Abstract

Economic conditions as well as comfort and safety-related requirements lead to lightweight design especially in automotive body-in-white production processes. The consequential multi-material mix limits the reliability of conventional thermal joining technologies. Innovative mechanical joining technologies need to be established. Following the lightweight-design requirements, next step for weight-reduction would be the renunciation of additional elements. Clinching technologies support this idea by creating a form- and force-fitting joint, but are limited to the formability of the joining partners. Joining by forming without additional elements even of hot formed ultra-high-strength manganese steels and ductile aluminium can be realised by shear-clinching. A precisely coordinated tool setup initialises a crack in the die-sided material with limited formability without harming the punch-sided ductile aluminium. This paper presents current and detailed investigations of the influences of mechanical loads on strength capacity of multi-material joints using shear-clinching technologies. The results clearly show the promising potential and challenges of this innovative single-step joining technology for multi-material mixes.

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