Influence of material damage during the forming process on the vibration fatigue behaviour of a clinched connection

This paper presents the results of an analysation of forming damage during the joining process on the fatigue failure behaviour of a clinched connection. The two joining partners out of aluminium, AlMg0.7Si on the punch side and AlMg 3 on the die side, are clinched with a flat clinching system and the use of a preformed hole at the die side. By the use of two different geometry variants it could be shown, in fatigue Wöhler tests, that the fatigue failure behaviour is influenced by the material damage in the deformed material of the clinch. The material damage during the clinching process could be calculated with the help of FE-Simulations. So it was possible to show that more forming damage during the joining process causes less lifetime of the connection.