Ultrasonically welded hybrid aluminum/fiber-reinforced PEEK joints were analyzed non-destructively with an X-ray microscope. The potential and limitations of the technology as a non-destructive testing method were investigated. For a quantitative evaluation, joints with suitable and unsuitable parameters were compared. For a further comparison, geometric modifications of the joining partners were made, and the influence on the structure and process variation of the resulting hybrid joints was examined on a microscopic level. By using a tool for 3D segmentation of the composition of the joining zone, quantitative information on volume-specific proportions could be obtained and compared in relation to each other.
Keywords: 3D X-ray microscopy; fiber-reinforced polymer; hybrid joints; nondestructive structural analysis; segmentation by machine learning; ultrasonic welding.