Research on the mechanical clinching process for the metal–polymer multilayer structure

Abstract

With the wide application of lightweight materials, the metal–polymer multilayer structure has become a research focus owing to the advantages of lower weight and higher vibration damping. In the current work, the mechanical clinching process of the metal–polymer multilayer structure between Al5052-H32 and polyoxymethylene was investigated. The effect of diverse plate configurations and different test specimen forms on the mechanical characteristics was analysed in terms of geometric parameters, static strength, failure modes and energy absorption. The results showed that the metal–polymer multilayer structure could be successfully connected utilizing the mechanical clinching process. The cross-tension load and lap-shear load of the joint were greatly affected by the plate configuration as well as the test specimen form.

KEYWORDS:

• Mechanical clinching
• metal-polymer
• multilayer structure
• lightweight joining

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Yawen Ouyang: Data curation: Lead, Investigation: Lead, Writing – original draft: Lead. Chao Chen: Funding acquisition: Lead, Investigation: Supporting, Supervision: Lead, Writing – review & editing: Lead.

Additional information

Funding

This research work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 52275398), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (Grant Number 2019QNRC001), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars (Grant Number 2021JJ20059), Huxiang High-Level Talent Gathering Project of Hunan Province (Grant Number 2021RC5001), the Project of State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central South University (Grant Number ZZYJKT2022-01), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (Grant Number 2022ZZTS0807).