Shear blanking test of a mechanically bonded aluminum/copper composite using experimental and numerical methods

A copper clad aluminum composite sample fabricated by an Axi-symmetric Forward Spiral Composite Extrusion (AFSCE) process was analyzed using finite element models of a dedicated blanking test. The axi-symmetric composite sample was analyzed using various interfacial characterization techniques, which revealed a near flawless interface between copper and aluminum in the AFSCE sample. The dedicated blanking test (DBT) was designed to measure the bonding shear strength of the metallic composite sample. To identify the required design parameters of the test rig, a preliminary Finite Element (FE) model was developed using Abaqus finite element package. The effect of the design parameters including sample thickness, blanking clearance and fillet radii of the tools were determined to develop a large and more uniform strain along the interface and avoid bending of the metallic composite sample. The numerical results showed that the sample thickness, clearance and fillet radii have a significant effect on the measured bond shear strength and the location and magnitude of maximum strain during the blanking test. The composite copper clad aluminum bond shear strength was experimentally determined using the newly designed test rig. After that, a detailed finite element model using cohesive modeling technique was utilized to model the shear strength distribution of the metallic composite during the blanking test.