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The effect of heat treatment on die casting aluminum to apply self-pierce riveting

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Abstract

Vehicle weight reduction has been discussed by automotive industry for decades. The current solution for weight reduction purpose is the use of aluminum stamping and casting parts to replace the steel parts. However, joining aluminum with aluminum or aluminum with steel parts would be difficult to select a proper joining technology to ensure a qualified joint. Self-pierce riveting (SPR) as a mechanical joining technique has been used by automotive industry owing to its simplicity, versatility, and environment friendly nature. Although SPR can avoid the joining quality problems caused by welding to join aluminum with steel parts, the other joining problems from SPR still hinder the industry to widely use this joining technology. This article analyzed the cause of cracks on joint button from the understanding of joined material. The modified heat treatments were used to investigate the relationship between eutectic silicon morphology and cracking condition on joint button. In addition, the lap-shear strength according to the samples with various heat treatments was also tested and analyzed. Eventually, the results indicated that silicon content and its morphology take main responsibility on crack initiation and propagation on SPR joint button. But the influence of cracks on joining strength still needs to be investigated and studied in the future work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Böllhoff Inc., 820 Kirts Blvd, Suite 500, Troy, MI, 48084, USA

    Xuzhe Zhao

  2. Chang’an University, Middle-section of Nan’er Huan Road, Xi’an, 710064, Shaanxi, China

    Dean Meng

  3. Purdue University, 401 Grant Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Jianyue Zhang & Qingyou Han

Authors
  1. Xuzhe Zhao
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  2. Dean Meng
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  3. Jianyue Zhang
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  4. Qingyou Han
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Correspondence to Xuzhe Zhao.

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Zhao, X., Meng, D., Zhang, J. et al. The effect of heat treatment on die casting aluminum to apply self-pierce riveting. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 109, 2409–2419 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-05833-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-05833-6

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