Hole-Clinching Joint of Polymer to Titanium Sheets, Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Increasing demand for lightweight products in many applications to save costs and energy consumption. Joining different parts to get the final product is common in production so that decreasing the weight of these parts reduces the weight of the final product. Hole-clinching is a process in which similar or dissimilar sheets can be joined. In the current study, the ability to join the polymer sheet to titanium-G2 was studied. Sheets of HDPE, PTFE, and PA polymers were joined to the titanium sheet by the hole-clinching process. Process parameters like hole diameter, sheet thickness, polymer type, and die depth were considered and their effect on joint interlocking and necking values was simulated using (DEFORM-2D) software. The experimental results showed that a sheet of polymers can be joined to titanium sheets successfully. The joint quality depends on the studied parameters, increasing the hole diameter decreases the interlock value, while it increases the joint necking. Increasing the upper sheet thickness increases both the joint interlocking and necking and also increases the bending in the titanium sheet with the polymer tendency to fracture. Both necking and interlocking values are affected by polymer type. HDPE polymer which has higher strength gives better necking and interlocking values than PTFE. For PTFE polymer, increasing the die depth decreases the necking and interlocking values with the increase in the polymer tendency to fracture.