A Performance Study of Self-Piercing Riveting of Aluminum and Copper Alloy Sheets

Abstract

This paper studied the performance of self-piercing riveting (SPR) of aluminum and copper alloy sheet. The SPR process of two copper alloy sheets was analyzed by experimental tests and finite elements stimulation, and good agreements between the simulations and test results of SPR process were obtained. Two different specimen geometries were adopted in experiment: a lap-shear type specimen and a T type specimen. The influence of combination of different materials on the static strength of SPR joints were studied through the tensile-shear and peeling experiments, and the strength of the SPR joints were evaluated by the force-displacement curves of two type specimens. The failure mechanisms corresponding to the static strength were also discussed. On the other hand, the engineering stress - strain curves of two materials have also been studied roughly. These results could provide designer engineers with some application messages of SPR.