<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The components of a body in white consist of many individual thin-walled sheet metal parts, which usually are manufactured in deep-drawing processes. In general, the conditions in a deep-drawing process change due to changing tribology conditions, varying degrees of spring back, or scattering material properties in the sheet blanks, which affects the resulting pre-strain. Mechanical joining processes, especially clinching, are influenced by these process-related pre-strains. The final geometric shape of a clinched joint is affected to a significant level by the prior material deformation when joining with constant process parameters. That leads to a change in the stiffness and force transmission in the clinched joint due to the different geometric dimensions, such as interlock, neck thickness and bottom thickness, which directly affect the load bearing capacity. Here, the influence of the pre-straining in the deep drawing process on the force distribution in clinch points in an automotive assembly is investigated by finite-element models numerically. In further studies, the results are implemented in an optimization tool for designing clinched components. The methodology starts with a pre-straining of metal sheets. This step is followed by 2D rotationally symmetric forming simulations of the joining process. The resulting mesh of each forming simulation is rotated and 3D models are obtained. The clinched joint solid model with pre-strains is used further to determine the joint stiffnesses. With the simulation of the same test set-up with an equivalent point-connector model, the equivalent stiffness for each pre-strain combination is determined. Simulations are performed on a clinched component to assess the influence of pre-strain and sheet thinning on the clinched joint loadings by using the equivalent stiffnesses. The investigations clearly show that for the selected component, the loadings at the clinch points are dependent on the sheet thinning and the stiffnesses due to pre-strain. The magnitude of the influence varies depending on the quantity considered. For example, the shear force is more sensitive to the joint stiffness than to the sheet thinning.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) gained high interest in industrial applications because of their excellent strength and low specific weight. The stacking sequence of the unidirectional plies forming a CFRP laminate, and their thicknesses, primarily determine the mechanical performance. However, during manufacturing, defects, e.g., pores and residual stresses, are induced, both affecting the mechanical properties. The objective of the present work is to accurately measure residual stresses in CFRPs as well as to investigate the effects of stacking sequence, overall laminate thickness, and the presence of pores on the residual stress state. Residual stresses were measured through the incremental hole-drilling method (HDM). Adequate procedures have been applied to evaluate the residual stresses for orthotropic materials, including calculating the calibration coefficients through finite element analysis (FEA) based on stacking sequence, laminate thickness and mechanical properties. Using optical microscopy (OM) and computed tomography (CT), profound insights into the cross-sectional and three-dimensional microstructure, e.g., location and shape of process-induced pores, were obtained. This microstructural information allowed for a comprehensive understanding of the experimentally determined strain and stress results, particularly at the transition zone between the individual plies. The effect of pores on residual stresses was investigated by considering pores to calculate the calibration coefficients at a depth of 0.06 mm to 0.12 mm in the model and utilizing these results for residual stress evaluation. A maximum difference of 46% in stress between defect-free and porous material sample conditions was observed at a hole depth of 0.65 mm. The significance of employing correctly calculated coefficients for the residual stress evaluation is highlighted by mechanical validation tests.</jats:p>

<jats:p>The further development of in-mold-assembly (IMA) technologies for structural hybrid components is of great importance for increasing the economic efficiency and thus the application potential. This paper presents an innovative IMA process concept for the manufacturing of bending loaded hybrid components consisting of two outer metal belts and an inner core structure made of glass mat reinforced thermoplastic (GMT). In this process, the core structure, which is provided with stiffening ribs and functional elements, is formed and joined to two metal belts in one single step. For experimental validation of the concept, the development of a prototypic molding tool and the manufacturing of hybrid beams including process parameters are described. Three-point bending tests and optical measurement technologies are used to characterize the failure behavior and mechanical properties of the produced hybrid beams. It was found that the innovative IMA process enables the manufacturing of hybrid components with high energy absorption and low weight in one step. The mass-specific energy absorption is increased by 693 % compared to pure GMT beams.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Wood–plastic composites (WPC) are enjoying a steady increase in popularity. In addition to the extrusion of decking boards, the material is also used increasingly in injection molding. Depending on the formulation, geometry and process parameters, WPC tends to exhibit irregular filling behavior, similar to the processing of thermosets. In this work, the influence of matrix material and wood fiber content on the flow, mold filling and segregation behavior of WPC is analyzed. For this purpose, investigations were carried out on a flow spiral and a sheet cavity. WPC based on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) achieves significantly higher flow path lengths at a wood mass content of 30% than polypropylene (PP)-based WPC. The opposite behavior occurs at higher wood contents due to the different shear thinning behavior. Slightly decreased wood contents could be observed at the beginning of the flow path and greatly increased wood contents at the end of the flow path, compared to the starting material. When using the plate cavity, flow anomalies in the form of free jets occur as a function of the wood content, with TPU exhibiting the more critical behavior. The flow front is frayed, but in contrast to the flow spiral, no significant wood accumulation could be detected due to the shorter flow path lengths.</jats:p>