Fuel economy and stringent environmental regulations have forced the automotive industry to adopt lightweight materials for car bodies. Utilization of multi-materials is an effective approach for lightweight design of the automotive body structure. Introducing such lightweighting solutions faces the automotive industry with challenges in terms of joining methods. Clinching is a cost-effective alternative of conventional spot welding which enables joining of similar and dissimilar materials by local plastic deformation. This study undertakes the experimental and numerical investigation of the bending energy absorption of a multi-material aluminum alloy Al 5052/SPFC 390 high strength steel clinched beam by means of a quasi-static three-point bending test. Connector elements with six degrees of freedom are employed as simplified equivalent models of the beam clinched joints in software ABAQUS. The elastic and plastic behaviors of the connector are calibrated using experimental shear lap and pull-out tests. The calibrated clinch joint model is then used in the bending test simulation of the hybrid clinched beam and the numerical results are validated with experiments. The simulations results are found to be in good agreement with experiments and it is shown that the employed equivalent model can successfully predict the bending behavior of the hybrid material clinched beam.

燃油经济性和严格的环境法规迫使汽车工业采用轻质材料制造车身。利用多种材料是一种有效的车身结构轻量化设计方法。引入这种轻量化解决方案在汽车行业面临着连接方法方面的挑战。压接是传统点焊的一种经济有效的替代方法，它可以通过局部塑性变形来连接相似和不相似的材料。本研究通过准静态三点弯曲试验对多材料铝合金Al 5052 / SPFC 390高强度钢紧束梁的弯曲能量吸收进行了实验和数值研究。在软件ABAQUS中，采用具有六个自由度的连接器元件作为束紧接头的简化等效模型。连接器的弹性和塑性行为使用实验剪切搭接和拉拔测试进行了校准。然后将标定的弯紧接头模型用于混合弯紧梁的弯曲测试模拟，并通过实验验证了数值结果。仿真结果与实验结果吻合良好，表明所采用的等效模型可以成功地预测混合材料弯梁的弯曲行为。然后将标定的弯紧接头模型用于混合弯紧梁的弯曲测试模拟，并通过实验验证了数值结果。仿真结果与实验结果吻合良好，表明所采用的等效模型可以成功地预测混合材料弯梁的弯曲行为。然后将标定的弯紧接头模型用于混合弯紧梁的弯曲测试模拟，并通过实验验证了数值结果。仿真结果与实验结果吻合良好，表明所采用的等效模型可以成功地预测混合材料弯梁的弯曲行为。