Abstract
Self-piercing riveting(SPR) is a mechanical fastening technique which is put pressure on the rivet for joining the sheets. Unlike a spot welding, SPR joining does not make the harmful gas and $CO_2$ and needs less energy consumption. In this study, static and fatigue tests were conducted using tensile-shear specimens with Al-5052 plates for evaluation of fatigue strength of the SPR joints. During SPR joining process for the specimen, using the current sheet thickness and a rivet, the optimal applied punching force was found to be 21 kN. And, the maximum static strength of the specimen produced at the optimal punching force was 3430 N. During the fatigue tests for the specimens, interface failure mode occurred on the top substrate close to the rivet head in the most high-loading range region, but on the bottom substrate close to the rivet tail in the low -loading range region. There was a relationship between applied load amplitude $P_{amp}$ and lifetime of cycle N for the tensile-shear, $P_{amp}=3395.5{\times}N^{-0.078}$. Using the stress-strain curve of the Al-5052 from tensile test, the simulations for fatigue specimens have been carried out using the implicit finite element code ABAQUS. The relation between von-Mises equivalent stress amplitude and number of cycles was found to be ${\sigma}_{eq}=514.7{\times}N^{-0.033}$.
