ARCHIVES OF CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Vol. VIII

2008

No. 4

Overview on the state of development and the application

potential of dieless mechanical joining processes
R. NEUGEBAUER, M. TODTERMUSCHKE, R. MAUERMANN, F. RIEDEL
Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (IWU), Reichenhainer Str. 88, 09126
Chemnitz, Germany
In the course of ongoing development of mechanical joining technologies, different technologies were
developed in the last years, where often the necessary die as contrary die was substituted by a flat anvil.
Using the example of dieless clinching, the full potential of such process alternatives is visible. If the
tools, as the punch or the blank-holder are modified and the necessary die is substituted by a flat anvil,
then several advantages for the process alternative the dieless clinching emerges. For example, it is
possible to produce a one-sided flat connection, which is not producible with any other joining technology. Additionally it is possible to enlarge the application potential of mechanical joining technologies as
for example semi-finished parts made of magnesium can be partially heated and directly joined without
an increase in process time or a reduction in the process stability. The tools costs, the necessary
tolerances and the tool wear are significantly reduced. The publication includes an overview over the state
of the development and the application potential with practical examples of different process alternatives.
Keywords: mechanical joining, clinching, riveting, flat-clinch-connection, dieless-clinching, dieless-riveting,
aluminium, multi-material-design, simulation

1. Introduction
Modern joining by forming technologies such as riveting or clinching is used increasingly in sheet-metal-processing industries because of their many advantages.
Moreover these technologies are often interesting joining alternatives of new developed products with multi-material design [13]. Their biggest advantages are:
high economic viability,
wide variety of materials which can be joined similar or dissimilar,
the absence of temperature influences to the base material in comparison to
mostly used thermal technologies such as welding or brazing.
A special benefit of clinch connections is the possibility of joining without ancillary joining elements, such as rivets.
The reasons for developing dieless mechanical joining processes were manifold.
The major motives are:
1. Gain improvements in process technology
no need of coaxial alignment between punch and die,
possibility to directly heat up components fast and easy by pushing them against
the pre-heated flat anvil, to join even brittle materials, such as magnesium,

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reduction of space requirements inside of structures to be joined (no axial movement of die is necessary to pull out the protrusion of the die),
reduction of tool and process costs
die shape (see Figure 1) is expensive to manufacture and has higher tool wear
than flat anvils, because flat anvil can be as hard as possible, e.g. carbide materials,
no dependence between tool shape and joining task (material, thickness)
2. Optimization of connection properties:
facilitated cleaning and painting of surfaces,
reducing efforts at preparation of component flanges e.g. for sealing strips or
welting,
especially for flat clinch connections (see Figure 2e): manufacturing of onesided completely flat connections allows a use of connection in visible areas or for
piling up identical parts.

Fig. 1. conventional dies for clinch process: a)

solid die, b) die with moving blades versus
c) flat anvil as counter tool

Fig. 2. Different kinds of mechanical joining

Connections: a) hollow-self-pierce punch-rivet,
b) blind-rivet, c) solid self-pierce punch-rivet,
d) clinch, e) flat-clinch-connection

So far 4 different mechanical joining technologies have been developed and investigated, which use flat anvils as counter tool to create a form- and force-closed connection between two metal sheets. Figure 3 shows a classification of dieless joining
technologies. They can be divided into processes with and without the need of ancillary parts, with or without material cutting inside of the connection and divided into
connections with or without protrusions on anvil-sided component part.
The main objective was to realize a comparable technology with conventional processes with a die as counter tool, to keep the high economic efficiency and to be able
to use similar joining machines. All shown technologies require an overlapping zone
of the component parts for joining and at least three different tools which interact to
create a mechanical joined connection. For dieless clinching [46], see Figure 4, in the
beginning the component parts (1) and (2) are appropriate positioned between a punch
(4), a blank-holder (5) and a flat counter tool the anvil (3).

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Fig. 3. Classification of dieless mechanical joining technologies

Fig. 4. Process principle of joining a dieless clinch-connection

To produce the connection, the punch and the blank-holder are then moved toward
the components. With the blank-holder a defined retaining force is applied to the components. The punch is pressed with high force into the components. The material of
the components in the joining area is displaced locally and moves first radially outwards and then, controlled by the blank-holder, upwards in opposite direction to the
punch movement, similar to a can-reverse-extrusion-process. At this stage the material
around the joining area will be lifted off from the anvil and creates a protrusion as
conventional clinch connections have, see Figure 4-middle.
After contact of punch-sided material with the punch-shoulder further movement of
the material in opposite punch-direction is obstructed. The formed protrusion will be
reduced in its height with further feed of the punch and the material, which is still present under the shoulder of the punch, must flow radially outward. At this point a form
closure the interlocking f (see Figure 5) inside the connection will be created, see

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Figure 4-right. Depending on the material of the component parts, its combination and
the length of the punch tap a bulging of the neck range inside the connection is possible, which leads to an slight increase in neck thickness tn.

