• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.348-355
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• 2017

In recent years, dissimilar materials such as aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and advanced high strength steel are widely used in automotive body due to environment concerns and fuel consumption. Therefore, joining technology is important for assembling components made of dissimilar materials. In this study, friction stir hole clinching (FSHC) was proposed as a new mechanical joining method to join dissimilar materials. This process stirs and heats the upper sheet, forming mechanical interlocking with the lower sheet. The feasibility of this FSHC process was verified by comparing cross-section of joint in FSHC and hole clinching process under the same processing condition. Taguchi method was also applied to the FSHC process to estimate the effect of process parameters on joint strength and obtain optimal combination of process parameters. Joint strength of FSHC with optimal process condition was compared to that of FSHC with initial process condition as well as that of hole clinching with optimal process condition. Results showed that the FSHC process was useful for joining dissimilar materials, even if the formability of materials was low.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.401-404
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is investigating the joint characteristics of advanced high strength steel DP780 and Al5052 alloy sheet in the clinching process. It is difficult to join the advanced high strength steel with light-weight materials like aluminum alloy, because of low formability of DP780. The defects of clinching joint such as necking of the upper sheet, cracks of the lower sheet and no interlocking were occurred by different ductility between advanced high strength steel and aluminum alloy. The clinching conditions should be optimized to interlock without any defects. In this study, the effect of process parameters of clinching process on joinability of advanced high strength steel with Al5052 alloy was investigated by using FE-analysis. From the result of FE-analysis, the clearance between clinching punch and die, die depth and the shape of die cavity mainly affected the joinability of advanced high strength steel with Al5052 alloy.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.392-400
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• 2009

Clinching is a method of joining sheet metals together. This process can be substituted for the resistance spot welding on the joining of aluminum alloys. However, the joining strength of the clinching is lower than that of welding and riveting. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effect of shape parameters of tools on the joining strength of the clinching and to optimize clinching tools. Twelve parameters have been selected as shape parameters on the clinching tools such as punch and die. The design of experiments (DOE) method is employed to investigate the effect of the shape parameters of tools on the joining strength of the clinching. The neck thickness and undercut of the clinched sheet metal after the clinching, and the separation load at detaching are estimated from the result of FEA using DEFORM. Optimal combination of shape parameters to maximize the joining strength of clinching is determined on the basis of the result of DOE and FEA. In order to validate the result of DOE and FEA, the experiment of clinching is performed for the optimal combination of shape parameters. It is shown from the result of the experiment that optimization of shape parameters improves the joining strength of clinching.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.691-698
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• 2012

The joining of aluminum and HSS (high-strength steel) by the conventional clinching process is limited by the low formability of HSS. Defects in the clinching joint, such as necking of the upper sheet, cracks, and lack of interlocking, are produced by the different ductility properties of HSS and aluminum. In this study, we propose the hole clinching process for joining Al6061 and SPFC440, in which deformation of SPFC440 is avoided by drilling a hole in the SPFC440. The dimensions of the interlocking in the hole-clinched joint necessary to provide the required joint strength were determined. Based on the volume constant of the hole clinching process, the shapes of the tools were designed by finite element (FE)-analysis. A hole clinching experiment was performed to verify the proposed process. A cross-section of the joint showed good agreement with the results of the FE-analysis. The lap shear strength was found to be 2.56 kN, which is higher than required joint strength.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.1577-1578
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• 2011

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.603-613
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• 2007

This paper is concerned with joining of thin metal sheets by single stroke clinching process. This method has been used in sheet metal work as it is a simple process and offers the possibility of joining similar-dissimilar thin sheet metals. Clinching generates a joint by overlapping metal sheets deforming plastically by punching and squeezing sequence. AA 5754 aluminum alloy of 0.5 mm thick sheets have been selected as a modal material and the process has been simulated under different process conditions and the results have been analyzed in terms of the quality of clinch joints which are influenced mainly by tool geometries. The rigid-plastic finite element method is applied to analyses in this paper. Analysis is focused mainly on investigation of deformation and material flow patterns influenced by major geometrical parameters such as die diameter, die depth, groove width, and groove corner radius, respectively. To evaluate the quality of clinch joints, four controlling or evaluation parameters have been chosen and they are bottom, neck thickness of bottom and top sheets, and undercut thickness, respectively. It has been concluded from the simulation results that the die geometries such as die depth and diameters are the most decisive process parameters influencing on the quality of clinch joints, and the bottom thickness is the most important evaluation parameter to determine if the quality of clinch joints satisfies the demand for industrial application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.395-396
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• 2009

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.191-192
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• 2009

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.131-135
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• 2003

The form-joining process (or clinching) uses a set of die and punch to impose the plastic deformation-induced geometric constraint on a sheet metal pair, But their joining strength ranges 50-70 percent of that of the resistance spot welding. In this paper, a new form-joining process with the aid of adhesive is proposed in which an epoxy adhesive is applied to a sheet metal pair, to improve joining strength. The strength and mechanical properties of the new process are discussed and compared for other joining processes.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2015

The purpose of the current study is to improve the clinching joint strength of aluminum and fiber metal laminates (FMLs) comprised of three layers. The joining of FML and Al 5052 by a conventional clinching joint has some disadvantages such as necking of the upper sheet, lack of interlocking, defects caused by the vertical load, and especially loss of strength of the composite material due to the low ductility. In the current study, a tapered-hole clinching method is proposed as an alternative for the joining of Al 5052 and FMLs. A hole with a tapered shape is formed before the joining process. The design parameters were evaluated using the Taguchi method for the geometry of the tapered hole in order to determine the maximum separation load. The diameter of the punch corner, clearance, punch stroke and the tapered length were used as the main variables in the Taguchi method. In conclusion, the contribution ratio for each of the fours variable examined was 35.07%, 22.44%, 21.32% and 14.11%, respectively. In addition, the appropriate combination of the design parameters can make a 5% improvement in the vertical direction joint strength.