Study of mechanical properties for copper alloy H62 sheets joined by self-piercing riveting and clinching

• Copper alloy H62 (H62) sheets could be joined by self-piercing riveting (SPR) and clinching technologies well.
• The mechanical properties of SPR and clinched joints in H62, including static and fatigue behaviors, were studied, and those test results were analyzed.
• The two-parameter power function equations of fatigue load–fatigue life curves for SPR and clinched joints were obtained by least square method.

Self-piercing riveting (SPR) and clinching are new high-speed mechanical fastening techniques which are suitable for point joining lightweight sheet materials. The joinabilities of copper alloy H62 by SPR and clinching are discussed in this paper. Mechanical tests were conducted to study the static and fatigue properties of joints, and the properties of joints using SPR and clinching technologies were investigated. The effectiveness of experimental data was validated statistically, using Student's t test and a two-parameter Weibull distribution. The fatigue load (F) and fatigue life (N) results were plotted against log–log axes. Lines were fitted using least square methods and the two-parameter power function equations of F–N curves were obtained. The results showed that SPR joints had superior static and fatigue properties, but the clinched joints also presented favorable fatigue performance.