Development of Solar Energy Concentration for Plastic Joining

This paper presents development of a SEC(Solar Energy Concentration) utilizing the concentrated solar beam radiation for joining engineering thermoplastics such as Acrylonitrile/Butadiene/Styrene(ABS), Polycarbonate(PC) and Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). In addition, to study the joining of the materials, necessary experimentation with applying primer was performed. Tensile tests were conducted to determine the bond strength achieved at the specimen Joint interface. Microscopic examinations of the fractured joints were performed in order to analyze the overall bond quality. Finally, the results in terms of bond strength achieved at the joint interface and energy consumed in the process was compared with those obtained with similar thermoplastic joining technique utilizing microwave energy.