The strength of traditional and self-pierced riveted joints

Abstract

The objective of this study is to compare the strength of riveted joints fabricated by traditional riveting (with pre-drilled holes) and self-piercing riveting (SPR) for different types of joints. Riveted joints were produced using steel and aluminum alloy rivets and two types of sheet material: 235JR steel sheet and EN AW 6060 aluminum alloy sheet with the following dimensions: length l = 100 ± 1 mm, width b = 50 ± 1 mm and thickness g = 2 mm. For all tested types of riveted joints (pre-drilled and SPR), 5 sets of joints were fabricated, each set containing 6 samples. The sets of joints differed with respect to the number of rivets (1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 rivets), joint type (single-, three- and four-riveted joints) and lap length. For all tested joints, the highest load capacity was obtained for self-pierced riveted joints, while the lowest - for pre-drilled joints with aluminum alloy rivets. In addition, it was found that the shear strength of self-pierced riveted joints is higher than that of aluminum and steel blind rivets.