Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135

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Journal of Advanced Joining Processes

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A Review on the Modeling of the Clinching Process Chain - Part III:

Operational Phase
Britta Schramm a, *, Sven Harzheim b, Deborah Weiß a, Tintu David Joy a, Martin Hofmann b,
Julia Mergheim c, Thomas Wallmersperger b
a
Applied Mechanics, Paderborn University, Warburger Straße 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany
b
Institute of Solid Mechanics, TU Dresden, George-Bähr-Straße 3c, 01069 Dresden, Germany
c
Institute of Applied Mechanics, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstraße 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The mechanical joining technique clinching is often used in order to realize components of different complexity
Mechanical joining with numerous connection points. For the holistic prognosis of the joinability and the life cycle of an assembly,
Clinching numerical modeling of the complete joining process chain is essential considering (i) the design phase, (ii) the
Process chain
joining process itself and (iii) the operational phase. Such a holistic modeling approach enables the compre­
Corrosion modeling
hension of the complex cause-and-effect relationships in mechanical joining of different materials (e.g.
Crack growth simulation
aluminum, steel and fiber-composite). Besides plasticity and damage processes during the clinching process,
corrosive phenomena and crack propagation behavior have to be taken into account for the prognosis of the load-
bearing capacity and of the lifetime. This paper is the third part (part III) of a review series summarizing the
current state of research on modeling and simulation of clinching. The focus of part I is on the joining process
chain and its challenges as well as on the design phase. The joining process itself, i.e. the process simulation of
the clinching process as well as damage phenomena, is subject of part II. Within the scope of the current paper
(part III) of our review series are the influences of the operating phase. Thereby, the effects of corrosion and of
fatigue crack growth as well as corresponding modeling approaches are considered.

Introduction
A key driver for research of mechanical joining processes is the
lightweight construction of technical structures. Numerous examples,
e.g. by Davies (2012), confirm that an optimal lightweight design can be
achieved by an intelligent choice of different materials (e.g. high-strength
steel, light metal or fiber composite materials). In this context, mechanical
clinching is a key technology in modern production lines and enables the
use and the combination of different materials. The essential function of
joined assemblies is to transfer different loads (e.g. static and cyclic loads
as well as impact loads) from one joining part to the other. Variations of
the original mechanical properties of the parts to be joined influence the
quality of the assembly and might additionally cause weak points in the
structure.
In order to make a contribution to the design and the optimization of
mechanical joining processes as well as of clinched structures, this
publication series presents a review on the modeling of the clinching
process chain and is subdivided into the following three parts: (i) the
design phase (part I, (Schramm et al., 2022a)), (ii) the joining phase
(part II, (Schramm et al., 2022b)) and (iii) the operational phase (part
III, present paper) of the clinched assembly. As has been shown in the
first two parts of our publication series, the production of a functional,
clinched assembly requires a systematic, method-based approach
considering the entire joining process chain starting with the initial
design phase of a product, followed by the joining process of the
clinched assembly until the end of the operational phase.
In addition to the joinability forecast, the prediction of service life of
the clinched assembly considering operational circumstances is another
requirement that has to be met in order to increase (i) the use of me­
chanical joining processes as well as (ii) the flexibility of the joining
process chain. Therefore, different loading situations and environmental
influences have to be taken into account. In particular, corrosion and
crack propagation processes have to be considered in order to carry out
load-bearing capacity and service life calculations for clinched assem­
blies. These topics are addressed in the present part III of our review
series in order to answer the research questions ’How does corrosion

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: schramm@fam.upb.de (B. Schramm).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jajp.2022.100135
Received 21 July 2022; Received in revised form 14 October 2022; Accepted 23 October 2022
Available online 2 November 2022
2666-3309/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
B. Schramm et al.
affect the load-bearing capacity and the service life of a clinched as­
sembly?’ (Q5) and ’How does fatigue crack growth occur in clinched
assemblies and how does it affect the remaining service life’ (Q6),
defined in part I of our review series.
In modern lightweight structures, corrosion, especially contact
corrosion (e.g. between steel and aluminum), plays an important role,
since corrosion can significantly reduce the fatigue strength. Thereby,
corrosion describes the change in material as a result of electro-chemical
processes which can have multiple causes. For the prediction of the
service life it is important to take time-dependent influences of corrosion
on the damage into account. Therefore, Section 2 of this paper gives a
clear insight into corrosive aspects and corresponding modeling ap­
proaches. Thereby, the major corrosion mechanisms are introduced and,
additionally, their importance to clinching is evaluated. Furthermore,
damage resulting from corrosive phenomena as well as modeling ap­
proaches for corrosion are reviewed. Since microcracks may arise and
grow during the joining process and/or due to the subsequent opera­
tional loads, the fracture mechanical assessment of joining connections
is also necessary. In order to characterize the fracture mechanical
property profile of mechanically joined structures and to describe the
crack propagation process from an initial crack, specific influences (e.g.
contact between the parts to be joined, local stress states, and hetero­
geneous material conditions) have to be regarded. These specific factors
can also change the fracture mechanical behavior, meaning the propa­
gation of a crack in a joined assembly. Hence, Section 3 of this review
paper gives an overview about the fracture mechanical fundamentals
and methods for modeling crack growth in clinched assemblies. Starting
point for these considerations are damages as a result of the joining
process itself as well as cracks that initiate during operation as a result of
fatigue and/or corrosion processes. In the summary in Section 4, the
state of research of the operational phase is shortly recapitulated and
open questions are pointed out. In addition, a complete summary of all
three parts within the scope of our review series will be provided.
Computational modeling of corrosion damage in mechanical
joining
Mechanical joining offers a great flexibility and ease of use when
combining similar and dissimilar materials. It is often used during
construction of lightweight compounds where the joints require a high
fatigue strength. Aluminum and steel are common materials used in the
automotive industry that offer great versatility (Meschut et al., 2014).
However, these joined metals are often subjected to corrosive effects
when combined carelessly due to their different electrochemical po­
tentials. Corrosion usually impairs integrity and load-bearing capabil­
ities, especially in clinched joints.
