.
[4] Y. Kawahito, Y. Niwa, and S. Katayama, “Laser direct joining between stainless steel and polyethylene terephthalate plastic and reliability evaluation of joints,” Welding International, vol. 28, 2004, pp. 107–113.
[5] S. Arai, Y. Kawahito, and S. Katayama, “Effect of surface modification on laser direct joining of cyclic olefin polymer and stainless steel,” Materials and Design, vol. 59, 2014, pp. 448–453.
[6] D. G. Georgiev, T. Sultana, A. Mian, G. Auner, H. Herfurth, R. Witte, and G. Newaz, “Laser fabrication and characterization of sub-millimeter joints between polyimide and Ti-coated borosilicate glass,” Journal of Materials Science, vol. 40, 2005, pp. 5641–5647.
[7] G. Newaz, A. Mian, T. Sultana, T. Mahmood, D. G. Georgiev, G. Auner, R. Witte, and H. Herfurth, “A comparison between glass/polyimide and titanium/polyimide microjoint performances in cerebrospinal fluid,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, vol. 79A, 2006, pp. 159–165.
[8] Mian, G. Newaz, T. Mahmood, and G. Auner, “Mechanical characterization of glass/polyimide microjoints fabricated using cw fiber and diode lasers,” Journal of Materials Science, vol. 42, 2007, pp. 8150–8157.
[9] Mian, T. Sultana, G. Auner, and G. Newaz, “Bonding mechanisms of laser-fabricated titanium/polyimide and titanium coated glass/polyimide microjoints,” Surface and Interface Analysis, vol. 39, pp. 506–511, 2007.
[10] G. L. Georgiev, R. J. Baird, E. F. McCullen, G. Newaz, G. Auner, R. Patwa, and H. Herfurth, “Chemical bond formation during laser bonding of Teflon (R) FEP and titanium,” Applied Surface Science, vol. 255, 2009, pp. 7078–7083.
[11] G. and H. Herfurth, “Laser bonding and characterization of Kapton FN/Ti and Teflon FEP/Ti systems,” Journal of Materials Science, vol. 44, 2009, pp. 882–888.
[12] T. Sano, S. Iwasaki, Y. Ozeki, K. Itoh, and A. Hirose, “Femtosecond laser direct joining of copper with polyethylene terephthalate,” Journal of Materials Transactions, vol. 54, 2013, pp. 926–930.
[13] X. Wang, P. Li, and Z. K. Xu, “Laser transmission joint between PET and titanium for biomedical application,” Materials Processing Technology, vol. 210, 2010, pp. 1761–1771.
[14] S. B. Amor, M. Jacquet, P. Fioux, and M. Nardin, “XPS characterisation of plasma treated and zinc oxide coated PET,” Applied Surface Science, vol. 255, 2009, pp. 5052–5061.
[15] D. Gonbeau, C. Guimon, G. P. Guillouzo, A. Levasseur, G. Meunier, and R. Dormoy, “XPS study of thin films of titanium oxysulfides,” Surface Science, vol. 254, 1991, pp. 81–89.