Novel process chains for the production of plastics/metal-hybrids

The hybrid technology combines the advantages of the materials metals and plastics in one part. State of the art production technologies whether comprise of a high number of process steps or show limits regarding the feasible geometrical part complexity. Therefore, novel highly efficient process chains have been developed for the production of plastics/metal-hybrids. Beside the further development of different joining technologies the combination of injection molding of plastics and high pressure die casting of metals is being presented in this paper. Three different process chains are investigated targeting different plastics/metal-hybrid products and markets. For these process chains the necessary development of machine and mold technology is shown as well as the results of detailed process investigations combining different metals and plastics. New promising strategies have been found to achieve a direct bonding between plastics and metals without using chemical aids.