In many cases, corrosion is not the sole source of damage in the
clinched materials. Clinched joints are often exposed to loading cycles
which induce further strain on the used materials. When stress and
corrosion influence each other, a combined phenomenon called corro­
sion fatigue occurs. Corrosion fatigue is the accumulation of stress
corrosion cracking and fatigue damage. The combined damage caused
by high cycle fatigue and corrosion is often larger than the sum of both
single contributors (Revie and Uhlig, 2008), i.e. stress corrosion and
high cycle fatigue damage interaction is nonlinear.
The following part of the review refers to the corrosive influencing
factors of the operational phase of clinched joints (this addresses
research question Q5). Over the past decades, extensive research has
been carried out to better understand corrosion in all its manifestations.
Corrosion damage is usually classified into different types, of which not
all are equally destructive for mechanical joints, see Section 2.1. Most
authors categorize corrosion damage differently. Hence, only the most
common corrosion types are mentioned here. The types in a non-specific
order are (i) galvanic corrosion, (ii) pitting and crevice corrosion, (iii)
dealloying, (iv) intergranular corrosion, (v) stress-corrosion cracking
and (vi) general corrosion or general attack. Overviews of the different
2
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
types are given in Balan (2018); Cinitha et al. (2014) and Tostmann
(2017). Fig. 1 shows a graphical description of the corrosion phenom­
ena. The destruction caused by corrosion on metallic components is
given mostly as a change in thickness and is measured in mm/year.
Calabrese et al. (2015b) investigated how salt spray environment
affects the shear strength of clinch joints after different time spans up to
15 days of accelerated ageing. Their research has shown that corrosion
ultimately leads to reduced load bearing capacity or even complete
failure of the aluminum steel joint. Even though preventive measures for
corrosive effects, such as sacrificial anodes or surface coating are
available, they are sometimes impractical (Revie and Uhlig, 2008).
During the clinching process, for example, protective layers (e.g. zinc
coatings) on the metal have to endure large plastic deformations or else
they rip apart. Research with respect to predicting fatigue life has also
been advanced. Desmorat et al. (2007) developed – based on the model
of Lemaitre (Lemaitre et al., 1999) – a model to calculate damage
accumulation. They paid special attention to flexibility of their model
with regard to loading types and temperature behavior. When it comes
to the computational modeling of corrosive phenomena and damage,
only a few models exist in the literature, which attempted the incorpo­
ration of corrosion damage into a high cycle fatigue damage model. Han
et al. (2014) have used a fitting parameter with moderate success. Their
approach is an empirical model calibrated by experimental results and,
is therefore, not universally valid.
In the present section, we will evaluate the different corrosion phe­
nomena obtained from the literature and their relevance to clinch joints.
Additionally, a commonly used approach to model corrosion will be
given.
Modeling corrosion fatigue
In this section, the different corrosion mechanisms mentioned above
are explained. A mathematical corrosion model is given afterwards and
finally, the most common numerical methods are introduced. Some of
the corrosion phenomena are of special relevance for clinched
aluminum and steel joints. Galvanic and pitting corrosion are mostly
reported in the literature with the addition of stress corrosion cracking
when exposed to mechanical loads. Nevertheless, all corrosion damage
types are briefly introduced. A thorough, comprehensible description of
corrosion can be found in the works of Revie and Uhlig (2008) and
Revie (2011), where the following descriptions are also taken from.
Fig. 1. Depiction of common corrosion mechanisms. 1) galvanic corrosion/
general corrosion, 2) pitting corrosion, 3) dealloying, 4) intergranular corrosion
and 5) stress corrosion cracking
B. Schramm et al.
(i) Galvanic corrosion
Galvanic corrosion occurs when two electrically conducting
materials are connected to each other and to an electrolyte,
forming a galvanic cell. Electrons will flow from oxidation pro­
cesses occurring at the anode (i.e. the less noble metal) to the
cathode due to differences in the electrochemical potential. This
process is influenced by many factors and the sole difference in
electric potentials of the metals is not a good indicator for the
severeness of corrosion. For example, limited oxygen diffusion or
corrosion products can influence galvanic corrosion rates.
The effect of galvanic corrosion on clinch joints and riveted
joints was investigated with and without an adhesive layer used
as corrosion protection (Calabrese et al., 2016; 2015a; 2015b).
Aluminum and steel joints were produced with different thick­
nesses of the metal layers. Without the adhesive layer, thicker
aluminum sheets lead to less degradation at the metal interface
and, thus, to larger shear strength. Calabrese et al. (2015b) found
out that galvanic corrosion is the main source of corrosion
damage in these joints. Silva et al. (2017) modeled galvanic
corrosion around a self-piercing rivet of aluminum and magne­
sium sheets. They considered solubility of the metal hydroxides
and in this way included partial surface coverage with solid
corrosion products. Their results revealed that the overlap
strongly influences the galvanic couple between the rivet and the
bottom magnesium sheet.
(ii) Crevice and pitting corrosion
Crevice and pitting corrosion are both localized corrosion
phenomena and only occur under specific circumstances. Crevice
corrosion affects edges as well as small and confined spaces of the
metal which are not in direct contact with the environment. In
case of pitting corrosion, it mostly occurs on surfaces of passiv­
ated metals. Pitting is caused by aggressive ions from an elec­
trolyte (mainly chloride and bromide) travelling through small
defects in the passive layer. Chloride or bromide can then attach
themselves to the surface of the metal and displace the oxygen. In
a following step, the metal surface either repassivates or corro­
sion will start. Due to the lower oxygen concentration near the
defect, a concentration element forms and the metal starts dis­
solving and forms a pit. A more detailed description with the
incorporation of various influencing factors on the pitting
corrosion rate can be found, e.g., in Burstein et al. (2004) and
Frankel (2019).
Han et al. (2019) have reported the occurrence of pitting
corrosion and of galvanic corrosion in a shear-clinched alumi­
num/steel joint which was exposed to a corrosive environment
during a salt spray test. They shear-clinched multi-element
specimens with various overlapping sizes. The two aluminum
alloys used are AlSi1.2Mg0.4 and AlMg4.5Mn0.4. The steel alloy
is boron manganese alloyed steel 22MnB5. Pitting corrosion in
the uncoated joints leads to significant reduction in the joints’
load-bearing capacities. Furthermore, Mandel and Krüger (2015)
performed experimental and numerical investigations on pit
formation in riveted joints exposed to a salt spray environment.
