Friction riveting of polymer-metal multimaterial structures

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the key aspects of injection overmolding technologies used in automotive body-in-white (BIW) structural applications. In the traditional automotive manufacturing practice, a choice has to be typically made between the use of metals and plastics for various structural and nonstructural applications. This paradigm is gradually being shifted with the introduction of polymer-metal hybrid (PMH) structures in which metals and polymers are integrated in a singular component/subassembly. There are several direct-adhesion PMH technologies, and they rely on different polymer/metal joining mechanisms. Within the direct-adhesion PMH technology, the joining between the metal and thermoplastic subcomponents is attained through direct-adhesion of injection-molded thermoplastic cross-ribbed structure to the metal without the use of interlocking rivets, overmolded edges, or structural adhesives. The chapter discusses application of computational engineering methods and tools for process and product-performance simulations. It also discusses compatibility of different injection-molding PMH technologies with the automotive BIW manufacturing process chain.