Fatigue Failure Modes in Self-Piercing Riveted Aluminium Alloy Joints

Self-piercing riveting, as an alternative joining method to spot-welding, has attracted considerable interest from the automotive industry and has been widely used in aluminium intensive vehicles. One of the important factors that need to be considered is the effect of cyclic loading in service, leading to possible fatigue failure. The previous work reported in the public domain on the behaviour of self-piercing rivets has mainly focused on...