Abstract
This paper presents the results of an analysation of forming damage during the joining process on the fatigue failure behaviour of a clinched connection. The two joining partners out of aluminium, AlMg0.7Si on the punch side and AlMg3 on the die side, are clinched with a flat clinching system and the use of a preformed hole at the die side. By the use of two different geometry variants it could be shown, in fatigue Wöhler tests, that the fatigue failure behaviour is influenced by the material damage in the deformed material of the clinch. The material damage during the clinching process could be calculated with the help of FE-Simulations. So it was possible to show that more forming damage during the joining process causes less lifetime of the connection.
Highlights
The mechanical joining process clinching is getting more and more important for the automotive industry
The main advantages of clinching are that there is no need of additional joining parts like screws, there is no heat injection in the joining partners, there is no emission of welding gases during the clinching process and there are no problems with coated surfaces of the joining partners. [1, 2]
This paper has shown that the vibration fatigue failure behaviour of a clinch connection can be influenced by damage effects during the clinching process
Summary
The mechanical joining process clinching is getting more and more important for the automotive industry. The material of the joining partners is deformed by a punch and a die to get an interlocking connection. Because of the geometry of punch and die the material is deformed in a way that an interlocked connection is formed. During this process the material is highly deformed and this deformation could possibly affect the material properties. During the forming process the accumulated plastic strain of the material reaches 400%. This is only possible with ductile metals and under pressure dominated load. The main reasons why clinching was chosen as a joining method for the product were, the low costs per part, that it is possible to join partners with coated surfaces and that no finishing of the connection area is necessary
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