Journal of Mechanics Engineering and Automation 6 (2016) 277-281

doi: 10.17265/2159-5275/2016.06.002
D DAVID PUBLISHING

Low Fatigue Strength of Clinch Joints

Tadeusz Balawender
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology, Rzeszów 35-959, Poland

Abstract: Clinching can be used for effective joining of different metallic materials, e.g., different grades of carbon and alloy steels,
aluminum and its alloys and others. This is an alternative joining method to traditional methods involving screws, rivets or welding.
Clinching is applied in many fields of manufacturing industry. Future applications of clinch joining require advances in quality and
among others things, combination with other processes, e.g., hybrid joining by clinching and adhesive bonding. Although the static
strength of clinched joints is lower than that of the others joints (e.g., pressure welded joints), the fatigue strength is comparable. But
there is a lack of information about fatigue strength of clinched joints. The static and low cyclic fatigue strengths of mechanically
clinched joints were determined experimentally. The load-displacement curves of static strength were compared with low cyclic fatigue
strength curves. It was observed the effect of strain hardening for clinched joint of low carbon steels (DC4) under cyclic loading.

Key words: Clinching, mechanical joining, sheet metal joining, static and fatigue strength.

1. Introduction materials two different values of shear strength are

obtained. The strength of joint is higher when the
Clinching is an alternative joining method of sheet
“stronger” material is on the punch side and the
metals without the use of heat, rivets, fasteners or
“weaker” on the die side, e.g., compare strength of
adhesives [1-4]. Riveting and screwing need a previous
aluminum-steel and steel-aluminum joints.
punching or drilling of sheets, welding causes localized
Clinching is applied in automobile industry
heating, what leads to changes in the mechanical
(particularly in certain parts of the vehicle body (as
properties of materials. During clinching sheet metal
shown in Fig. 1) and in furniture and computer
parts are deformed locally with a punch and a die; the
industries, in different kind household appliances as
squeezed material flows outward and an interlock is
well as in ventilation and air conditioning systems [1].
formed between the joined parts. The method is used to
However, a prospective application of this
joining sheets of thickness between 0.2 and 4 mm and
technology in automobile and especially in aerospace
both sheets are not required to be the same kind of
requires more attention [3, 6].
material and equal thickness [2, 4]. It is very good
As it can be seen in Fig. 2, clinching involves strong
method for fastening galvanized, pre-painted and
local plastic deformation of two (or more) sheet metal
coated aluminum, mild steel, stainless steel as well as
parts and the proper description of this process should
brass and copper.
include: tool geometries, parameter optimization and
The properties of joined materials are very important
FEA simulation of the process [5, 7-11]. The metal
for the clinch joint strength. The geometry of forming
flow during clinching process is limited to a very small
tools should be matched to the mechanical properties of
region around the tools; there is almost no flow of the
joined materials. The shearing strength of clinch joints
material outside the clinched region towards the joint
obtained for pairs of different materials, made with the
[6]. As it was shown in Ref. [7], the strain-hardening
same clinching tools are related to material
exponent n of sheet material can be used as ability to
arrangement during clinching [5]. For the same pair of
clinching criterion; high value of strain-hardening
Corresponding author: Tadeusz Balawender, D.Sc.,
exponent n is not favorable for clinch joint forming; the
research field: metalworking. clinch joints of high strength were manufactured when
278 Low Fatigue Strength of Clinch Joints

Fig. 3 Clinch joint parameters.

leads to low separating forces, caused by the vertical

sliding apart of the two sheets.
Fig. 1 Clinch joints (marked by the circles) in a car bonnet.
The strength of the proper clinch joint is determined
by the amount of formed interlock between sheets but
this strength is not high in comparison with other
joining methods, e.g., spot welding [11, 12]. This
resistance to shear or tensile loading can be one-half to
three-fourth lower than the equivalent size of spot
welding joint [8]. The mechanical strength is closely
related to the final geometry of the clinch joint. So, it is
important to understand the relation between the
clinching process parameters (tool geometry, applied
loads, lubrication), obtained the joint parameters,
mainly its geometry (neck thickness, undercut, bottom
Fig. 2 Scheme of the clinching process and a picture of thickness) and its mechanical strength.
longitudinal section of steel-copper clinch joint.
The static strength of clinched joints is lower than
low values strain-hardening exponent materials were that of other joints (e.g., pressure welded joints) but the
clinched. Very important for clinching process are fatigue strength is comparable [3, 8]. During cyclic
friction conditions on the joined sheets interface [7]. loading within the elastic regime, stress and strain are
The clinched joint strength is strongly related to the directly related through the elastic modulus. For cyclic
interface mechanical adhesion between joined sheets, loading that produces plastic strains, the
not only to the joint geometrical parameters and joined load-displacement responses are more complex and
material properties. form a hysteresis loop. The area of the hysteresis loop
The main geometrical parameters of the clinch joint is equal to the work done or the energy loss per cycle
are: the axial thickness of the sheets denoted by “x”, the [13]. Fatigue is recognized to be the principal cause of
thinning of the upper sheet denoted by “th” (also called many mechanical failures. Complex geometrical
the neck or nick thickness) and the clinch lock denoted structures are often involved and complex multiaxial
by “cl” (Fig. 3). The force necessary to separate the loadings are occurring. Low cycle fatigue, in contrast
sheets is very important parameter of the joint. It to high cycle fatigue, is generally characterized by
depends mainly on the neck thickness and on the failure in less than 104 cycles showing a pronounced
undercut. Thin necks lead to sheet separations by the plastic mechanical response. These loading conditions
fracture of the upper sheet in the neck. Small undercut can occur in automobile or especially in airplane
 Low Fatigue Strength of Clinch Joints 279

