6. Conclusion and outlook

The self-pierce riveting process is increasingly used in the automotive industry to join different types of sheet metal. Despite this, mastery of the process is still very much dependent on the expertise of technicians. The diversification of riveting configurations (thickness, number and nature of riveted sheets) requires technicians to find the right rivet-rivet pair for each new configuration. This choice is currently made using trial-and-error procedures with several types of rivets and riveting bushes.

Thanks to recent advances in numerical modeling, it is now possible to accurately model the self-pierce riveting process. This process is highly complex from a numerical point of view, since it involves large elastoplastic deformations, damage and fracture, as well as multi-domain and multi-material contact. We have shown that, by taking a number of precautions,...