(iii) Dealloying
Dealloying, sometimes called parting or dezincification, de­
scribes the process of selected dissolution of alloy components
due to electrochemical reactions. The remaining porous metal
often has vastly altered ductility and tensile strength, despite not
displaying any damage. This phenomenon has not yet been linked
to corrosion fatigue in clinched aluminum/steel joints, rather it is
an issue in brass alloys. Interestingly, dealloying is used in the
fabrication of highly porous materials applied in, for example,
catalysis (Hayes et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2008).
(iv) Intergranular corrosion
The localized dissolution of metals along their grain boundaries
is called intergranular corrosion. It often emerges from free
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Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
surfaces or galvanic cells in improperly heat treated alloys. Im­
purities of the metal mostly accumulate at the grain boundaries,
causing a reduced corrosion resistance. A small anode area,
which is represented by the grain boundary, is exposed to a large
cathode area, which is the grain itself. Since the corrosion rate is
proportional to the relation of cathode area to anode area,
corrosion occurs rapidly and advances deeply into the metal.
(v) Stress corrosion
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a term for two phenomena
that promote cracks in metals which follow along grain bound­
aries or advance through the grains. The first phenomenon is the
combined strain due to mechanical stresses and corrosion dam­
age. Residual stresses as well as stresses from mechanical loads
promote SCC. The second phenomenon is the influence of
hydrogen (produced in certain corrosion reactions) on the micro-
structure of the metal. In acidic regimes, hydrogen can be pro­
duced at the cathode and diffuse into the metal, leading to some
form of hydrogen embrittlement. Hofmann et al. (2020) used the
chemical kinetics model of Harrington and Conway (1987); Lasia
(1993, 1995); Lasia and Rami (1990) to describe the evolution of
the hydrogen concentration. The following reactions take place at
the surface:
H2 O + Me + e− ⇌MeHads + OH− (Volmer),
MeHads + H2 O + e− ⇌H2 + OH− + Me (Heyrovsky),
2MeHads ⇌H2 + 2Me (Tafel).
The hydrogen absorption at the surface into the metal has to be
taken into account by:
MeHads ⇌MeHabs .
The reaction rates of the forward or backward part of these four
reactions depend on (i) the hydrogen concentration itself, (ii) the
temperature and (iii) the overpotential. In Hofmann et al. (2020),
the hydrogen concentration inside the metal influences the pa­
rameters in the damage model for high cycle fatigue according to
Lemaitre et al. (1999).
Concluding, SCC is a combined effect of multiple influencing
factors that, on their own, are not able to cause cracking. As of
now, it is mostly impossible to predict on a purely theoretical
level whether a certain material/electrolyte/stress combination
will lead to SCC. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no in­
vestigations of SCC in clinch joints under cyclic loading were
found in the literature even though it is likely to be of importance.
However, Mochizuki (2007) investigated how a reduction of re­
sidual stresses in pre- and post-welding processes reduces the
severeness of SCC in steel welded joints. Additionally, Speidel
(1975) reported on SCC in aluminum alloys in different
environments.
(vi) General corrosion
General corrosion (GC) is a very common corrosion type that
affects a metal surface uniformly. The mechanisms of GC depend
on the environment of the affected metal. Here, the cathodic
process changes, depending on the pH of the environment. The
oxidation of the metal surface, however, is formulated by
Me⟶Men+ + ne− .
In acidic regimes hydrogen ions are reduced to hydrogen, i.e.
2H+ + 2e− ⟶H2 .
In basic regimes oxygen is reduced to OH− , i. e.
O2 + 2H2 O + 4e− ⟶4OH− .
B. Schramm et al.
Further reactions can take place, depending on (i) the type of
metal, (ii) the pH value, (iii) the oxygen concentration and (iv)
the solubility of metal oxides or metal hydroxides. In the case of
aluminum in water, this leads to a formation of a passive layer.
Unlike galvanic corrosion, no dissimilar metals are needed for
GC’s occurrence. Hence, GC can affect clinch joints with similar
metals. The severity of GC on a clinch joint can be estimated by
the corrosion resistance of the metal. The corrosion resistance is
high if the corrosion velocity vcorrosion of the metal is low. Three
groups – classified by the corrosion velocity – exist (listed below)
which classify a metal’s general corrosion resistance in specific
environments (Revie and Uhlig, 2008):
• A: vcorrosion < 0.15mm/year,
• B: 0.15 < vcorrosion < 1.5mm/year or
• C: vcorrosion > 1.5mm/year.
Metals in group A are sufficiently corrosion resistant,
whereas metal components in group C would quickly become
dysfunctional.
Mathematical modeling
The governing equations for modeling electrochemical and corrosive
phenomena are given e.g. by Rossi and Wallmersperger (2018); Rossi
et al. (2017); Sarkar et al. (2012). In the following, a commonly used
continuum-based approach for corrosion modeling is presented.
Different types of corrosion were introduced in Section 2.1, but the
underlying mechanisms are often based on the same principle which is
the dissolution of the anode.
General approach of corrosion modeling
Corrosion is based on electrochemical reactions which depend on an
electric potential in the electrolyte and at the electrode surface. The
equation for the electric potential of the electrolyte can be derived from
Gauss’s Law (Eq. (1)), and the equation for the relation between the
electric field and the electric potential (Eq. (2)).
ρel
∇⋅E = (1)
ε Harzheim et al. (2022b); Silva et al. (2017); Sun et al. (2013). Sun et al.
E = − ∇ϕ (2)
E is the electric field given by the negative gradient of the electric po­
tential ϕ, ρel is the space charge density, and ε is the permittivity. In
order to simplify the model, the following assumptions are generally
made (Deshpande, 2010; Jafarzadeh et al., 2019; Laycock and White,
2001; Vankeerberghen et al., 2001; Verbrugge, 2006)).
• The electrolyte containing a concentration cα of species α is perfectly
homogeneous: ∇cα = 0.
• The electrolyte flow is neglected, i.e., the velocity equals: v = u̇ = 0.
• The electrolyte is electrically neutral, i.e. the total charge, where z is
the charge number, of all ionic species is zero:
∑
zα c α = 0 .
