Stress distribution in adhesively-bonded joints and the loading capacity of hybrid joints of car body steels for the automotive industry

This paper presents a numerical analysis of stress distribution predictions when shearing High Strength Low Alloy and Dual Phase sheet joints. The numerical analysis proves that the overlap size increase results in a smaller overlap rotation in relation to the loading force. The finite element program MSC Marc Mentat was used to study the stress distribution. An increase of adherend thickness results in a more uniform stress distribution, but the stress characteristics is more asymmetrical. The experimental results show the effect of reinforcing the adhesively bonded joint with spot-weld on its strength and the total destruction energy. The results of the strength tests of adhesively bonded, spot-welded, and weld-bonded joints were also presented, for sheets with a higher strength limit. Tension tests of three types of single-lap joint show that bending of the sheets depends on the flexural stiffness of the joints. In the hybrid joint, greater energy was required to separate the sheets.