The small-size laser shock adhesive-clinching of Al foils

The laser shock adhesive-clinching (LSAC) is an original material joining technique that combines the advantages of clinch-bonded hybrid joining and laser shock clinching, in which two metal foils are bonded by adhesive and clinched by laser shock simultaneously. In this paper, the LSAC joints are manufactured by 1060 Al foils, Henkel EP 5055 adhesive, and perforated 304 stainless steel sheets. Through experiments and FEM simulations, the LSAC process and the deformation of LSAC joints under shear loads are analyzed, and the effect of adhesive on LSAC joint manufacturing is investigated. The results show that bulging is the dominant deformation behavior during LASC, and the cured adhesive with thin thickness is beneficial to the subsequent clinching process. The shear strength of the LSAC joint is greatly enhanced compared to the pure clinched and pure bonded joints. The shear failure process of the LSAC joint is adhesive degumming first, then the interlock separating.