Mechanical Joining of Tubes to Sheets Along Inclined Planes

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents a new mechanical joining process for fixing tubes to sheets along planes inclined with respect to the tube axis. The process is based on the capacity of producing and controlling inclined instability waves in thin‐walled tubes subjected to axial compressive load and is capable of ensuring significant economic and time savings when compared to currently available joining technologies. The presentation includes details on tool design, independent determination of the mechanical properties of the materials, numerical modeling, and experimentation under laboratory conditions with the aim of determining the process window as a function of the major operative parameters. The feasibility of joining tubes to sheets along inclined planes is demonstrated by presenting one connection performed at the tube end and another connection performed away from the tube end.