Clinch joining of heat-treatable aluminum AA6082-T6 alloy under warm conditions

Joining three car body steel sheets by clinching method

“…4c) occurred on the bottom die-sided sheet. The shear strength of clinched joints (maximum value of load-bearing capacity) obtained from shear test depends on the joint diameter, the material yield stress, the undercut (ts), the neck thickness (tn) [5]. The shear tests were executed under displacement control conditions on the samples in order to characterise the static behaviour of the clinched joints of three steel sheets.…”

“…These materials cannot be joined effectively by traditional connecting techniques like resistance spot welding therefore alternative joining technology such as mechanical clinching is used [2][3][4]. Joinability of aluminium alloys with reduced ductility using modified tool set geometry and sheet preheating was performed in [5,6]. Authors [7] described the evolution of ductile damage by a numerical model and compared it to the experimental clinching, when joining aluminium sheets by clinching.…”

Feasibility of mechanical clinching for joining aluminum AA6082-T6 and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer sheets

“…Different punches were used by varying the taper angle and the pin diameter. The tool pin had a fillet radius of 0.2 mm to reduce the stress on the aluminum alloy, which is characterized by a low ductility [52,53]. Table 3 summarizes the geometries of the adopted tools.…”

“…All these characteristics are determined by the geometry of the clinching tools as well as the process temperature which improves the material formability [52].…”

“…Tapered pins also allow a reduction of the damage in materials with low ductility, e.g. aluminum alloys or high-strength steels [52,55], since they allow the shear stress developing on the punch-sided sheets to be relieved. However, when clinching is used to join metal sheets with fiber-reinforced polymers, it is preferable to develop a high shear stress in the composite sheet in order to prevent excessive damage and delamination.…”