Joints For Automotive Industry Research Articles

Experimental analysis of adhesively bonded joints in synthetic- and natural fibre-reinforced polymer composites

The application of adhesively bonded joints in automotive industry has increased significantly in recent years mainly because of the potential for lighter weight vehicles, fuel savings and reduced emissions. The use of composites in making automotive body components to achieve a reduced vehicle mass has also continuously increased. Natural fibre composites have recently attracted a great deal of attention by the automotive industry due to their many attractive benefits (e.g. high strength-to-weight ratio, sustainable characteristics and low cost). However, the literature on natural fibre-reinforced polymer composite adhesive joints is scarce and needs further investigation. The main objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the mechanical performance of adhesively bonded joints made of synthetic- and natural fibre-reinforced polymer composites. Similar and dissimilar single lap joints bonded with a modern tough structural adhesive used in the automotive industry, as well as the epoxy resin AR260 (the same resin used in composite fabrication) were tested. It was found that the average failure loads varied significantly with adhesive material strength and adherend stiffness. Furthermore, it was also observed that failure mode has a significant effect in failure load. The jute-based natural fibre composites joints, both hybrid and purely natural, were superior in strength compared to the sisal-based natural composites joints.

Multi-material adhesive joints for automotive industry

Abstract The application of adhesively bonded joints in automotive industry has increased significantly in recent years mainly because of the potential for lighter weight vehicles, fuel savings, and reduced emissions. The principal benefits are design flexibility and joining of dissimilar and/or new materials, among others. On the other hand, the use of lightweight materials such as high strength steel, aluminum alloys as well as composites in making automotive body components to achieve a reduced vehicle mass has also continuously increased. In this paper, similar and multi-material adhesive joins were investigated experimentally and numerically. Several important factors, such as overlap length and adherend stiffness, influencing the strengths of multi-material adhesive joints were investigated. It was found that, for relatively short overlaps in SLJs bonded with structural modern tough adhesives, failure is dominated by adhesive global yielding and the influence of geometry and/or material combination on joint strength is not significant. Overall numerical values of the maximum load were very close to experimental results, validating the numerical methodology to predict the lap shear strength and providing the necessary data to explain the obtained behaviour.

Parameters of Laser Welding and their Influence of Weld Seam

Lap joints are most used joints in automotive industry. These types of welds are usually created by spot welding, but new technologies who came to automotive industry considerably do weld process faster. Paper deals with laser welding parameters and their influence of weld seams. The parameters of welding are readjusting according to shape of weld, impurities of surface and gap. Steel S500MC with thickness of 1.0 and 2.2 mm was used as the base material. For welding was used fiber laser Ytterbium Laser System YLS with power of 6000 watt from IPG Company. Research was oriented on changing weld parameters and their influence of welds quality. It was found that butt welding joints are sensitive to gap and the gap tolerances which in turn is dependent on material thickness, beam diameter, welding speed and beam quality.

Approaches for fatigue assessment of welded joints in automotive industry

AbstractThe numerical fatigue assessment of seam welded joints is of significant importance in automotive industry. In order to use the fatigue concepts, which are available in the literature, in series calculations, they usually have to be implemented into commercial software programmes. In the following contribution the possibilities available are discussed with respect to the needs in automotive industry. No specific commercial software will be discussed in detail. At the end open questions for developments necessary in the future will be addressed.

MIG Brazing of Galvanized Thin Sheet Joints for Automotive Industry

ABSTRACT MIG welding of zinc-coated thin plates in the automotive industry leads to major issues, mainly zinc evaporation followed by a decrease of corrosion resistance, as well as residual strains and stresses difficult to minimize. The use of a lower heat input technique for joining galvanized steels would bring significant benefit, if the final overall mechanical properties of the joints are adequate for the application. The use of MIG brazing (MIGB) with the recently commercialized alloyed copper-based filler metal is an alternative worth considering. The present paper addresses the MIGB processes, describing the influence of the different shielding gases and the process parameters on the mechanical, corrosion, and metallurgical properties of the joint, when lower heat input procedures are targeted. The paper describes the influence of the gases on the mechanical properties of the brazed joint, both in normal conditions after joining and after corrosion in a salt water environment. Microstructural features of the different zones are discussed. Results of corrosion and tensile tests are presented and interpreted.