Effects of sheet thickness and material on the mechanical properties of flat clinched joint

Abstract

The flat clinching process is attracting a growing attention in the joining field of lightweight materials because it avoids the geometric protrusion that appears in the conventional clinching process. In this paper, the effects of sheet thickness and material on the mechanical properties of the clinched joint were studied. Al1060 and Al2024 sheets with 2 mm thickness were employed to develop the clinched joint by using different material configurations, and Al1060 sheets with 2.5- and 1.5-mm thicknesses were used to produce the clinched joint by using different thickness configurations. The clinched joints using various sheet configurations were sectioned, and dimensional analysis was conducted. Cross-tensile and shearing tests were carried out to analyze the mechanical properties of the clinched joint, including tensile strength, shearing strength, and absorbed energy. In addition, the failure modes of the clinched joints were discussed. Results indicated that the clinched joint with a stiff top sheet had increased static strength regardless of the test type. The clinched joint with a thick top sheet demonstrated lower static strength than the joint with a thick bottom sheet in the cross-tensile test. However, this result was reversed in the shearing tests. The flat clinching process has a great potential in joining dissimilar and various thickness materials.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

clinched joint / flat clinching process / thickness configuration / material configuration / mechanical property

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Acknowledgements

This research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51805416), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST, the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (Grant No. 2020JJ5716), the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2019JQ-372), the Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing (Grant No. ZZYJKT2019-01), and the Huxiang High-Level Talent Gathering Project of Hunan Province, China (Grant No. 2019RS1002).

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