α Finite element method
With these assumptions, Gauss’s Law – which represents the distri­
bution of the electric potential in the electrolyte – can be reduced to the
Laplace equation
∇2 ϕ = 0 . (3)
In some models, the production or consumption of corrosion products is
of importance. For these corrosion products, usually a mass balance
4
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
∂cα
= ∇⋅Jα + Rα (4)
∂t
is used. cα is the concentration of the species, Rα is the source term, i.e.
the loss or gain of the amount of species α, Jα is the flux which is given by
Jα = − Dα ∇cα − zα μα F cα ∇ϕ − v cα , (5)
where D is the diffusion coefficient, μ is the mobility (obtained by μα =
Dα /(RT), where R is the gas constant, T is the temperature) and F is the
Faraday constant. The current flow through anode and cathode surfaces
is represented by Neumann boundary conditions in the computational
model for Eq. (3) (Jafarzadeh et al., 2019; Mohamed-Said et al., 2017;
Vankeerberghen et al., 2001). The current density at the cathode ic is
described by
[ ( ) ( )]
ic = i0,c exp
αc zc Fηc
− exp
− (1 − αc )zc F ηc
. (6)
RT RT
The current density at the anode is given by
[ ( ) ( )]
− αa za Fηa (1 − αa )za F ηa
ia = i0,a exp − exp . (7)
RT RT
Here, i0 is the exchange current density, α the charge transfer coefficient,
and η is the overpotential.
The overpotential represents a potential difference between the
measured potential and the equilibrium potential. This potential dif­
ference is incorporated into the model as a difference between the
electrolyte potential and the corrosion potential of the electrodes. The
general aim of corrosion modeling is to determine the rate of dissolution
M
vcorrosion ⋅n = − ia . (8)
zF ρ
Here, vcorrosion is the corrosion velocity, n the normal vector of the metal
or anode surface, ρ the density and M the molar mass of the anode metal.
Fig. 2 shows, besides the electric potential, the anode surface displace­
ment – i.e. the dissolution of the anode – after exposure to an electrolyte
in initial state (left) and after 30h (right).
The presented model has been applied, for example, in the works of
(2013) have also extended the model by considering a layer of corrosion
products that covers the metal surface. This layer significantly alters the
mean current density at the metal surface.
Numerical Methods
In order to solve the coupled system of equations given above,
several numerical methods are available. In the following, the most
prominent numerical solution procedures are introduced and evaluated.
Special attention is paid to their ability to combine the incorporation of
detailed geometries or the degradation of the material. The given
mathematical model contains partial differential equations (PDEs) in
space and time.
The finite element method (FEM) has been used in many computa­
tional corrosion studies with complex geometries. With the use of
boundary conditions, moving mesh fronts due to dissolving electrodes
can be incorporated with the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method
(Deshpande, 2010; Sun et al., 2014). Furthermore, FEM is used for phase
field models, where computationally expensive remeshing at the moving
boundaries is not necessary (Mai et al., 2016). A rather new approach to
corrosion modeling are peridynamic models that deal well with dis­
continuities within the computational domain (Chen et al., 2016).
B. Schramm et al.
Fig. 2. Electric potential (a) on the initial computational domain at t = 0 h and (b) on the current computational domain at t = 30 h. In (b), the dissolution of the
anode can be seen. The electric potential only slightly changes due to this dissolution process.
Boundary element method
In Jia et al. (2005), the boundary element method has been used for
modeling galvanic corrosion. The advantage of this method is the
reduced number of degrees of freedom since only the boundary between
metal and electrolyte has to be discretized.
Finite volume method
Scheiner and Hellmich (2009) used the finite volume method (FVM)
to investigate pitting corrosion at a metal/electrolyte interface. FVM is
suitable for complex geometries and does not need a remeshing. Another
advantage is the automatic adherence to conservation laws. However,
FVM does not provide as flexible mesh cells as FEM.
Finite difference method
The finite difference method (FDM) has been employed in the work
of Doig and Flewitt (1979). They have used FDM to solve for the elec­
trolyte potential in a simple rectangular geometry. FDM is rarely used
for complex geometries. Its main advantage is an easy computational
model implementation.
Concluding, corrosion is a very complicated phenomenon which
influences the lifetime of clinched structures. As has been shown, there
exist several corrosion mechanisms. Unfortunately, the contribution of
each respective mechanism has not been entirely researched up to now.
The literature has documented a clear influence of galvanic corrosion on
the shear strength of clinch joints. Furthermore, it has been shown that
pitting corrosion is a common initiator for cracks. Both pitting corrosion
and galvanic corrosion are dynamic processes, represented in literature
by coupled chemo-electrical or chemo-electro-mechanical approaches.
These approaches are mostly discretized by finite elements in space and
finite differences in time. Unfortunately, the influence of corrosion on
the high-cycle fatigue behavior in the operational phase, especially for
clinched components, has not been completely understood yet. Up to
now, only the influence of corrosion, induced by a salt spray environ­
ment, prior to fatigue tests has been studied (Harzheim et al., 2022a). In
order to capture and model (i) the underlying corrosion mechanisms and
(ii) the coupling between corrosion and fatigue, further research is
needed.
As stated above, pitting corrosion and fatigue often lead to cracks or
fracture which are decisive factors for the service life of clinched joints.
The fracture mechanical phenomena of clinched joints are discussed in
detail in the next section.
Fracture mechanical modeling of crack growth in clinched
assemblies
The quality of the clinch joint is influenced by the clinching process
5
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
itself and, therefore, depends on the material, the die, the joined parts,
the punch or joining force and the blankholder force (Gerstmann and
Awiszus, 2014). During the clinching process the material is deformed so
that plasticity and damage processes occur, as explained in part II of our
review series (Schramm et al., 2022b). According to Lee et al. (2010),
these damage mechanisms might contribute to crack initiation. In
addition to this and to manufacturing defects, cracks can also arise
during the operational phase as a consequence of service loads and/or of
environmental conditions (e.g. corrosion, see Section 2).
Fig. 3 shows a clinch joint with a crack within the deformed region.
In dependency of the operating loads and further environmental cir­
cumstances, this crack can further propagate leading to structural failure
with even catastrophic consequences (Richard and Sander, 2016).
