Shear-Clinching of Multi-Element Specimens of Aluminium Alloy and Ultra-High-Strength Steel

Abstract

The newly developed joining-by-forming technology “shear-clinching”, features a potentially single-stage process for joining UHSS without requiring any additional elements. Foundational studies have focused on the functionality of shear-clinching at a one-element sample. To ensure the safety of the industrial application of the shear-clinching technology, an investigation with component-like samples with several joints is required. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the material behaviour during the shear-clinching process with multi-element specimens to evaluate the influence of the neighbouring joints. In order to describe the influence of the neighbouring joints, the deformations resulting from the bending and material displacement are recorded without contact after the joining process: locally around the joining point and globally over the entire sample size. To minimize such bending effects, a tool-sided adaptation is provided. The results show the high potential of shear-clinching joining by UHSS and give further recommendations for future multi-material application.

Clinching of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Composite and Aluminum Alloy

“…For the joining of aluminum and ultra-high-strength steel in this way, shear clinching is carried out. In this method, the difficult-to-form steel initially undergoes shear cutting, followed by pushing through of the aluminum using a two-part punch [94]. This functional principle could be further applied to enhance the clinching of aluminum with CFRP.…”

Clinching with divided punch to prevent critical neck thicknesses

“…The joining point is then formed by a smaller punch. This does not necessarily have to involve a punch change; the division of the punch into two different diameters is already used in shear clinching [15] (Fig. 8, numbers in the figure are part of the patent [16], where all components are explained by numbers).…”

The State of the Art of Finite Element Analysis in Mechanical Clinching

“…With the development of clinching technology, the concept of clinching connection technology is constantly expanding. Based on this technology, hole-clinching [7][8][9], shear-clinching [10][11][12][13][14][15][16], friction-stir clinching [17][18][19][20][21], clinching-welding technology [22][23][24], and clinch-bond composite technology [25,26] have been developed and applied. The materials have been extended from carbon steel and aluminum alloy to new types of refractory materials such as high-strength steel [27][28][29][30][31][32][33], titanium alloy, and magnesium alloy, which present special advantages in the connection between a metal and a non-metal (carbon fiber and polymer [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]).…”