Joining of thermoplastic structures by Friction Riveting: A mechanical and a microstructural investigation on pure and glass reinforced polyamide sheets

In the proposed work, the attention was given to the joints of sheets made of a thermoplastic material with and without short glass fiber reinforcements. Rivets were made of Titanium Grade 2. The quality of the obtained results was verified by tensile tests. Moreover, microscopic observations were performed analyzing the material deformation and integrity inside the connection volume. The influences of the monitored process parameters on the above highlighted outputs were reported providing a guideline for the process execution.