PROCESS FOR PLASTIC OVERMOLDING ON A METAL SURFACE AND PLASTIC-METAL HYBRIDE PART

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for manufacturing a plastic-metal hybrid part by plastic overmolding on a metal surface via nano-molding technology (NMT), wherein the moldable plastic material is a polymer composition comprising thermoplastic polyamide, or a thermoplastic polyester, or a blend thereof, and boron silicon glass fibers. The invention also relates to a plastic-metal hybrid part, obtainable by said process, wherein a metal part is overmolded by a polymer composition comprising thermoplastic polyamide, or a thermoplastic polyester, or a blend thereof, boron silicon glass fibers.

Claims

1. Process for manufacturing a plastic-metal hybrid part by plastic overmolding on a metal surface via nano-molding technology (NMT), comprising steps of (i) providing a metal substrate having a surface area with surface irregularities of nano-size dimensions; (ii) providing a polymer composition; (iii) forming a plastic structure on the metal substrate by molding said polymer composition directly on at least a part of the surface area with the surface irregularities of the metal substrate; wherein the polymer composition comprises (A) thermoplastic polymer selected from a thermoplastic polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and a thermoplastic polyester, or a blend thereof; and (B) silicon-boron glass fibers comprising predominantly silicon dioxide (SiO2) and boron trioxide (B203).

2. Process according to claim 1, wherein the metal substrate is formed from a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum, aluminum alloy, titanium, titanium alloy, iron, steel, magnesium, and magnesium alloy.

3. Process according to claim 1, wherein the process comprises a step prior to step i), of anodizing the metal substrate using an anodizing agent selected from the group consisting of chromic acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, oxalic acid, and boric acid.

4. Process according to claim 1, wherein the silicon-boron glass fibers comprise silicon dioxide and boron trioxide in a combined amount of at least 90 wt. %, relative to the weight of the silicon-boron glass fibers.

5. Process according to claim 4, wherein the silicon-boron glass fibers consist of: (a) 65-85 wt. % Si0.sub.2; (b) 15-30 wt. % B203; (c) 0-4 wt. % sodium oxide (Na20) or potassium oxide (K2O), or a combination thereof; and (d) 0-4 wt. % other components; wherein the weight percentages (wt. %) are relative to the weight of the silicon-boron glass fibers.

6. Process according to claim 1, wherein the composition comprises E-glass fibers in an amount of at most 30 wt. %, preferably at most 15 wt. %, relative to the weight of the silicon-boron glass fibers.

7. Process according to claim 1, wherein the composition comprises: (A) 30-90 wt. % of the thermoplastic polymer of group (A) and (B) 10-70 wt. % of the silicon-boron glass fibers; wherein the weight percentages (wt. %) are relative to the total weight of the composition.

8. Process according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic polymer (A) comprises an aliphatic polyamide, a semi-crystalline semi-aromatic polyamide or an amorphous semi-aromatic polyamide, or a blend thereof, preferably a blend of a semi-crystalline semi-aromatic polyamide and an amorphous semi-aromatic polyamide, or olybutylene terephthalate PBT), or polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or a blend thereof, preferably a blend of PBT and PET.

9. Process according to claim 8, wherein the polymer composition comprises (A.1) 30-70 wt. % of the semi-crystalline semi-aromatic polyamide and (A.2) 10-40 wt. % of the amorphous semi-aromatic polyamide; (B) 20-70 wt. % of the silicon-boron glass fibers; wherein the weight percentages (wt. %) are relative to the total weight of the composition.

10. Process according to claim 8, wherein the polymer composition comprises (A.3) 30-70 wt. % of PBT, (A.4) 10-40 wt. % of PET; (B) 20-70 wt. % of the silicon-boron glass fibers; wherein the weight percentages (wt. %) are relative to the total weight of the composition.

11. Process according to claim 1, wherein the polymer composition consists of: (A) 30-80 wt. % of the thermoplastic polymer; (B) 20-70 wt. % of the boron silicon glass fibers; (C) 0-30 wt. %, preferably 0.1-20 wt. % of at least one other component; wherein the weight percentages are relative to the total weight of the composition.

12. Process according to claim 1, wherein the polymer composition comprises a laser direct structuring (LDS) additive.

13. Plastic-metal hybrid part comprising a plastic material bonded to a metal part with a surface area having surface irregularities of nano-size dimensions, wherein the plastic material is a polymer composition comprising (A) thermoplastic polymer selected from a thermoplastic polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and a thermoplastic polyester, or a blend thereof; and (B) silicon-boron glass fibers comprising predominantly silicon dioxide (Si02) and boron trioxide (B203).

14. Plastic-metal hybrid part obtained by the process according to claim 1.

15. Plastic-metal hybrid part obtained by the process according to claim 5.

Description

[0117] FIG. 1. Schematic representation of the test samples, wherein the black part (A) is the plastic part, and the grey part (B) is the metal part.

Test Methods

Relative Solution Viscosity

[0118] RSV (relative solution viscosity) of PBT was analyzed according to ISO 1628-5.This method describes the determination of the viscosity of PBT in dilute solution in m-cresol using capillary viscometers. The PBT samples were dissolved during 15 min at 135° C. and diluted in m-cresol; concentration was 1 gram in 100 gram m-cresol at 25° C. The flow time of the m-cresol and the flow time of the PBT solution were measured at 25° C. The RSV was calculated from these measurements.

Bonding Strength Test Method.

[0119] The bonding strength methods for the adhesion interface in the plastic-metal assemblies was measured by the method according to ISO19095 at 23° C. and a tensile speed of 10 mm/min. The results have been included in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Compositions and test results for Comparative Experiments A-B and Examples I-II on aluminum plates. Composition (wt. %) CE-A EX-I CE-B EX-II sc-PPA 57.8 57.8 0 0 PBT 0 0 65 65 GF-A 40 0 30 0 GF-B 0 40 30 LDS additive 0 0 5 5 Color MB 2 2 0 0 Heat Stabilizer 0.2 0.2 0 0 Total 100 100 100 100 Test Results Bonding Strength Moderate Good Moderate Moderate-Good Impact Resistance Moderate Good Tensile Elongation Moderate Good at break