Sammanfogningsmetoder för metallprofiler - lådor och ramar

Sammanfattning: Joining of materials is a very popular area of research, as a result of its central role within modern industry. The automotive industry has seen an increase in demand for joining methods that can contribute to weight reduction and meet the criteria for strength, while co-existing with goals set for sustainable development for the future. The aim of this project has been to, based on available research and the project specification, make a selection of joining methods that can be used to join aluminium profiles. These have then been compared based on the most essential points of interest. The methods that were subjected to comparison were MIG CMT-welding (Cold metal transfer; the preliminary method chosen by Aurobay), laser welding, riveting, adhesive joining, and hybrid joining with rivets and adhesives. A large portion of the work has been dedicated to research and defining the different properties these methods possess. A decision was then made to practically compare two methods through tensile testing, and these methods were a two-component epoxy and CMT Pulse welding. The results from the tensile testing were inconclusive, but many important lessons were learned about the methods and their properties. A comparison between the methods was then performed with regards to their strength, sustainability, and production aspects. Finite element modelling of an epoxy joint was done in ABAQUS parallelly with the whole project. The results were unfortunately unusable for verification of the tensile tests, since the complexity of the modelling was underestimated.