Plastic joining of ultra high strength steel and aluminium alloy sheets by self piercing rivet

Ultra high strength steel and aluminium alloy sheets were plastically joined by a self piercing rivet driven through the upper sheet and spread in the lower sheet with a die. The self piercing rivet directly pierces into the sheets without drilling the sheets beforehand unlike the conventional rivets. Insufficient driving though the upper sheet and fracture of the lower sheet occur due to the high hardness and low ductility of the ultra sheet, respectively. An ultra high strength steel sheet having a tensile strength of 980MPa and an aluminium alloy sheet were successfully joined by optimising shapes of the die.