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Spot friction welding is considered a cost-effective method for joining lightweight automotive alloys, such as magnesium and aluminum alloys. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the strength of spot friction welded joints of magnesium to magnesium, aluminum to aluminum, magnesium to aluminum and aluminum to magnesium. The joint structures and failure modes were also studied.

This paper presents the results of fatigue tests conducted on tailor-welded aluminum blanks consisting of 1.66 mm thick and 1.06 mm thick AA 5754-O sheets. The method of joining the sheets was friction-stir welding. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of tensile pre-strains on the fatigue performance of the welded joint. The welded specimens as well as unwelded 1.06-mm thick specimens were subjected to tensile pre-strains of 60 and 80% of their respective uniform strains before the fatigue tests. Fatigue S-N data of all these specimens were compared with similar data for unstrained specimens. Microscopic examinations were conducted to understand the failure modes.

This paper presents finite element analyses as well as static and fatigue performance of adhesive joints in an automotive composite structure. The automotive composite structure considered is a simply supported beam made by adhesively bonding a flat SRIM panel to the bottom of an SRIM hat section. Finite element analysis of such a beam showed the presence of significant peel stresses in the adhesive layer. Static and fatigue tests were then conducted with transverse tensile loads on adhesively bonded hat sections to determine the failure load in the peel direction. Finite element analysis of the transverse tensile loading condition identified the critical stresses in the adhesive and the failure mode expected in such joints. This study also examined the usefulness of combining adhesive and bolts to improve the joint performance.