JP2021172139A - Method for manufacturing vehicle body side structure - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure that has an outer panel formed of aluminum alloy, in which a flange placed along a door opening can be formed without cutting out the outer panel.SOLUTION: A method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure includes a flange forming step for joining an outer panel 21, an inner panel 23 placed at a vehicle-cabin side relative to the outer panel 21, and a stiffener 25 placed between the outer panel 21 and the inner panel 23 so as to form a flange 15. The outer panel 21 is formed of aluminum alloy. The inner panel 23 and the stiffener 25 are each formed of high tensile steel that has a tensile strength which is equal to or greater than 980 MPa. The flange forming step includes: a mechanical joining step for mechanically joining the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 to each other; and a welding step of tucking the outer panel 21, the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 to perform resistance spot welding.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure.

Generally, a flange with a weather strip lip is arranged along the door opening on the side of the vehicle body. In a vehicle in which an aluminum alloy outer panel is arranged on the side of the vehicle body, the flange of the door opening has a structure in which an outer panel formed of an aluminum alloy plate and a reinforcing panel and an inner panel formed of a steel plate are joined. (See, for example, Patent Document 1). In recent years, high-strength steel sheets are often applied as steel plates due to the tightening of collision regulations. Since high-strength steel has low ductility, it is difficult to join panels made of high-strength steel by mechanical coupling such as mechanical clinch or self-piercing rivet.

Therefore, in order to join the reinforcing panel and the inner panel of the high-strength steel plate to each other, the aluminum outer panel is cut out so as to avoid the joint portion of the reinforcing panel and the inner panel in the flange, and then only the reinforcing panel and the inner panel are joined. Can be considered as a structure in which the two are welded to each other. However, in the structure in which the outer panel is cut out, the lip of the weather strip in contact with the flange may come into contact with the notch in the outer panel to reduce the water stopping property.

JP-A-2018-149828

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure having an aluminum alloy outer panel, which can form a flange arranged along a door opening without cutting out the outer panel. ..

The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure of the present invention is a flange (for example, a flange (for example, a door opening 5 in the embodiment) arranged along a door opening (for example, the door opening 5 in the embodiment) formed on the vehicle body side (for example, the vehicle body side 3 in the embodiment). For example, a method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure having a flange 15) in the embodiment, wherein an outer panel (for example, the outer panel 21 in the embodiment) forming an appearance design surface of a vehicle (for example, the vehicle 1 in the embodiment) is formed. And an inner panel (for example, the inner panel 23 in the embodiment) arranged on the vehicle interior side of the outer panel, and a reinforcing panel (for example, in the embodiment) arranged between the outer panel and the inner panel. The flange forming step (for example, the flange forming step S1 in the embodiment) is provided by joining the stiffener 25) and the flange to form the flange, the outer panel is formed of an aluminum alloy, and the inner panel and the reinforcing panel are pulled. It is formed of high-tensile steel having a strength of 980 MPa or more, and the flange forming step includes a mechanical joining step (for example, the mechanical joining step S10 in the embodiment) for mechanically joining the outer panel and the reinforcing panel, and the flange forming step. It is characterized by including a welding step of sandwiching the outer panel, the reinforcing panel and the inner panel and performing resistance spot welding (for example, welding step S20 in the embodiment).

According to the present invention, by sandwiching an aluminum alloy outer panel and a high-strength steel reinforcing panel and an inner panel in a welding process and performing resistance spot welding, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity are higher than those of the reinforcing panel and the inner panel. Reinforcing panels and inner panels can be welded by suppressing the heat generation of the outer panel, which has a high rate. Furthermore, since only the reinforcing panel of the high-strength steel reinforcing panel and the inner panel is mechanically bonded to the outer panel in the mechanical bonding process, it is not necessary to weld the aluminum alloy and the steel material, which is technically difficult. The outer panel can be fixedly arranged with respect to the reinforcing panel and the inner panel. As described above, it is possible to form a flange to which the outer panel, the reinforcing panel and the inner panel are joined without cutting out the outer panel so as to avoid the welded portion of the reinforcing panel and the inner panel. Therefore, in a vehicle body side structure having an aluminum alloy outer panel, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure capable of forming a flange arranged along a door opening without cutting out the outer panel.

In the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure, the tip surface (for example, the tip surface 43a in the embodiment) of the first electrode (for example, the first electrode 43 in the embodiment) is brought into contact with the inner panel in the welding step. At the same time, the tip surface (for example, the tip surface 44a in the embodiment) of the second electrode (for example, the second electrode 44 in the embodiment) having a curvature smaller than the tip surface of the first electrode is brought into contact with the outer panel. May be good.