structures during or after unpredictable mechanical fatigue tests. In static tensile-shear test the joint opens
impacts, e.g., hard landing, bad weather conditions, as a press-stud fastener (Fig. 7a) and in fatigue test the
operational errors, failure of structural integrity [14]. failure occurs as a breakage in the joint neck (Fig. 7b).

2. Experimental Procedure 3.5

3
In order to estimate the mechanical strength of 2.5

Load [kN]
2
clinched joints the tensile—shear tests were performed.
1.5
All clinch indentations were manufactured using the 1
same tools; the outer diameter of the joint convexity 0.5
was equal 10 mm. Material of joined sheets was low 0
0 5 10 15 20
carbon steel grade DC4 and sheet thickness was 1 mm. Number of cycles
The overlap specimens with one-point clinched joint (a)
0.3
were tensile—shear loaded (pull test) in static and low
0.25

Elongation [mm]
cycle fatigue tests. Specimens were subjected to tensile
0.2
tests and fatigue tests (stress ratio R = σmin/σmax ≈ 0 and
0.15
amplitude ratio A = σa/σm ≈ 1, where σa = (σmax – 0.1
σmin)/2, σm = (σmax + σmin)/2), using a universal testing 0.05
machine Zwick-Roell with maximum nominal load 0
equal to 100 kN. Fatigue tests were performed with 0 5 10 15 20
Number of cycles
load controlled process; the load amplitude was held
(b)
constant. The displacement amplitude was changeable 3.5
(Fig. 4). 3
2.5
3. Experimental Results 2
Load [kN]

1.5
Specimen loaded by max. load equal 4 kN sustained 1
187 cycles. It is great number of cycles if take into 0.5
account the mean static strength of the joint equal 4.17 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3
kN (Fig. 5). Elongation [mm]
When testing these joints with maximal load 3.5 kN (c)
they sustain over 1,000 cycles (Fig. 6). And when in Fig. 4 Load (a) and elongation (b) versus number of cycles
and load-elongation hysteresis loops (c) for cyclic loading
1,001 cycle loading such joint up to failure, the (Fmax = 3,250 N, number of cycles—20).
maximal load was equal about 4.9 kN, what means
5
18% growth of static loading Fmax. This strain Static loading
4
hardening phenomenon can be a result of cyclic strain
Cyclic loading: Fmax= 4 kN,
Load [N]

3
hardening of clinch joint. As it was shown in Ref. [13], number of cycles = 187
strong metals tend to cyclically soften, and 2

low-strength metals tend to cyclically harden. However, 1

the hysteresis loop tends to stabilize after a few 0

0
2 1 3 4
hundred cycles, when the material attains a stable
Elongation [mm]
condition for the imposed load level. Fig. 5 Tensile test results: static and fatigue
There are differences in failure mode in static and elongation—load response of DC4 steel sheet clinched joint.
280 Low Fatigue Strength of Clinch Joints

characterized by very good low-cycle fatigue strength.

Such joints undergo strain hardening law when cyclic
loading. It was observed about 18% growth of static
loading after low-cyclic loading of DC4 steel sheets
clinch joints. The differences in failure mode of
clinched joints are observed in static tensile test (the
joint opens as a press-stud fastener) and cyclic tensile
test (the joint failures by cracks in the joint neck).
Fig. 6 Strain hardening of clinched joint of DC4 steel
Acknowledgment
sheets observed after cyclic loading (Fmax = 3.5 kN, number
of cycles = 1,000). Financial support of Structural Funds in the IEOP
(Operational Program-Innovative Economy) financed
from the European Regional Development
Fund-Project “Modern material technologies in
aerospace industry”, No. POIG.0101.02-00-015/08 is
gratefully acknowledged, Task 15—Unconventional
technologies of joining elements of aeronautical
constructions.

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