Joining of lightweight sandwich sheets to aluminium using self-pierce riveting

Lightweight sandwich sheets are a novel alternative lightweight material for automotive vehicle body manufacture. This paper presents the results from an investigation into the joining of this material to aluminium using self-pierce riveting. Comparative trials conducted on similar thickness bulk aluminium joints show that whilst this material combination can be joined using SPR with a variety of die profiles, joining lightweight sandwich sheets to aluminium shows greater sensitivity to changes in this parameter, with the result that substrate defects occur within the joint.