With the existence of cracks in clinched components, fracture me­
chanical considerations are required in order to prevent failure cases and
to optimize the production process as well as the structures from a
fracture mechanical point of view. In the context of mechanical joining
(especially clinching) it is of particular interest to deal with the char­
acteristics which arise from the production process and might have an
impact on the fracture mechanical behavior (e.g. plastic deformation,
residual stresses, inhomogeneous and anisotropic material behavior).
Likewise the influence of service loads as well as of corrosion effects on
crack initiation and crack propagation has to be investigated. With re­
gard to clinched assemblies it is essential to know whether a crack is able
to grow at all. In case of crack growth, the application of fracture me­
chanical concepts and methods enables statements about (i) the crack
growth rate, (ii) the direction of crack propagation as well as (iii) the
occurrence of fracture mechanical ultimate failure.
In the following, an overview about the state of the art and research
of fracture mechanics with regard to clinched structures is presented and
thereby addresses research question Q6. Fracture mechanical funda­
mentals which are essential for lifetime predictions of mechanically
joined structures are discussed in Section 3.1. Essential procedures,
numerical methods and existing software for the simulation of fatigue
crack growth are presented in Section 3.2.
Fracture mechanical fundamentals for lifetime predictions of mechanically
joined assemblies
In fracture mechanics, cracks are local separations of the material of
a component or a structure. They cause a local redirection of the flow of
forces leading to a singular stress field in the vicinity of the crack that
can be described by Eq. 9 considering the polar coordinates r and φ
defined in Fig. 3 and using the angle-dependent functions fij.
1 [ ]
σ ij = √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ KI ⋅fijI (φ) + KII ⋅fijII (φ) + KIII ⋅fijIII (φ) (9)
2πr
From these infinite stresses at the crack tip, no conclusions about the
B. Schramm et al.
Fig. 3. Clinch joint with a crack (left), flow of forces (middle) and local stress distribution (right)
danger of the crack can be drawn, so that the stress intensity factor (SIF)
KI is used as the decisive fracture mechanical stress parameter in case of
a Mode I loading situation whose meaning is explained further below.
This parameter describes the intensity of the stress distribution around
the crack tip and depends on the component load σ for static loads or Δσ
for cyclic loads (see Eq. (10)), on the crack length a as well as on the
geometry factor YI (Richard and Sander, 2016).
√̅̅̅̅̅ √̅̅̅̅̅
KI = σ⋅ πa⋅YI (static loads) and ΔKI = Δσ⋅ πa⋅YI (cyclic loads) (10)
According to Irwin (1957), the general loading situation of a crack
can be divided into three basic mode types, see Fig. 4. Mode I is caused
by tensile or bending loads and describes the opening of the two crack
surfaces with respect to the crack plane. Fatigue crack propagation oc­
curs perpendicular to the principal normal stress σ1 , the crack continues
to grow in its initial plane in x-direction. Mode II applies to all shear
loads that cause a plane sliding of the crack surfaces in opposite di­
rections. The crack kinks with the kinking angle φ0 . Mode III occurs in
the non-plane shear stress state and causes the crack surfaces to slide
transversely to the crack direction. Here, the crack twists with the
twisting angle Ψ0 . The combination of these basic stress modes is called
mixed mode.
Besides stress intensity factors, the conditions at the crack front can
also be described by other fracture mechanical parameters, like the
energy release rate G (Sun and Jin, 2012) or the value of a
path-independent integral (J-integral) (Rice, 1968) around the crack tip.
However, in general the stress intensity factors are the fundamental
stress parameters for describing fatigue crack growth in components and
structures within linear-elastic fracture mechanics. Their advantage is,
that they can be directly compared to the material dependent crack
growth rate curve (da/dN-ΔKI curve), see Fig. 5, in order to carry out a
fracture mechanical evaluation. This curve is determined by experi­
mental investigations typically for Mode I loading situations and consists
of three different regions. In region A, the crack growth rate is very low
Fig. 4. Basic mode types: a) Mode I, b) Mode II, c) Mode III
6
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
and the curve converges to the threshold ΔKI,th of the material. If cyclic
stress intensity factors ΔKI are smaller than this value, a crack is not able
to grow. In region C the crack growth rate is very high and the curve
reaches the cyclic fracture toughness ΔKIC resulting in unstable crack
growth. In region B, the crack grows with medium crack growth rate in a
stable way. The exclusively linear course in the middle of the crack
growth rate curve is called Paris-line and is described by the Paris-law
(Paris et al., 1961), see Eq. (11).
da
= C(ΔK)m (11)
dN
Here, the constants C and m are dependent on the material and on
several influencing factors like temperature, the environmental medium
as well as the stress ratio R which describes the ratio of minimum to
maximum load. In Fig. 5b) the influence of different R-ratios on the
crack growth rate curve is illustrated. Generally, an increase of R leads to
an increase of the crack growth rate da/dN and to a decrease of the
treshold ΔKI,th. It has to be mentioned that the effects of different R-
ratios are more significant, especially in the regions of low and high
crack growth rates (Richard and Sander, 2016). The exponent m is for
metals typically within the range between 2 and 4 (Richard and Sander,
2016).
For the mathematical description of the entire curve, either Eq. (12),
formulated by Erdogan and Ratwani (1970), or Eq. (13), introduced by
Forman and Mettu (1992), can be used as they additionally consider the
threshold, the cyclic fracture toughness and further parameters. In the
Erdogan-Ratwani equation the parameters CE and mE are similar to the
constants of the Paris-law. By also including the stress ratio in the
equation, the crack growth rate curves for other stress ratios can be
generated. The parameters CFM, n, p and q in the Forman-Mettu equa­
tion are material dependent values obtained from experiments and the
crack opening function γ is included to consider the crack closure
phenomenon.
