Influence of Building Angle on the Morphology of Ball-Like Features and Their Effect on Metal-Polymer Adhesion Strength
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This study aims to characterize the "balling" features formed on components manufactured via the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing method, with a focus on their potential for mechanical interlocking with polymer-based coatings. Ball-like features (BLFs) will be quantitatively analyzed for their size, shape, and spatial distribution with respect to building angle of interface, 0, 30, 45, 60, and 90 degrees using digital light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray micro-computed tomography (µ-xCT). A Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (R-CNN) will be employed to extract key parameters, including maximum diameter (D), distribution density (NA), and inter-feature spacing (D*). Polymeric material, ABS, will be joined to the metallic substrates via these BLFs. The resulting metal-polymer assemblies will undergo uniaxial pull-out tests, and apparent stress values will be determined from the corresponding force-displacement curves. Our results will be evaluated in terms of size, shape, and surface density of the interlocking pins and the potential of having a significant effect on the separation force. Failure modes will be classified into four categories: polymer rupture (Mode 1), BLFs’ fracture (Mode 2), shear-induced separation (Mode 3), and separation without material failure (Mode 4).
