Experimental Study on Fatigue Life Performance of Multi-Material
Connections Hybrid Joined by Self-Piercing Rivets and Adhesive
Abstract
The represented multi-material design contains an aluminium EN AW-6016
and a high strength steel CR330Y590T-DP. This dissimilar combination is
an example for affordable lightweight design solutions, but it requires
an adapted joining technology. Hybrid joining technologies such as
self-piercing riveting (SPR) in combination with a structural adhesive
enable an assembly of such dissimilar material combinations. Besides
higher manufacturing costs for mechanical joining the design process
still requires a great amount of effort. This study provides a simple
approach to assess hybrid joined multi-material connections. Therefore,
tests on several combinations of the most relevant parameters on the
fatigue life (material properties, sheet thicknesses, load cases) were
performed under quasi-static and cyclic loads. Based on the data
acquired, it is shown that the fatigue life of the hybrid joined
connections can be estimated by superposing the contributing fatigue
lives of the purely SPR and purely adhesive joints.