B. Schramm et al. Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135

Fig. 5. Crack growth rate curve: a) general da/dN-ΔKI curve and its characteristic regions, b) different curves in dependency of the R-ratio

( )mE
da CE ΔKI − ΔKI,th experimental results (see Fig. 6) shows that these concepts can suc­
= (12) cessfully predict the kinking angles φ0 of homogenous and isotropic
dN (1 − R)KIC − ΔKI
materials under mixed mode loading (Richard et al., 2013; Schramm
[( 1− γ ) ]n ( ΔKI,th
)p
and Richard, 2014).
da CFM ΔKI 1 −
For the description of materials with graded properties (e.g. in form
(13)
1− R ΔKI
= ( )q
dN K
1 − KI,max
IC
of a certain preferred direction, plastic zones, residual stresses) these
concepts are not sufficient. Therefore, other concepts are required in
Stable crack growth for a certain crack problem and a local stress order to take into account the influence of this material gradation. The
situation described by the cyclic stress intensity factor ΔKI is possible if effects of material gradation on the fracture mechanical behavior have
Eq. (14) is fulfilled: been examined in various studies. For example, Nazari (2011); Nazari
ΔKI,th < ΔKI < ΔKIC (14) et al. (2011); Suresh et al. (1993) experimentally confirmed that a
gradient in yield stress influences the crack growth behavior and leads to
Furthermore, the mentioned crack propagation concepts, their an increase or decrease of the effective crack-inducing force.
transformation and mathematical solution enable the determination of Numerous works (e.g. Becker Jr et al. (2001); Tilbrook et al. (2005a,
the residual lifetime, as shown in Eq. (15). In doing so, the lifetime for b)) used theoretical and numerical calculations to investigate the in­
crack propagation from a starting crack length a0 until a critical crack fluence of an elastic material variation on the mixed mode situation of
length ac can be calculated. the stress field at the crack tip and consequently on the kinking angle.
∫ac Tilbrook et al. (2006) also proved their assumptions by experimentally
da
= f (ΔKI , R) ⇒ dN =
da
⇒ NF =
da
, (15) observed crack paths. Additionally, for fracture mechanically graded
dN f (ΔKI , R) f (ΔKI , R) materials the TSSR-concept (Schramm et al., 2016) has been developed
ao
to predict the initiation and the direction of cracks as well as to identify
where f(ΔKI , R) is the right hand side of Eq. (12) or Eq. (13), the occurence of unstable crack growth in dependency of a fracture
respectively. mechanical material gradation. Other publications in the field of frac­
By comparing the fracture mechanical stress values (e.g. stress in­ ture mechanics deal with the influence of anisotropy (Steigemann and
tensity factor K or energy release rate G) with experimentally deter­ Schramm, 2013), nonproportional loads (Vormwald et al., 2018) and
mined material parameters, statements about the ability of crack growth residual stresses (Chang and Lee, 2007; Cheng, 2007; Ebrahimi, 2021).
and the occurrence of unstable crack growth are possible. Furthermore, There are only a few publications dealing with fracture mechanics
the crack propagation direction can be predicted by applying fracture and joined assemblies (e.g. bolted joints in Chakherlou et al. (2011)).
mechanical concepts. Within their experimental and numerical investigations, Carboni et al.
In 1921, Griffith formulated his energy criterion based on the prin­ (2006); Coppieters et al. (2017); Kim (2013) examined clinch joints
ciples of thermodynamics to describe stable crack propagation. Ac­ shear samples. Peel and cross tension samples have been used by Kim
cording to Griffith (1921), crack propagation always follows the and Kim (2014); Song et al. (2019). However, the main focus of these
principle that the total mechanical energy of the system is minimized. investigations is especially on the determination of the failure modes
Frequently used concepts which are applied within linear-elastic frac­ and on the crack initiation locations during the fatigue tests. To the best
ture mechanics are the concept of the maximum tangential stress of the authors’ knowledge, crack propagation has not been thoroughly
(MTS-concept) by Erdogan and Sih (1963), the general fracture concept considered yet.
of Richard (1987); Richard et al. (2005) and the criterion of Nuismer Concluding, the current state of the art and research shows that there
(1975). In Di Leonardo (1979); Rice (1968) and in Amestoy et al. (1980) is still a great need for research on fracture mechanical considerations
further concepts are illustrated. A comparison of these concepts with regarding the influence of mechanical joining processes (e.g. clinching)

7
B. Schramm et al.
Fig. 6. Comparison of fracture mechanical concepts with experimentally determined kinking angles
on fatigue crack growth. Especially for heterogeneous material states
and multiaxial, nonproportional stress states there are still gaps in the
mathematical description of such phenomena during crack propagation
(Vormwald et al., 2018). Up to now, almost no publication deals with
questions about the probability of crack growth, the crack propagation
direction and the occurrence of unstable crack growth in clinched as­
semblies. In order to improve the efficiency, safety and reliability of
clinch joints, it is extremely important to understand and, therefore, to
investigate the fracture mechanical behavior and its influencing factors.
The mentioned gap is to be closed with experimental methods and the
further development of theoretical approaches and of numerical simu­
lations. The findings from the experiments and the formulation of cor­
responding theoretical concepts have to be incorporated into numerical
crack growth simulation programs in order to be able to make pre­
dictions about the fracture mechanical behavior of joined structures in
this way.
Numerical simulation of fatigue crack growth
Numerical simulations of fatigue crack growth support the predic­
tion of fatigue crack growth in components as well as in clinched as­
semblies. Therefore, they enable the prevention of damage cases.
Simulation tools based on analytical solutions are available for simple
crack cases, e.g. NASGRO (NASGRO, 2009), ESACRACK (ESACRACK,
2000), AFGROW (Harter, 2002). However, due to the increasing
complexity with regard to the geometry of the component, the material
characteristics and the load situation, analytical methods and simulation
tools can only be used to a limited extent in order to predict the service
life of components as well as the crack propagation direction. Branco
et al. (2015) clarify that the application of analytically based software is
limited to certain geometries and boundary conditions and mention that
among other things non-linear effects may not be included.
Therefore, numerical crack propagation simulation tools have been
established for 3D fracture mechanical problems. Hereby, the simulation
of crack propagation takes into account the change of crack length and
the change of crack propagation direction. These tools are usually based
on the boundary element method (BEM), the finite element method
(FEM) and the extended finite element method (XFEM). In the field of
numerical investigations of crack propagation processes, the boundary
element method (BEM) (Peng et al., 2017; Romlay et al., 2010; Xiang
et al., 2003) is only used to a small extent.
