To Clinch or Spot Weld… That Is The Question

摘要

Recently, the promotion of the "button-lock" clinching process as a cure-all for joining metals has been abundant. This occurred without an objective, thorough examination of competitive joining processes, such as the "standby" resistance welding (RW). Button-locking (BL) can be used to join two pieces of metal together. BL should not be used without caution, but it can be considered a competitive method. If a product design requires the use of pre-painted materials, or dissimilar (metallurgically incompatible) metals, then a non-welding joining process, such as button-locking must be used. However, if the product design specifies the use of metallurgically compatible metals, then resistance welding may be the best process to join them.