The Influence of Heat Treatment on the Microstructure, Surface Roughness and Shear Tensile Strength of AISI 304 Clinch Joints

Clinching is the manufacturing process of joining two or more metal sheets under high plastic deformation by form and force closure without thermal support and auxiliary parts. Clinch connections are applicable to difficult-to-join hybrid material combinations, such as steel and aluminum. Therefore,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Metals (Basel ) 2022-09, Vol.12 (9), p.1514
Main Authors: Zeuner, André Till, Ewenz, Lars, Kalich, Jan, Schöne, Sebastian, Füssel, Uwe, Zimmermann, Martina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AISI 304
Aluminum
Austenitic stainless steels
Clinching
clinching process
Deformation
Deformation effects
Heat treating
Heat treatment
Influence
Investigations
Joining
Joint geometry
Martensite
Mechanical properties
Metal sheets
Metallography
Microstructure
Oxidation
Plastic deformation
shear tensile strength
Sheet material
Surface roughness
Tensile strength
α’-martensite formation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Clinching is the manufacturing process of joining two or more metal sheets under high plastic deformation by form and force closure without thermal support and auxiliary parts. Clinch connections are applicable to difficult-to-join hybrid material combinations, such as steel and aluminum. Therefore, this technology is interesting for the application of AISI 304 components, as this material is widely used as a highly formable sheet material. A characteristic feature of AISI 304 is its metastability, i.e., the face-centered cubic (fcc) γ-austenite can transform into a significantly stronger body-centered cubic (bcc) α’-martensite under plastic deformation. This work investigates the effect of heat treatment—a process that involves the formation of an oxidation layer on the sheet surface—on the forming process during joining and the resulting mechanical properties of clinch joints made from AISI 304. For this purpose, different joints made from non-heat treated and heat-treated sheets were examined using classical metallography and advanced SEM techniques, accompanied by further investigations, such as hardness and feritscope measurements. The shear tensile strength was determined, and the fracture behavior of the samples was investigated. Clear influences of heat-treatment-induced surface roughness on the joint geometry and strength were observed.
ISSN:2075-4701
2075-4701
DOI:10.3390/met12091514