Experimental investigation on the mechanical square clinching process for joining Al5052 sheets

Abstract

Clinching technology has been extensively applied as a green and clean joining method, which has the benefits of less energy consumption, no pollution and no noise. However, a single joint produced by round tools cannot withstand the torsion force. In order to solve this problem, a square clinching technology was proposed and investigated in this paper. The main geometric parameters, failure mode, static strength, and energy absorption of the square clinched joint were studied. The fracture characteristics of square clinched joints under different mechanical experiments were studied by a scanning electron microscope. The strength tests of Al5052 clinched joints under various forming forces were carried out. The results showed that the neck fracture mode was the only failure mode observed during the failure process. The microscopic morphology of the joint fracture shows typical ductile fracture characteristics. It turned out that the square clinching process can effectively join aluminum alloy sheets.