Laser welding process and strength enhancement of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites and metals dissimilar joint: A review

Carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTP) and metals hybrid structures have been widely used in aircraft lightweight manufacturing. However, due to the significant difference in physical and chemical properties between CFRTP and metals, there are lots of challenges to connect them with high quality. Laser welding has a good application prospect in CFRTP and metals connection, and a significant research progress has been made in the exploration of CFRTP-metal laser joining mechanism, joining process optimization, joining strength improvement and joining defects controlling. However, there are still some problems need to be solved for this technology application. In this paper, the research progress of CFRTP-metal laser joining was summarized in three major aspects: theoretical modeling and simulation analysis, process exploration and parameter optimization, joint performance improvement and process innovation. And, problems and challenges of this technology were discussed, and the outlook of this research was provided.