A comparative study of flat electromagnetic self-pierce riveting and pre-holed self-pierce riveting of ultra-high-strength steel and aluminum
摘要
Pre-holed self-pierce riveting (PH-SPR) has excellent potential for application in joining ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS) and aluminum alloy thin-walled structures in new energy vehicles. However, protrusion or sheet penetration are always on the joints, severely affecting the vehicle's NVH (noise, vibration, harshness). To overcome these problems, a flat electromagnetic self-pierce riveting (FE-SPR) process was proposed using a semi-solid rivet to join 2.0 mm-thick 22MnB5 UHSS and 2.0 mm-thick 5052 aluminum alloys. Parallel studies were carried out to compare two processes in terms of joint quality, microhardness, microstructures, quasi-static mechanical performance, and failure behavior. The effect of process parameter on the FE-SPR joints was also discussed. The results indicated that the FE-SPR joints had better mechanical interlock and joint performance than the PH-SPR joints. Two failure modes were obtained: For PH-SPR joints, the rivet was extracted from the lower and upper sheets. For FE-SPR joints, the rivet was extracted from the lower sheet while remaining connected to the upper sheet because of interference-induced contact stress. The gap caused by insufficient filling of the rivet shank in the joint gradually decreased with the inclination angle (θ). The FE-SPR joint with the θ of 7° had the best peak load, which was 8.0% and 6.9% higher than that with θ = 3° and 5°. This paper provides a new and efficient method for manufacturing UHSS and Al thin-walled structures with high joining strength.