Investigation of Joining and Joint Strength between Aluminum Alloy and GFRP Sheets by Punching Rivet Method

The conventional riveting method requires drilling process of sheets. In order to solve this problem, the punching rivet method has been proposed. In the punching rivet method, drilling is unnecessary in advance, and since the punching and joining of sheets are carried out at the same time, the production efficiency is good. In this study, an Aluminum alloy sheet and a GFRP sheet were joined using the punching rivet method. After joining, the cross sections of the joints were observed, and the deformed conditions of the rivets were examined. For the riveted and bolted joints, tensile tests were carried out to compare their strength. From experimental results, the strength of riveted joint was almost same as strength of bolted joint because of the seating pressure working on the sheet surface of the riveted joint. Though the shape of rivet and maximum load in joining were changed to examine the effect of them, strength of riveted joints were almost same. The cause due to the fact that the deformed shapes of the rivet shafts was almost same, when the cross sections of joints were observed.