Clinching - an innovative joining technology for trucks

In commercial vehicle construction the focus is still on the reduction of kerb weight and production costs. An efficient joining technology - such as the clinching of thick sheet metal - can help saving costs and production time. Clinching of thick sheet metal has been investigated in various research projects. However, there are currently no systematic investigations on: clinching hot-dip galvanized sheet metal, keeping protection from corrosion at the clinched joint and design concept for static calculation. These issues are under investigation in the current FOSTA research project P1172 ""mechanical joining of steel structures"". First selected results of the project are presented in this paper.