8
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
XFEM has been developed as an alternative to FEM and does not
require a re-meshing around the crack tip because the cracks are
modeled independently of the mesh (Moës et al., 1999; Sukumar et al.,
2000). Here, the crack is represented as a seperate entity. In addition,
crack tip enrichment functions are defined for stress and displacement
fields around the crack tip (Bergara et al., 2017; Moës et al., 1999). For
representing three-dimensional cracks in XFEM the mesh refinement at
the crack is important for accurate results (Ren and Guan, 2017). To the
authors’ best knowledge, there are no studies comparing the computa­
tional time required by FEM and XFEM.
The mainly applied method is the finite element method (Branco
et al., 2015; Rabold et al., 2013). This method is also applied for
simulating crack growth in functionally graded materials (Kim and
Paulino, 2003; Liu et al., 2012; Ševčik et al., 2009). In general, the crack
growth simulation based on FEM consists of three steps: (i) pre­
processing, (ii) solving and (iii) postprocessing, see Fig. 7.
In the first step, the computer-aided design (CAD) model is trans­
formed into an FE model by defining static and kinematic boundary
conditions and by generating a mesh. Afterwards a crack is inserted into
the FE model which is then analyzed by using an FE solver. Based on the
results from this finite element analysis, energy release rates G by means
of the modified virtual crack closure integral-method (Buchholz et al.,
2001) and subsequently the stress intensity factors K along the crack
front are calculated (Rozumek and Macha, 2009; Schöllmann et al.,
2003). In case of 3D models, a cyclic equivalent stress intensity factor
ΔKeq as well as kinking and twisting angles (φ0 and ψ 0 ) are calculated in
order to find the coordinates of the new crack front. One such method is
described in Schöllmann et al. (2002). Finally, the residual crack growth
lifetime can be estimated using crack propagation concepts mentioned
in Section 3.1 to mathematically describe the crack growth rate curves
(da/dN-ΔKI curve) (Schöllmann et al., 2003; Simunek et al., 2019). The
postprocessor visualizes the results obtained from the fracture me­
chanical evaluation.
While simplified two-dimensional finite element based crack growth
simulation software is well established, there is still extensive research
required about three-dimensional cyclic crack propagation calculations
(Dhondt, 2014; Rabold et al., 2013). To simulate fatigue crack growth
numerically, Rabold et al. (2013) name two special algorithmic chal­
lenges. On the one hand it is difficult to capture the singularities at the
crack tip and on the other hand it is quite challenging to adapt the
FEM-discretization to the growing crack. Hence, special software
B. Schramm et al.
Fig. 7. Flowchart of a crack growth simulation
programs have been developed by research groups in order to overcome
these difficulties and challenges (Branco et al., 2015). Many of them,
such as ADAPCRACK3D (Fulland et al., 2000) and PROCRACK (Rabold
and Kuna, 2014), use general purpose FE packages as a solver for
computing the solutions. These programs follow a step wise crack
propagation and lifetime estimation procedure, in which an already
defined increment is used in each step for crack growth (Branco et al.,
2015; Joy et al., 2018; Rabold et al., 2013). Commercially available
programs such as FRANC3D (Carter et al., 2000) and ZENCRACK
(Zentech, 2008) are also based on the finite element method for simu­
lating crack propagation.
Numerical crack propagation takes place by successively doubling
the FE nodes and subsequently debonding them in order to integrate a
crack into the FE model (Xu and Needleman, 1994). According to
Rabold et al. (2013) and Fulland and Richard (2003) an automatic
simulation of crack propagation requires the adaptation of the mesh in
the vicinity of the crack. Therefore, among others, different methods
exist, namely (i) remeshing of the vicinity of the crack, (ii) moving
special mesh and (iii) submodel technique.
As shown in Fig. 8a), the characteristic of the first method –
remeshing of the vicinity of the crack – is the deletion of the finite ele­
ments, the extension of the crack in the calculated direction and the
subsequent remeshing of the extended crack environment. However,
problems arise due to the bad quality of the mesh. A better quality can be
realized with the moving special mesh technique (Baines et al., 2009;
Rashid, 1998). This special mesh (Fig. 8b)) around the crack tip moves
along with the crack extension and, hence, guarantees a consistent high
level of quality for the determination of the stress intensity factors.
However, the FE mesh has to be continuously adjusted to the new po­
sition of the special mesh which is extremely difficult especially for
spatial crack problems. Hence, for a more detailed and more numerically
stable simulation the submodel technique has been established (Fulland
et al., 2000; Rabold et al., 2013). The submodel in Fig. 8c) assures a
sufficiently good quality and a fine mesh in regions near the crack front
9
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
because it does not need any direct connection to the underlying global
model, i.e. it can be analyzed separately. Hence, by using this technique,
a refined fracture mechanical evaluation can be realized. Therefore, this
technique is often used in simulation software like PROCRACK,
FRANC3D and ADAPCRACK3D in order to predict the crack growth
behavior and the residual lifetime (FRANC3D, 2011; Joy et al., 2018;
Rabold et al., 2013).
Fracture mechanics of clinched assemblies is addressed e.g. in
Lambiase and Di Ilio (2016). They simulate the clinching process to
predict positions of possible crack initiation. As explained in part II of
the review series (Schramm et al., 2022) different damage models exist
to describe the failure behavior. Song et al. (2019) use the
Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman damage model, whereas Zhao et al.
(2014) and Coppieters et al. (2017) describe the failure behavior of the
clinch joint with the modified Rousselier model. The numerical pre­
diction of the fatigue lifetime and the comparison with experimental
results is the main topic in publications by Kim (2013) as well as Kim
and Kim (2014). The effective stress by von Mises, the maximum prin­
cipal stress and the Smith-Watson-Topper fatigue parameter are used for
the prediction of the experimental fatigue life. Fatigue tests with
different specimens of clinched assemblies prove that the crack initia­
tion position at regions with highest principle stress is in accordance
with numerical results. This knowledge is the starting point for the
subsequent fracture mechanical considerations.
Chakherlou et al. (2011) numerically investigated the fatigue crack
initiation and fatigue crack growth for bolted connections and compared
the results with experimental tests. The fatigue crack growth life was
also examined with the computer program AFGROW (Zou et al., 2011),
which uses the Forman-Mettu (NASGRO, 2009) equation to predict the
total fatigue life. The comparison of the numerical and experimental
results show that the predicted fatigue lifetime corresponds to experi­
ments. Furthermore, Zou et al. (2011) figured out an influence of the
clamping force on the fatigue crack initiation.
