Provided are a welding device and a welding method that can avoid occurrence of a clearance in a side region of a member and suppress occurrence of a failure of the member due to such a clearance. The embodiment includes: an electrode 11 configured to supply electricity to an electroconductive element 23 arranged between members 21, 22 and configured to generate heat by current conduction; and a pressing element 12 arranged in a side region of one member 22 of the members 21, 22 and configured to press the electroconductive element 23 while elastically being in close contact with the one member 22. Further, the pressing element 12 comes into close contact with the one member 22 by being pushed against the electroconductive element 23 and expanding in a direction orthogonal to a pushing direction.

Provided is a welding method including: a sheet disposition process of disposing a first and a second protection sheet such that the first and the second protection sheet come into contact with a first and a second composite material and disposing an energization sheet such that the energization sheet comes into contact with the first and the second protection sheet; and a welding process of applying a voltage to a pair of electrode portions disposed at the energization sheet and welding the first and the second composite material, the energization sheet contains the carbon fiber base material oriented in a first predetermined direction connecting the pair of electrode portions, and the first and the second protection sheet contain the carbon fiber base material oriented in a second predetermined direction that substantially perpendicularly intersects the first predetermined direction.

A method for bonding two fiber composite components with each other to form a fiber composite structure includes integrating conductive fibers underneath a bonding surface of at least one of the two fiber composite components, each conductive fiber comprising a carbon fiber coated with an electrically insulating coating, the conductive fibers running along the bonding surface and protruding at least at their ends from the respective fiber composite component; arranging the two fiber composite components against each other at their respective bonding surfaces; passing an electric current through the conductive fibers by electrically contacting the conductive fibers at their protruding ends so that the respective fiber composite component is heated at the bonding surface to a curing temperature; and joining the two fiber composite components with each other at their bonding surfaces via secondary bonding, co-bonding and/or co-curing at the curing temperature, thereby forming the fiber composite structure.

A joint between dissimilar thermoplastic materials comprising a first thermoplastic material layer; a second thermoplastic material layer having a melting point temperature different from a melting point temperature of the first thermoplastic material layer; and an interface layer coupled between the first thermoplastic material layer and the second thermoplastic material layer; wherein the interface layer is configured to join the first thermoplastic material layer and the second thermoplastic material layer together to form the joint, wherein the interface layer comprises a melting point temperature having a value selected from the group consisting of between the melting point temperature of the first thermoplastic material layer and the melting point temperature of the second thermoplastic material layer; or lower than the melting point temperature of the first thermoplastic material layer and the melting point temperature of the second thermoplastic material layer.

A method for joining primary and secondary members includes providing a primary member, a secondary member and a heating element which is joined to one of the primary and secondary members. The heating element includes an electrically insulating matrix material and an electrically conductive reinforcing element extending through the matrix material. The method further includes bringing the other of the primary and secondary members and the heating element into engagement and controlling a flow of electrical current in the reinforcing element so as to resistively heat and fuse at least some of the matrix material of the heating element with a matrix material of the other of the primary and secondary members. The method may be used to join a primary member such as a composite tubular and a secondary member such as a component for terminating the composite tubular.

A heating element for resistance welding of thermoplastic components for aircraft comprises electrically conductive elements in the form of wires or fibers, which heat up upon application of an electric voltage to the heating element, to weld a first component to a second component in a region electrically heated by the heating element. The electrically conductive elements extend parallel to one another between contact regions for electrically contacting the heating element. After the welding procedure, the heating element remains between the welded components to enhance the strength of the welded bond. A device for bonding thermoplastic components by resistance welding comprises the heating element and a unit in the form of roller electrodes for displacing an electrically heated region of the components in the welding direction. The electrically conductive elements extend parallel to the axis of rotation of the roller electrodes.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a wind turbine rotor blade spar cap, which method includes providing a plurality of carbon profile elements; providing a number of adhesive film layers; preparing a spar cap assembly by arranging the carbon profile elements in a stack and arranging an adhesive film layer between adjacent carbon profile elements of the stack; and curing the spar cap assembly. The embodiments further describe a wind turbine rotor blade spar cap, and a wind turbine rotor blade including such a spar cap.

A method for resistance welding of two fiber-composite components to give a fiber-composite structure includes arranging conductive fibers within a jointing region of the two fiber-composite components, where each conductive fiber includes a carbon fiber with an electrically insulating coating. An electric current is passed through the conductive fibers to heat the jointing region to a welding temperature and melt the fiber-composite components in the jointing region. The jointing region is hardened in a manner that bonds the two fiber-composite components by way of the jointing region to give the fiber-composite structure.

A method for resistance welding of two fiber-composite components to give a fiber-composite structure includes arranging conductive fibers within a jointing region of the two fiber-composite components, where each conductive fiber includes a carbon fiber with an electrically insulating coating. An electric current is passed through the conductive fibers to heat the jointing region to a welding temperature and melt the fiber-composite components in the jointing region. The jointing region is hardened in a manner that bonds the two fiber-composite components by way of the jointing region to give the fiber-composite structure.

A method for joining primary and secondary members includes providing a primary member, a secondary member and a heating element which is joined to one of the primary and secondary members. The heating element includes an electrically insulating matrix material and an electrically conductive reinforcing clement extending through the matrix material. The method further includes bringing the other of the primary and secondary members and the heating element into engagement and controlling a flow of electrical current in the reinforcing element so as to resistively heat and fuse at least some of the matrix material of the heating element with a matrix material of the other of the primary and secondary members. The method may be used to join a primary member such as a composite tubular and a secondary member such as a component for terminating the composite tubular.