Experimental Investigation And Finite Element Numerical Simulation Of Self-Piercing Riveted Process

Lightweight is one of the trends of automobile industry, which can be achieved by using nonferrous light metals such as aluminum alloys in manufacturing of auto body. Joining is one of the key processes of auto body manufacturing. As spot resistance welding is not suitable for joining nonferrous metal materials, it is essential to the lightweight of automobiles to develop new high quality and high efficient joining techniques. Self-piercing riveting (SPR) is such a joining technique for manufacturing of lightweight auto body.The focus of this paper is on SPR. On reviewing of state-of-the-art of SPR development, the mechanism, evaluation criteria of joint and failure modes of SPR are discussed. FEM simulation is used to investigate SPR process. The FE model of SPR process is validated via experiment and the simulation result is found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. FEM simulation of SPR is carried out based on the model. Plastic deformation characteristics, i.e. stress and strain and their distribution, of the half-hollow rivet and the sheets in SPR are analyzed with the simulations. Effects of SPR parameters, including the tip height of the dies, hardness of the rivets and mechanical properties of the sheet materials, on the joint performance are discussed based SPR experiments. By comparing the performances of SPR joint with the spot resistance welding joint, it is proved that the SPR joint is better than the spot resistance welding joint.