According to the present invention, the current density in the vicinity of the second electrode when performing resistance spot welding can be made smaller than the current density in the vicinity of the first electrode. As a result, heat generation of the outer panel close to the second electrode is suppressed. Therefore, only the reinforcing panel and the inner panel can be selectively welded. Further, by suppressing the heat generation of the outer panel, it is possible to suppress the generation of brittle intermetallic compounds due to dissimilar material resistance welding between the outer panel made of aluminum alloy and the reinforcing panel made of high-strength steel.

In the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure, in the mechanical joining step, the bonded portion (for example, the bonded portion 25a in the embodiment) of the reinforcing panel to be bonded to the outer panel is annealed. After the annealing step (for example, the annealing step S11 in the embodiment) and the annealing step, a joining step of joining the outer panel and the bonded portion by one of mechanical clinch and rivet joining (for example,). The joining step S12) in the embodiment may be included.

According to the present invention, since the bonded portion of the reinforcing panel made of high-strength steel can be locally softened by annealing in the annealing step, the outer panel is formed by either mechanical clinching or rivet joining in the joining step. And the reinforcing panel can be joined. Further, since the bonded portion of the reinforcing panel is locally softened, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the strength of the vehicle body side portion.

In the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure, the plate thickness of the outer panel may be smaller than the plate thickness of at least one of the inner panel and the reinforcing panel.

According to the present invention, an electric current penetrates the outer panel in the welding process, and only the reinforcing panel and the inner panel can be selectively welded.

In the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure, an adhesive (for example, the adhesive 27 in the embodiment) may be interposed between the outer panel and the reinforcing panel.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the outer panel made of aluminum alloy and the reinforcing panel made of high-strength steel from coming into contact with each other. Therefore, electrolytic corrosion between different materials can be suppressed.

In the above method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure, a sub line that performs the mechanical coupling step (for example, the sub line 52 in the embodiment) and a main line that connects the inner panel to the floor panel of the vehicle body (for example, the main line in the embodiment). The flange forming step may be performed on the production line having the line 51) and (for example, 50 in the embodiment).

According to the present invention, it is possible to adopt the above-mentioned manufacturing method by adding a sub line without changing the existing equipment of the main line for connecting the inner panel to the floor panel of the vehicle body.

In the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure, the joint portion by the mechanical coupling step (for example, the mechanical coupling portion 30 in the embodiment) and the welded portion by the welding step (for example, the welded portion 32 in the embodiment) are formed. It may be aligned along the opening edge of the door opening (eg, 5a in the embodiment).

According to the present invention, the strength of the flange can be made uniform in the region where the joint portion between the outer panel and the reinforcing panel and the portion where the reinforcing panel, the inner panel and the welded portion are arranged in the flange. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the strength of a part of the flange from being lowered and the strength of the vehicle body side portion from being lowered.

According to the present invention, in a vehicle body side structure having an outer panel made of an aluminum alloy, a method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure capable of forming a flange arranged along a door opening without cutting out the outer panel is provided. Can be done.

It is a side view which looked at the vehicle body side part of the vehicle which adopted the vehicle body side part structure of embodiment from the outside in the vehicle width direction. It is a perspective view which shows a part of the roof side rail of an embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the flange in line III-III of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the manufacturing method of the vehicle body side structure of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the annealing process of an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state before the outer panel and the stiffener are pushed into a die by a punch in the joining process of an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state which the outer panel and the stiffener were pushed into the die by a punch in the joining process of an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state which the stiffener and the inner panel are resistance spot welded by the 1st electrode and the 2nd electrode in the welding process of embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a part of the production line which applied the manufacturing method of the vehicle body side structure of embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The directions such as front-rear, up-down, left-right, etc. in the following description are the same as the directions in the vehicle described below. That is, the vertical direction coincides with the vertical direction, and the horizontal direction coincides with the vehicle width direction. Further, in the drawings used in the following description, the arrow UP indicates the upper side, the arrow FR indicates the front side, and the arrow LH indicates the left side.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle body side portion of a vehicle adopting the vehicle body side portion structure of the embodiment as viewed from the outside in the vehicle width direction.
As shown in FIG. 1, a door opening 5 that is openly closed by a door (not shown) is formed on the vehicle body side portion 3 of the vehicle 1. The door opening 5 includes a front door opening 5F for the driver's seat or the passenger seat and a rear door opening 5R for the rear seat. In the following description, when the front door opening 5F and the rear door opening 5R are not distinguished, they are simply referred to as the door opening 5.

