Estimation of intimate contact of the fusion-bonded fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites

The quality of fusion-bonded parts relies on the development of intimate contact at first and followed by healing, where the former as a prerequisite highly dominates the consolidation and the mechanical performance of final parts. In this paper, the degree of intimate contact of continuously welded unidirectional glass fiber reinforced polypropylene tapes was investigated. Classic Lee & Springer model for theoretical estimation of intimate contact was considered in the present study. For this purpose, a relatively robust regime to extract the data inputs like surface parameters, viscosity, etc. was proposed and demonstrated clearly. Consequently, the degree of intimate contact can be plotted as a function of time. Furthermore, the degree of intimate contact was also characterized by cross-sectional microscopy, ultrasonic C-scan, and optical analysis on the delaminated surfaces. The experimentally measured results show good agreement with the theoretically predicted counterparts.