Environmentally friendly joining of tubes by their ends

This paper proposes an environmentally friendly joining process for connecting tubes by their ends that has the potential to replace current solutions based on fastened, crimped, welded, brazed or adhesive bonded joints. The process is based on a new type of tubular lap joint produced by local plastic instability and compression beading that has a substantial overlap with the counterfacing surfaces of the mating tubes to be joined. The presentation combines independent characterization of the materials, experimentation and numerical simulation of the process in order to identify the modes of deformation and the process feasibility window, and destructive testing to establish the working limits of tubular lap joints under different type of loading conditions. Results demonstrate that the proposed joining process is a flexible and cost-effective technology for connecting tubes by their ends with a better performance than current environmentally friendly alternatives based on tubular butt joints produced by plastic deformation. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.