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Rotated clinching process for two-layer metallic sheets

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Abstract

Mechanical clinching is a process of joining various sheets using a punch and a die and has been widely applied in automobile manufacturing. A rotated clinching process using two rotated heads and a flat-bottomed fixed die was proposed in this study. An experimental device was developed and rotated clinching experiments were conducted on 1.5-mm-thick Al1060 sheets using this approach. Shear and pull-out tests of the joints with various vertical reductions of rotated heads were conducted to evaluate the static joining strength. The failure modes of joints and the geometric characterisation of the joint profile in terms of interlock and neck thickness were analysed. Preliminary test results show that the joint strength exhibited evident directionality, where the force applied in the transverse direction was the largest. The maximum strength was 40% that of the Al1060 sheet. Full tearing failure and partial tearing with unbuttoning failure were the main joint failure modes. With increasing vertical reduction of the rotated heads, the neck thickness changed less and the interlock increased, reaching 33.3% of the lower sheet thickness.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52065014), Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2017GXNSFAA198133), and Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education (JGY2019074).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, GUIDIAN Jinjiling Campus, BOX: 19-04 1 Jinji Road, Qixingqu, 541004, Guilin, China

    Yulin He, Lianfa Yang, Pengju Zong, Jing Dang & Jianping Ma

Authors
  1. Yulin He
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  2. Lianfa Yang
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  3. Pengju Zong
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  4. Jing Dang
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  5. Jianping Ma
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Contributions

Yulin He conceived and wrote the paper; Lianfa Yang contributed to the data analysis of the manuscript; Pengju Zong designed and performed the experiments; Jing Dang analysed the data; Jianping Ma helped to perform the analysis with constructive discussions.

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Correspondence to Lianfa Yang.

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He, Y., Yang, L., Zong, P. et al. Rotated clinching process for two-layer metallic sheets. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 119, 3819–3831 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-08474-5

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