The aim of this project is to develop a new kind of joint to enable dissimilar material combinations. This joint should meet the requirements of modern lightweight construction like material mix. Further, the joining method to be developed should offer the opportunity to join plastics and/or ceramics with metals cost effective in future vehicle design - in the automotive industry as well as in the aerospace industry. In this project dissimilar joining implies not only different metal combinations such as steel and aluminium, but also the joining of metal parts with plastics, fibre reinforced plastics, and ceramics. Furthermore, different joining methods - form-locking, and substance to substance bonding - can be combined. The resulting combination allows to create both permanent joints and detachable ones. To achieve these aims metallic macrostructures on the scale of some millimetres (so-called "pins") will be used. Since the placement of these macrostructures has to be exact in the joining area, they will be created via arc welding. Further, the macrostructures can be positioned on the top of each other in order to create new shapes or sizes. This opens an possibility to obtain an economical competitive joining procedure for dissimilar materials.
