Today's assembly and production engineers can choose from a vast range of fastening or joining methods, each with their own advantages and drawbacks. These techniques include clinching, which is gaining ground in the automotive industry as well as other sectors. Clinching is a method used to join two or more layers of material (such as metal sheets or plates) together by means of a force-fit and form-fit connection, with no need for bonding or welding. Relatively little energy is expended in this process, and it can be used to create high-strength joints between different materials of varying thicknesses. Unlike riveting and bolting, clinching does not require any additional materials – one of the factors that make it a highly cost-efficient method.
This explains why it is used for such a wide spectrum of applications. Vehicle manufacturers were already using clinching as a method for joining fully galvanized steel sheets back in the 1980s, since when it has been increasingly used for aluminum sheets. Typical applications also include electrical parts such as power busbars and pole terminals, as well as components for power sockets. Clinching, in its various forms, is also used to manufacture household appliances, heating and ventilation systems – and even television sets: in principle, the possibilities are virtually unlimited.