With the recent trend towards the use of aluminum alloys and synthetic materials in the automotive and electrical appliances industry, the clinching process underwent a new development and is nowadays accepted and used as a competitive metal sheets fastening method. In this paper a numerical and an experimental investigation of the press clinching process is reported. In particular, a factorial experimental plan of F.E.M. simulations has been carried out in order to build a base of knowledge in terms of tools' shape and mechanical and geometrical characteristics of the joint. Based on these numerical results, optimal values of the considered variables have been found by means of a regression analysis with the goal of maximising the mechanical properties of the joint. Finally, experimental tests have been carried out in order to confirm the results of the proposed approach. The optimisation procedure, based on numerical experiments, has lead to an improvement of the joint performances in terms of mechanical strength.
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