Posted to News on 22nd Nov 2005, 00:00
Land-Rover's discovery of clinch fastening
Land-Rover is taking full advantage of the cost and quality benefits associated with Profil's pierce fastening methods, by specifying more than 320 of the company's clinch nuts and studs in the assembly of its latest generation, T5 platform Discovery vehicles. Profil pierce/clinch fasteners offer the benefits of high speed installation, reliable high strength, foolproof quality control, excellent water sealing and both vibration and corrosion resistance - all backed by minimal installed costs.
According to Profil UK's Adrian Ellis, pierce/clinch fastening is the ideal process for today's automotive manufacturers. "Not only can the fasteners be installed during the pressed components forming process - using a dedicated station within the multistage progression tooling - but they can also accommodate panel thicknesses from 0.6 to 6.0mm thick. What's more, they are just as suitable for use with coated or uncoated materials, high grade, stainless and sandwich steels, and can even be installed in aluminium and magnesium castings. These are major benefits over welded fastening methods, which are not only slow, but open to many more process variables than pierce/clinch installation methods."
