Experimental investigation of the polymer-metal hybrids interfacial bonding fabricated by fused deposition modeling

In this paper, the fabrication of polymer-metal hybrids by fused deposition modeling was evaluated. 6061 aluminum alloy and polylactic acid were used in the manufacturing process. Also, to strengthen the bonding between the metal and polymer components, a two-component epoxy adhesive was used. The pull-off adhesion test was performed to evaluate the interfacial bonding strength of the specimens. In this study, the effect of bed temperature, print speed, printer nozzle diameter, and aluminum sheet surface roughness on the bond strength of polymer-metal hybrids has been investigated. The results showed that increasing the bed temperature, and aluminum sheet surface roughness, and also decreasing the print speed led to increase the bond strength of polymer-metal hybrids. Finally, by using the experimental data, an optimal specimen was produced. The interfacial bonding strength of the optimal specimen is about 64% stronger than the initial specimen.