The vehicle body side portion 3 includes a roof side rail 10, a front pillar 11, a center pillar 12, a rear pillar 13, and a side sill 14 as a frame forming the door opening 5. The roof side rail 10 extends in the front-rear direction and supports the side portion of the roof panel 7. The roof side rail 10 has a structure in which the closed cross sections are continuous in the front-rear direction. The front pillar 11 has a front pillar upper 11U extending forward and downward from the front end portion of the roof side rail 10, and a front pillar lower 11L extending downward from the lower end of the front pillar upper 11U. Windshield glass (not shown) is arranged between the left and right front pillar uppers 11U. The front pillar upper 11U has a closed cross section continuous with the roof side rail 10. The center pillar 12 extends downward from the middle portion of the roof side rail 10. The center pillar 12 has a closed cross section continuous with the roof side rail 10. The rear pillar 13 extends downward from the rear end portion of the roof side rail 10. The rear pillar 13 has a closed cross section continuous with the roof side rail 10. The side sill 14 extends along the front-rear direction and is connected to the lower ends of the front pillar lower 11L, the center pillar 12, and the rear pillar 13. The side sill 14 supports a side portion of a floor panel (not shown).

The front half of the roof side rail 10, the front pillar 11, the center pillar 12, and the front half of the side sill 14 form a front door opening 5F. The rear portion of the roof side rail 10, the rear pillar 13, the center pillar 12, and the rear portion of the side sill 14 form a rear door opening 5R.

The vehicle body side portion 3 is provided with a flange 15 arranged along the door opening 5. The flange 15 projects from the frame forming the door opening 5 toward the inside of the door opening 5, and extends in an annular shape (frame shape).

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of the roof side rail on the left side of the embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the roof side rail 10 includes an outer panel 21 that forms the exterior design surface of the vehicle 1, an inner panel 23 that is arranged closer to the passenger compartment than the outer panel 21, and an outer panel 21 and an inner panel. It is formed by a stiffener 25 (reinforcing panel) arranged between the 23 and the stiffener 25.

The outer panel 21 is made of an aluminum alloy. The inner panel 23 and the stiffener 25 are made of high-strength steel and are responsible for ensuring collision performance. Specifically, the inner panel 23 and the stiffener 25 are made of high-strength steel having a tensile strength of 980 MPa or more, preferably 1500 MPa or more. The electrical conductivity of the aluminum alloy forming the outer panel 21 is higher than the electrical conductivity of the high-strength steel forming the inner panel 23 and the stiffener 25. Further, the plate thickness of the outer panel 21 is smaller than the plate thickness of at least one of the inner panel and the stiffener. As a result, the electrical resistance of the outer panel 21 in the plate thickness direction is smaller than the electrical resistance of the inner panel and the stiffener in the plate thickness direction. In the present embodiment, the plate thicknesses of the inner panel and the stiffener match each other, and the plate thickness of the outer panel is smaller than the plate thickness of both the inner panel and the stiffener. However, the inner panel 23 and the stiffener 25 do not have to have the same material and plate thickness, and even if at least one of tensile strength, electrical conductivity and plate thickness is formed of high-tensile steel plates different from each other. good.

The outer panel 21 and the inner panel 23 are each formed in a hat shape in cross section, and the flange portions 21f and 23f overlap each other with the stiffener 25 in between to form a closed cross section. The flange portions 21f and 23f of the outer panel 21 and the inner panel 23, respectively, form the flange 15 described above together with the stiffener 25 sandwiched between the flange portions 21f and 23f. The flange portion 21f of the outer panel 21 is arranged on the surface of the flange 15 facing the outside in the vehicle width direction. A weather strip (not shown) comes into contact with the flange portion 21f of the outer panel 21.

In the present embodiment, the outer panel 21 and the inner panel 23 are arranged from the roof side rail 10 to the front pillar upper 11U, the upper part of the center pillar 12, and the rear pillar 13. As a result, the closed cross section of the roof side rail 10 is continuous with the closed cross sections of the front pillar upper 11U, the center pillar 12, and the rear pillar 13. However, at least a part of the frame forming the door opening 5 in the vehicle body side portion 3 may be formed by the outer panel 21, the inner panel 23, and the stiffener 25 described above.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the flange taken along line III-III of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are overlapped on the flange 15 via the adhesive 27. Preferably, the adhesive 27 is interposed between the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 so that the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 do not come into contact with each other. The flange 15 includes a mechanical joint 30 and a weld 32.

