Pre-holed self-piercing riveting of carbon fibre reinforced polymer laminates and commercially pure titanium sheets

Abstract The new technique of pre-holed self-piercing riveting (PH-SPR) was proposed to improve the dissimilar joining of the carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate and the commercially pure titanium (TA1) sheet. The joint quality, strength, failure behaviour and forming structure of the PH-SPR joints were analysed comparing with the regular SPR (R-SPR) joints. The effects of process parameters on the PH-SPR joint were discussed systematically and experimentally. It was concluded that a better mechanical interlock could be obtained using PH-SPR. The joint strength of the PH-SPR joints failed in the rivet pulled out was superior to those failed in the composite layer torn. Comparing with the R-SPR joints, a better hardening effect to the TA1 sheet and a relatively lower strength loss to the rivet brought a better joint strength for the PH-SPR joints. For the PH-SPR process, the joint strength is highly dependent on the interlock length, and the static failure mode of the joints was affected largely by the rivet head height. The remaining bottom thickness and interlock length was mainly determined by the plastic deformation capacity of the metallic sheet, and the rivet head height was primarily influenced by the joining force.