Fig. 5. Characteristic values of flat-clinch-connections

Fig. 6. Process principle of joining a flat-clinch-connection

The main difference between dieless and flat-clinch-connections is the complete

avoidance of an anvil-sided protrusion [79]. This can be reached by increasing the
blank-holder-force, which keeps the component parts flat on the anvil (3) during penetration of the punch, see Figure 6. Nevertheless to control the material flow including
the creation of form-closed interlocking inside the connection the blank-holder (5) has
a specific front face, which can be shaped with various elements. Suitable shapes are
one or more circular rings with a triangular cross section or fillet radius at the inner diameter. As for dieless clinch connections the punch (4) penetrates the component parts
and leads to a radial movement of material, especially in the anvil-sided part (2). Radial material distortion of punch-sided part (1) will be prevented by a circular profile.
Instead of radial flow material can be transformed in opposite direction to punch feed
into spaces of the blank-holder between the circular profiles and the punch. This material flow leads to a creation of interlocking, but without an anvil-sided protrusion. Nevertheless depending on material strength and combination a slight texture or groove at
the anvil sided part can be found.

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Dieless rivet-clinching (Figure 7) can be understood as a dieless clinching process

with a lost punch [10, 11]. Instead of a clinch punch, the rivet (6) with a specific initial shape and material properties will be driven into the component parts (1) and (2)
against the anvil (3) using a bigger rivet punch (4) and a blank holder (5). The rivet
transforms the material but does not cut it at any stage and leads to a radial flow of it.
As for dieless clinching an anvil-sided protrusion is created during the process, which
will be reduced in height when the rivet punch pushes the material further after getting
in contact with the punch-sided part. At this stage the interlocking will be created. Depending on material strength of rivet and component parts the rivet could be transformed as well.

Fig. 7. Process principle of joining a dieless rivet-clinch-connection

Fig. 8. Process principle of joining a self-pierce-rivet-connection

Another process, see Figure 8 which has a flat anvil (3) as counter tool but uses
self-pierce rivets (6) is patented in [12]. In contrast to rivet-clinch-connections the
punch sided material (1) will be cut during the process by the rivet but not the anvilsided component (2). Conventional rivets as well as special geometries can be used.
The whole joining process is very similar to dieless rivet-clinching.

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2. Influencing parameters and characteristic values

To develop a new kind of connection its mechanical and geometrical properties
must be considered. Geometrical shaping of the dieless clinch and rivet-clinch connections determines the mechanical and strength properties particularly. Considering
practical investigations and complementary numerical simulations (see Figure 9) in-

Fig. 9. Comparison of practical determined and numerical calculated cross sections

of dieless mechanical connections; a) dieless clinch-connection, b) flat-clinch-connection,
c) dieless rivet-clinch-connection, d) dieless self-pierce-rivet-connection

Fig. 10. Influencing variables to the manufacturing process of dieless and flat-clinch-connections
*flat-clinch connection only

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terlocking and neck thickness are the most significant characteristic values. Essentially, characteristic values depending each other and are affected by the influencing
parameters of the joining process. The most important influencing variables of manufacturing and mechanical properties of dieless and flat-clinch connections are shown
in Figure 10.
In addition to these parameters for dieless rivet- and rivet-clinch-connections the
following variables could be analyzed:
material of rivet (yield strength, hardness, malleability),
initial geometrical shape of rivet.

3. Experimental investigations and application examples

Extensive experimental investigations have been carried out for dieless clinch-,
flat-clinch- and dieless rivet-clinch-technologies. Some of the results are shown next.
3.1. Dieless clinch-connections
One of the biggest advantages of dieless joining procedures is the much easier possibility to heat the component parts by thermal conduction compared to other mechanical joining technologies using a die as counter tool. By clamping parts shortly
between blank-holder and flat anvil a fast and easy heating of whole joining area of
the parts is possible, which results in a very short heating time. This procedure and the
fact that inside of dieless clinch connections mainly compressive stress predominates
enables this technology to join even brittle materials, such as magnesium. Figure 11
shows a cross-section and the anvil-sided view of a dieless clinch connection where
the anvil-sided part is magnesium. Recognizable is a big interlocking without cracks
inside the connection, what could not be reached without heating the magnesium.

