FE-Based Study of the Cutting Operation within Joining by Forming of Dissimilar Materials Using Shear-Clinching Technology

Abstract

Lightweight design and modern production technologies are key factors for the success of today’s car manufacturing industry. Resulting challenges, like the usage of new materials in the production chain and the joining of dissimilar material combinations for composite constructions, require the constant improvement and innovative development of production and joining processes. One promising joining technology which allows single stage joining of modern hot formed steels is shear-clinching. For ensuring process reliability and improving strength of shear-clinching joints fundamental studies are required. A possible approach is the numerical analysis of the material flow. To guarantee high quality simulation results it is important to develop a possibility to simulate the material separation during the shear-clinching process. This paper presents an evaluation of possible methods to simulate the indirectly induced cutting of the die-sided material. The numerically gained results are validated by experimental data.