The mechanical coupling portion 30 is a portion in which the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are mechanically coupled. The mechanical bond is a bond in which the members to be bonded do not have continuity at the joint portion and are locked to each other so as not to be detached from each other. The mechanical joint 30 is formed by crimping. The mechanical joint portion 30 does not project to the outside of the vehicle, but projects to the inner panel 23 side. The welded portion 32 is a portion where the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 are spot-welded.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mechanical joint portion 30 and the welded portion 32 extend along the opening edge 5a of the door opening 5 over the entire length of the portion of the flange 15 formed by the outer panel 21, the inner panel 23, and the stiffener 25. Are aligned. Specifically, the mechanical joint portion 30 and the welded portion 32 are arranged on a virtual straight line extending parallel to the edge of the flange 15 when viewed from the thickness direction of the flange 15. In other words, the mechanical joint 30 and the weld 32 are arranged so that the distances to the edge of the flange 15 match each other. In the illustrated example, a plurality of welded portions 32 are arranged continuously and mechanical joint portions 30 are arranged one by one without being continuous, but the arrangement of the welded portions 32 and the mechanical joint portions 30 is particularly high. Not limited.

As shown in FIG. 3, the inner panel 23 is formed with an avoiding portion 23a that avoids the mechanical connecting portion 30. The avoiding portion 23a is formed at a position overlapping the mechanical connecting portion 30 when viewed from the thickness direction of the flange 15. The avoiding portion 23a is recessed in a direction away from the stiffener 25. As a result, the avoiding portion 23a avoids interference between the mechanical connecting portion 30 protruding toward the inner panel 23 and the inner panel 23.

Next, a method of manufacturing the vehicle body side structure of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method of manufacturing the vehicle body side structure of the embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 4, the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure of the present embodiment includes a flange forming step S1 in which the outer panel 21, the inner panel 23, and the stiffener 25 are joined to form the flange 15. The flange forming step S1 includes a mechanical joining step S10 and a welding step S20.

In the flange forming step, first, the mechanical joining step S10 is performed. In the mechanical coupling step S10, only the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are mechanically coupled to each other to form the mechanical coupling portion 30. Specifically, in the mechanical coupling step S10, the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are crimped by mechanical clinching. The mechanical joining step S10 includes an annealing step S11 and a joining step S12.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an annealing process of the embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 5, in the annealing step S11, the bonded portion 25a of the stiffener 25 to be bonded to the outer panel 21 is annealed. Specifically, in the annealing step S11, the bonded portion 25a of the stiffener 25 is locally heated, and then the heated bonded portion 25a is cooled. As a result, the bonded portion 25a of the stiffener 25 is locally softened. The stiffener 25 is heated by using, for example, a semiconductor laser. For cooling the stiffener 25, for example, atmospheric cooling is performed. However, the heating method and the cooling method of the stiffener 25 are not particularly limited.

The joining step S12 is performed after the annealing step S11. In the joining step S12, an adhesive 27 is interposed between the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25, and then the outer panel 21 and the bonded portion 25a of the stiffener 25 are joined by a mechanical clinch.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state before the outer panel and the stiffener are pushed into the die by a punch in the joining process of the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which the outer panel and the stiffener are pushed into the die by a punch in the joining step of the embodiment.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the mechanical clinch locally pushes the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25, which are overlapped with the die 40 having no protrusion as a backrest, from the outer panel 21 side with a protruding punch 41. .. As a result, the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are plastically deformed so that the outer panel 21 fits into the stiffener 25 to form an interlock. By performing the joining step S12, a recess in which the punch 41 is pushed is formed in the outer panel 21, and the stiffener 25 is pressed by the punch 41 and bulges.
With the above, the mechanical bonding step S10 is completed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which the stiffener and the inner panel are spot-welded by resistance spot welding by the first electrode and the second electrode in the welding process of the embodiment.
Subsequently, the welding step S20 is performed. In the welding step S20, the welded portion 32 is formed by resistance spot welding. As shown in FIG. 8, in the welding step S20, the outer panel 21, the stiffener 25, and the inner panel 23 are sandwiched between the first electrode 43 and the second electrode 44 and welded. Specifically, the tip surface 43a of the first electrode 43 is brought into contact with the inner panel 23, and the tip surface 44a of the second electrode 44 is brought into contact with the outer panel 21 to pressurize the outer panel 21, the stiffener 25, and the inner panel 23. , A voltage is applied between the first electrode 43 and the second electrode 44 to allow a current to flow. The tip surface 44a of the second electrode 44 is formed so that the curvature is smaller than that of the tip surface 43a of the first electrode 43. In the present embodiment, the tip surface 43a of the first electrode 43 is formed in a convex curved surface (spherical surface) shape, and the tip surface 44a of the second electrode 44 is formed flat. As a result, the contact area between the second electrode 44 and the outer panel 21 is larger than the contact surface between the first electrode 43 and the inner panel 23. However, the tip surface 44a of the second electrode 44 may not be formed flat, and may be formed in a convex curved surface shape having a curvature smaller than that of the tip surface 43a of the first electrode 43.