In conclusion, the investigations on fatigue crack growth in
B. Schramm et al.
Fig. 8. Meshing methods of cracked structures: a) remeshing, b) moving special mesh, c) submodel
mechanically joined structures are very important for safe and reliable
lifetime estimations. So far, the research is mainly related to failure
modes of clinch joints and the locations of crack initiation during fatigue
tests. Therefore, there is still a huge lack of knowledge about the
modeling of fatigue crack growth especially in clinched assemblies. As
already pointed out by Branco et al. (2015) with regard to the
three-dimensional modeling of crack growth, several issues still remain
unsolved despite the progress made over the years. A challenge for the
future is that the material in the vicinity of the clinch joint is hetero­
geneously deformed, probably causing graded material behavior, re­
sidual stresses as well as a local damage distribution. These effects, in
addition to the geometry of the clinch joint have to be considered in the
material properties as they can have an influence on the crack growth
rate and the crack growth direction. Furthermore, the clinch joint cre­
ates contact between two sheets, so at least two bodies have to be
considered. This leads to contact stresses that can redistribute during
crack growth because this changes the stiffness of the cracked sheet. In
addition, the residual stresses and the stresses due to contact or external
loads have different time histories, leading to out-of-phase mixed mode
situations. Separate concepts have to be developed for all of these ef­
fects, but they must be considered simultaneously in the crack growth
simulation, which is quite challenging. Moreover, it has also not yet
been verified whether the different effects have mutual influences when
they occur simultaneously. Hence, fracture mechanical concepts and
methods have to be adapted and – if necessary – have to be newly
developed in order to consider the special requirements of mechanical
joining mentioned above. This would enable the development of more
efficient procedures to predict crack paths and residual lifetimes of
10
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
clinched assemblies subjected to non-proportional mixed mode loading
as well as to include factors such as residual stresses or crack face in­
teractions during crack growth simulations.
Summary
The present paper concludes our review series on modeling and
simulation of clinching. The process chain of clinching and its challenges
have been introduced in part I (Schramm et al., 2022a). Furthermore, an
overview of the state of research of analytical as well as numerical
methods for the design and the assessment of joints was presented. The
methods discussed there are able to answer the research questions
’Which methods exist to predict the loading of clinch joints during the
design phase?’ (Q1) and ’What is the minimal number of clinch joints
and their optimal distribution within an assembly?’ (Q2). In this context,
either equivalent joining point models or detailed models of individual
joining points are available. In addition, optimization-based methods
have been discussed which enable the reduction of the joint number as
well as the optimization of their arrangement. Furthermore, the load
path analysis has been introduced as a complementary method for the
design and analysis of point-shaped joints to optimize their position, size
and number. Finally, numerical methods for the determination of
robustness of the joining design have been presented.
Part II (Schramm et al., 2022b) of our review series deals with the
joining process itself and the damage phenomena that take place in
clinching processes for metals and in hybrid clinching processes for
fiber-reinforced plastic composites (FRP). The approaches presented
there enable answering the research questions ’Which process
B. Schramm et al.
parameters are significant for the joining process and how do they affect
the resulting properties of the clinch joint?’ (Q3) and ’What is the role
and the influence of damage during the clinching process and how can it
be modeled and simulated?’ (Q4). It was shown that process simulations
are useful in order to investigate the cause-and-effect relationships
within the process chain and contribute to a more economical and
resource-saving development process. Furthermore, it was demon­
strated, that simulations based on the finite element method which are
used to analyze the clinching process are already well advanced. Points
of future research are the consideration of the forming history in the
sheet metals, efficient full 3D-simulations to account for material
anisotropy, improvement of frictions models and the application of
regularized coupled damage models in the process simulation of
clinching of metals. For hybrid clinching processes with FRPs, the
further improvement of multi-scale material models – in particular to
describe the complex material behaviour for higher temperatures – is
essential. Also, the development of efficient numerical methods to
perform three-dimensional process simulations, accounting for both the
fibers and the matrix material, should be pursued.
The focus of the present part III of our review series is on the state of
the art in modeling and simulation of clinching with regard to the
operational phase. Thereby, corrosion phenomena and the propagation
of fatigue cracks are considered in order to address research questions
Q5 and Q6. As has been shown, corrosion has been identified as a major
influencing factor of the operational phase of clinched assemblies.
Depending on the material and environment circumstances, corrosion
severely alters the fatigue life. In order to consider the many aspects of
corrosion, the underlying mechanisms have to be considered carefully
and the numerical methods should be chosen according to the
complexity of the examined problem. The approaches presented here
enable answering the research question ’How does corrosion affect the
load-bearing capacity and the service life of a clinched assembly?’ (Q5).
Besides corrosion phenomena, the propagation of fatigue cracks in
the operational phase has to be examined. As has been shown, several
fracture mechanical concepts and numerical methods exist to describe
and predict crack propagation in homogeneous isotropic materials.
Mechanical joining, however, requires the consideration of the charac­
teristics arising from the joining process (e.g. plastic deformation, re­
sidual stresses, multiaxial nonproportional stress states as well as
inhomogeneous and anisotropic material behavior) and their influence
on the fracture mechanical behavior. As demonstrated, there is still a
great need for further fracture mechanical investigations with regard to
mechanical joining processes in order to predict the crack propagation
behavior and to estimate the service life of a clinched assembly. The
analytical and numerical methods discussed here address “How does
fatigue crack growth occur in clinched assemblies and how does it affect
the remaining service life?” (Q6).
It is evident from the entire review series that – while individual
methods exist – further research is required to realize the modeling and
simulation of the entire process chain especially in the context of flexi­
bility. Closing this research gap and considering the different cause-and-
effet relationships along the process chain are the main objectives of our
current research.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data Availability
Data will be made available on request.
11
Journal of Advanced Joining Processes 6 (2022) 100135
Acknowledgment
This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(DFG, German Research Foundation) - Project-ID 418701707 - TRR 285.
Responsibility for the content of the report lies with the authors.
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