Fig. 11. Cross section and anvil-sided view of a dieless clinch-connection of AlMg3 (t1 = 1.0 mm) with
magnesium AZ31 (t2 = 1.3 mm) joined with heated anvil

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3.2. Flat-clinch-connections
The creation of interlocking needs the well-directed control of material flow inside
the part thickness. This can be realized by using special punch- and blank-holdergeometries. Figure 12 shows examples of experimental investigated punch and blankholder geometries. A view of a connection manufactured with angular shaped punch is
shown in Figure 13. Anvil-sided a slight texturing is visible, but flatness of less than
50 m in height is reachable with this technology, depending on component materials,
their combination and thicknesses.
Applications for this type of connection are cases where protrusions are visibly or
functionally disturbing, e.g. to apply sealing strips (welting) or piling up the joined
parts.

Fig. 12. Examples of a) punch and b) blank-holder geometries of experimental investigations

Fig. 13. View of punch-side (left) and anvil-side (right) of a flat-clinch-connection at AlMg3 (2.0 mm)

3.3. Dieless rivet-clinch connections

Investigations of dieless rivet-clinch connections are related to the development of
an optimal shape and hardness of the rivets taking into consideration best connection

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59

properties (e.g. interlocking, connection strength). Figure 14 shows dependency of interlocking on hardness for 3 different rivet shapes.

Fig. 14. Dependence of connection interlocking on the hardness class

of the rivet of dieless rivet-clinch connections

4. Conclusion
State-of-the-art joining by forming methods (such as clinching or self-pierce riveting) is usually working with a contoured die as a counter tool. In contrast to them the
shown dieless joining by forming methods has various advantages. It is possible to
create connections without anvil-sided protrusions, what makes them suitable for
functional component areas. Dieless clinching allows even joining of brittle magnesium by locally heating it. The necessary heating time can be reduced considerably in
comparison to conventional joining by forming operations with contoured die. But
most important fact is that all shown technologies have equivalent economic efficiency compared to the conventional mechanical joining processes using a die.
References
[1] Ruther, M.: Fgetechnische Herausforderungen im Fahrzeugbau durch neue Werkstoffe,
[Challenges of joining at automotive industry because of new materials], DVS-Berichte,
Band 232, Dsseldorf: DVS-Verlag, 2004, pp. 276282.
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[3] Bdgam, S., Freitag, V., Hahn, O., Ruther, M.: Fgesystemoptimierung fr Mischbauweisen im Karosseriebau, [Optimization of joining systems for multi material design in car
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[4] Neugebauer, R., Mauermann, R., Dietrich, S.: Chances and challenges in joining by forming with a flat countertool, 11th International Conference on Sheet Metal, Erlangen,
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[5] Dietrich, S.: Grundlagenuntersuchungen zu neuen matrizenlosen Umformfgeverfahren,
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[6] Neugebauer, R., Dietrich, S., Kraus, C.: Joining by forming with a flat counter tool
A new way of joining magnesium components, In: Materials Science Forum 2007, 539
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[7] Matthes, K.-J., Riedel, F.: Todtermuschke, M.: Verfahren und Einrichtung zur Herstellung einer Verbindung zwischen sich berlappenden plattenfrmigen Bauteilen, [Process
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[9] Riedel, F., Todtermuschke, M., Awiszus, B., Beyer, U.: Flat-clinch connection - a new
connection with plane surface of die side, 2nd International Conference on New Forming
Technology (ICNFT), Bremen, 2021. September, 2007, pp. 441450.
[10] Dietrich, S., Mauermann, R., Jesche, F., Lachmann, L.: Verfahren, Vorrichtung und
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[11] Neugebauer, R.; Dietrich, S.; Kraus, C.: Dieless clinching and dieless rivet-clinching of
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[12] Hollerung, T.: Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von Werkstoffen durch Stanznieten, [Process and device for joining materials by self-piercer riveting. Patent], No.: DE
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Przegld rozwoju i zastosowa bezmatrycowych mechanicznych procesw czenia
Publikacja zawiera przegld rozwoju i potencjalnego zastosowania mechanicznego czenia
z praktycznymi przykadami. Obecnie intensywnie rozwijane s rne technologie mechanicznego czenia, gdzie matryca jako przeciwstempel (wypychacz) zostaa zastpiona przez paskie kowado. Uywajc bezmatrycowego klinczowania, pojawia si kilka korzyci dla alternatywnych procesw, na przykad moliwe jest wyprodukowanie jednostronnych paskich pocze. Dodatkowo zastosowanie technologii mechanicznych pocze moe zosta rozszerzone na elementy z magnezu, ktre mog zosta czciowo podgrzane i bezporednio poczone. Koszty narzdzi i ich zuycie jest znaczco mniejsze ni w innych metodach czenia.