By passing an electric current between the first electrode 43 and the second electrode 44, the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 formed of the steel material are melted and solidified by resistance heat and welded. Here, the electric conductivity and the thermal conductivity of the aluminum alloy are higher than the electric conductivity and the thermal conductivity of the steel material. Therefore, the temperature of the outer panel 21 made of aluminum alloy does not rise sufficiently even when an electric current flows, and the outer panel 21 does not melt. Therefore, a welded portion 32 is formed in which only the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 are welded to each other. With the above, the welding step S20 is completed.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration of a manufacturing line to which the manufacturing method of the vehicle body side structure of the embodiment is applied.
As shown in FIG. 9, the manufacturing line 50 to which the manufacturing method of the vehicle body side structure of the present embodiment is applied includes a main line 51 and a sub line 52. The main line 51 is a line for forming a vehicle body by assembling various members around the floor panel. The sub line 52 is a line for forming a member to be assembled to the vehicle body flowing through the main line 51, and performs the joining step S12. The member formed by the sub line 52 is supplied to the main line 51. The main line 51 includes a step S2 for connecting the inner panel 23 to the floor panel, a welding step S20 for welding the stiffener 25 supplied from the sub line 52 to the inner panel 23 connected to the floor panel, and a stiffener 25 at the sub line 52. The step S3 of joining the roof panel to the outer panel 21 coupled to the above is included.

According to the method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure of the present embodiment described above, resistance spot welding is performed by sandwiching the outer panel 21 made of aluminum alloy, the stiffener 25 made of high-strength steel, and the inner panel 23 in the welding step S20. As a result, the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 can be welded by suppressing heat generation of the outer panel 21 having a higher electric conductivity and thermal conductivity than the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23. Further, in the mechanical bonding step S10, only the stiffener 25 made of high-strength steel and the stiffener 25 of the inner panel 23 are mechanically bonded to the outer panel 21, so that technically difficult aluminum alloy and steel material are welded. The outer panel 21 can be fixedly arranged with respect to the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 without any problem. As described above, the flange 15 to which the outer panel 21, the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 are joined can be formed without cutting out the outer panel 21 so as to avoid the welded portion 32 of the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23. Therefore, in the vehicle body side structure having the outer panel 21 made of aluminum alloy, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing the vehicle body side structure capable of forming the flange 15 arranged along the door opening 5 without cutting out the outer panel 21.

In the welding step S20, the tip surface 43a of the first electrode 43 is brought into contact with the inner panel 23, and the tip surface 44a of the second electrode 44 having a curvature smaller than the tip surface 43a of the first electrode 43 is brought into contact with the outer panel 21. .. According to this method, the current density in the vicinity of the second electrode 44 when performing resistance spot welding can be made smaller than the current density in the vicinity of the first electrode 43. As a result, heat generation of the outer panel 21 close to the second electrode 44 is suppressed. Therefore, only the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 can be selectively welded. Further, by suppressing the heat generation of the outer panel 21, it is possible to suppress the generation of brittle intermetallic compounds due to dissimilar material resistance welding between the outer panel 21 made of aluminum alloy and the stiffener 25 made of high-strength steel. ..

The mechanical bonding step S10 includes an annealing step S11 for annealing the bonded portion 25a to be bonded to the outer panel 21 of the stiffener 25, and after the annealing step S11, the outer panel 21 and the stiffener are mechanically clinched. The joining step S12 for joining the bonded portion 25a of 25 is included. According to this method, since the bonded portion 25a of the high-strength steel stiffener 25 can be locally softened in the annealing step S11, the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are joined by mechanical clinching in the joining step S12. It becomes possible to join. Further, since the bonded portion 25a of the stiffener 25 is locally softened, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the strength of the vehicle body side portion 3.

