Mechanical clinching and self-pierce riveting for sheet combination of 780-MPa high-strength steel and aluminium alloy A5052 sheets and durability on salt spray test of joints

To increase the usage of high-strength steel and aluminium alloy sheets for lightweight automobile body panels, the joinability of sheet combinations including a 780-MPa high-strength steel and an aluminium alloy A5052 sheets by mechanical clinching and self-pierce riveting was investigated for different tool shapes in an experiment. All the sheet combinations except for the two steel sheets by self-pierce riveting, i.e., the two steel sheets, the two aluminium alloy sheets, and the steel-aluminium alloy sheets, were successfully joined by both the joining methods without the gaps among the rivet and the sheets. Then, to show the durability of the joined sheets, the corrosion behaviour and the joint strength of the aged sheets by a salt spray test were measured. The corrosion and the load reduction of the clinched and the riveted two aluminium alloy sheets were little. The corrosion of the clinched two steel sheets without the galvanized layer progressed, and then the load after 1176 h decreased by 85%. In the clinched two galvanized steel sheets, the corrosion progress slowed down by 24%. In the clinched steel and aluminium alloy sheets, the thickness reduction occurred near the minimum thickness of the upper sheet and in the upper surface on the edge of the lower aluminium alloy sheet, whereas the top surface of the upper sheet and the upper surface of the lower sheet were mainly corroded in the riveted joint. The load reduction was caused by the two thickness reductions, i.e., the reduction in the minimum thickness of the upper sheet and the reduction in the flange of the aluminium alloy sheet. Although the load of the clinched steel without the galvanized coating layer and aluminium alloy sheets decreased by about 20%, the use of the galvanized steel sheet brought the decrease by about 11%. It was found that the use of the galvanized steel sheets is effective for the decrease of strength reduction due to corrosion.