Abstract
A mechanical press joining was investigated in ender for joining A1-5052 sheets for automobile body weight reduction. Static tensile and fatigue tests were conducted using tensile-shear specimens for evaluation of fatigue strength of the joint. During Tox joining process for A1-5052 plates, using the current sheet thickness and punch diameter, the optimal applied punching force was found to be 32 kN under the current joining condition. For the static tensile-shear experiment results, the fracture mode is classified into interface fracture mode, in which the neck area fractured due to influence of neck thickness, and pull-out fracture mode due to influence of plastic deformation of the joining area. And, during fatigue tests for the A1-5052 tensile shear specimens, interface failure mode occurred in the region of low cycle. The fatigue endurance limit approached to 6 percents of the maximum applied load, considering fatigue lifetime of $2.5\times10^6$ cycles.