Damage mechanics modelling of material separation in self-pierce riveting (SPR) process

In numerical simulation of self-pierce riveting process (SRP) material separation criteria plays a critical role. In most of published works, material failure is simulated using numerical techniques, such as erosion criteria, that are calibrated on available experimental results. The lack of material based criteria strongly limits the use of numerical simulation as effective investigative tool for manufacturing process parameters assessment. In this work, damage mechanics is used to determine failure conditions in SRP considering dissimilar material sheets. In particular, the extended Bonora Damage Model (XBDM), which account for both void growth and void sheeting, was used. Damage model parameters for metal sheets have been determined independently and successively used in the simulation of SRP process. Results were compared with available experimental data.