The plate thickness of the outer panel 21 is smaller than the plate thickness of the inner panel 23 and the stiffener 25. According to this configuration, the electric current penetrates the outer panel 21 in the welding step S12, and only the stiffener 25 and the inner panel 23 can be selectively welded.

An adhesive 27 is interposed between the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25. According to this method, it is possible to prevent the outer panel 21 made of aluminum alloy and the stiffener 25 made of high-strength steel from coming into contact with each other. Therefore, electrolytic corrosion between different materials can be suppressed.

In the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the flange forming step S1 is performed on the manufacturing line 50 having a sub line 52 for performing the mechanical joining step S10 and a main line 51 for joining the inner panel 23 to the floor panel of the vehicle body. According to this method, the above-mentioned manufacturing method can be adopted by adding the sub line 52 without changing the existing equipment of the main line 51 that connects the inner panel 23 to the floor panel of the vehicle body.

The mechanical joint 30 and the weld 32 are aligned along the opening edge 5a of the door opening 5. According to this method, the strength of the flange 15 can be made uniform in the region of the flange 15 where the mechanical joint portion 30 and the welded portion 32 are arranged. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the strength of a part of the flange 15 from being lowered and the strength of the vehicle body side portion 3 from being lowered.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment described with reference to the drawings, and various modifications can be considered within the technical scope thereof.
For example, in the above embodiment, the outer panel 21 and the stiffener 25 are mechanically joined by mechanical clinching in the joining step S12, but the outer panel and the stiffener may be mechanically joined by rivet joining such as a self-piercing rivet. good.

Further, the annealing step S11 does not have to be performed immediately before the joining step S12. As shown in FIG. 9, the annealing step S11 may be performed as a pretreatment of the members to be put into the subline 52 in which the joining step S12 is performed.

Further, although the present invention is applied to the door opening on the side of the vehicle body, the same structure may be applied to the flange of the frame portion such as the front pillar on which the windshield is arranged.

In addition, it is possible to replace the components in the above-described embodiment with well-known components as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1 ... Vehicle 3 ... Body side 5 ... Door opening 5a ... Opening edge 15 ... Flange 21 ... Outer panel 23 ... Inner panel 25 ... Stiffener (reinforcing panel) 25a ... Joined part 27 ... Adhesive 30 ... Mechanical joint ( Coupling part) 32 ... Welded part 43 ... First electrode 43a ... Tip surface 44 ... Second electrode 44a ... Tip surface 50 ... Production line 51 ... Main line 52 ... Subline S1 ... Flange forming process S10 ... Mechanical coupling process S11 ... Baked Annealing process S12 ... Joining process S20 ... Welding process

Claims (7)

A method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure having flanges arranged along a door opening formed on the vehicle body side.
The outer panel forming the exterior design surface of the vehicle, the inner panel arranged on the vehicle interior side of the outer panel, and the reinforcing panel arranged between the outer panel and the inner panel are joined to each other. A flange forming step for forming the flange is provided.
The outer panel is made of aluminum alloy.
The inner panel and the reinforcing panel are formed of high-strength steel having a tensile strength of 980 MPa or more.
The flange forming step is
A mechanical joining step of mechanically joining the outer panel and the reinforcing panel,
A welding process in which the outer panel, the reinforcing panel, and the inner panel are sandwiched and resistance spot welded.
including,
Manufacturing method of vehicle body side structure. In the welding step, the tip surface of the first electrode is brought into contact with the inner panel, and the tip surface of the second electrode having a curvature smaller than that of the tip surface of the first electrode is brought into contact with the outer panel.
The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure according to claim 1. The mechanical joining step is
An annealing step of annealing the bonded portion of the reinforcing panel to be bonded to the outer panel,
After the annealing step, a joining step of joining the outer panel and the bonded portion by one of mechanical clinching and rivet joining, and
including,
The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure according to claim 1 or 2. The thickness of the outer panel is smaller than the thickness of at least one of the inner panel and the reinforcing panel.
The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3. An adhesive is interposed between the outer panel and the reinforcing panel.
The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The sub-line that performs the mechanical bonding step and
The main line that connects the inner panel to the floor panel of the car body,
Perform the flange forming step on the production line having
The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The joint portion by the mechanical coupling step and the welded portion by the welding step are aligned along the opening edge of the door opening.
The method for manufacturing a vehicle body side structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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