TY - JOUR
T1 - A Conceptual Strategy toward High-Reliability Metal-Thermoplastic Hybrid Structures Based on a Covalent-Bonding Mechanism
AU - Bi, Xiaoyang
AU - Xu, Mengjia
AU - Xie, Zhengchao
AU - Li, Yan
AU - Tian, Jiyu
AU - Wang, Zhenmin
AU - Wang, Zuankai
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 52075185 and U2141216], the National Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China [grant number 2021A1515010679], the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2019YFE0110700], and Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province [grant numbers 2021B1515420006 and 2021B1515120026]. The DFT calculations were performed on the Shenzhen cloud computing center (NSCCSZ) at the National supercomputing center in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures have proven their effectiveness to achieve lightweight design concepts in both primary and secondary structural components of advanced aircraft. However, the drastic differences in physical and chemical properties between metal and thermoplastic make it challenging to fabricate high-reliability hybrid structures. Here, a simple and universal strategy to obtain strong hybrid structures thermoplastics is reported by regulating the bonding behavior at metal/thermoplastic interfaces. To achieve such, we first researched and uncovered the bonding mechanism at metal/thermoplastic interfaces by experimental methods and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results suggest that the interfacial covalency, which is formed due to the interfacial reaction between high-electronegativity elements of thermoplastics and metallic elements at metal surfaces, dominates the interfacial bonding interaction of metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures. The differences in electronegativity and atomic size between bonding atoms influence the covalent-bond strength and finally control the interfacial reliability of hybrid structures. Based on our covalent-bonding mechanism, the carboxyl functional group (COOH) is specifically grafted on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) by plasma polymerization to increase the density and strength of interfacial covalency and thus fabricate high-reliability hybrid structures between PEEK and A6061-T6 aluminum alloy. Current work provides an in-depth understanding of the bonding mechanism at metal-thermoplastics interfaces, which opens a fascinating direction toward high-reliability metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures.
AB - Metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures have proven their effectiveness to achieve lightweight design concepts in both primary and secondary structural components of advanced aircraft. However, the drastic differences in physical and chemical properties between metal and thermoplastic make it challenging to fabricate high-reliability hybrid structures. Here, a simple and universal strategy to obtain strong hybrid structures thermoplastics is reported by regulating the bonding behavior at metal/thermoplastic interfaces. To achieve such, we first researched and uncovered the bonding mechanism at metal/thermoplastic interfaces by experimental methods and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results suggest that the interfacial covalency, which is formed due to the interfacial reaction between high-electronegativity elements of thermoplastics and metallic elements at metal surfaces, dominates the interfacial bonding interaction of metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures. The differences in electronegativity and atomic size between bonding atoms influence the covalent-bond strength and finally control the interfacial reliability of hybrid structures. Based on our covalent-bonding mechanism, the carboxyl functional group (COOH) is specifically grafted on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) by plasma polymerization to increase the density and strength of interfacial covalency and thus fabricate high-reliability hybrid structures between PEEK and A6061-T6 aluminum alloy. Current work provides an in-depth understanding of the bonding mechanism at metal-thermoplastics interfaces, which opens a fascinating direction toward high-reliability metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures.
KW - bonding mechanism
KW - covalent bond
KW - density functional theory
KW - metal-thermoplastic hybrid structures
KW - plasma polymerization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140296177&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.2c14385
DO - 10.1021/acsami.2c14385
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85140296177
SN - 1944-8244
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
ER -