Laser based metal and plastics joining for lightweight design

Lightweight design is becoming more and more important in the automotive industry, particularly since the CO₂ emission of new cars has to be reduced to 95 g/km by 2020. Besides using new manufacturing methods and employing high-strength steels and non-ferrous metals (Al, Mg) to enable lightweight construction, plastics and fiber reinforced plastics (e.g. CFRP or GFRP) currently gain relevance. Furthermore, different materials are combined into single components to exploit the full potential of weight reductions. Hybrid metal/plastic constructions are used to combine high stiffness and strength of metals with the high design flexibility and low weight of thermoplastics. The paper at hand demonstrates a laser approach to joining such dissimilar materials in industrial applications.