SELF-ATTACHING FEMALE FASTENER ELEMENT, SEALED FASTENER AND PANEL ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME

摘要

A self-attaching female fastener (20) such as a pierce nut having an annular pilot (28), an annular flange (34) surrounding the pilot and an annular groove (38) in the flange bearing surface surrounding the pilot, wherein the bottom wall (44) of the groove includes wedge-shaped recesses (46) dividing the groove bottom wall into segments having parallel sides defined by the adjacent wedge-shaped recesses and the inclined outer wall (40) of the pilot is deformed radially during installation to entrap and compact panel metal in the groove forming a sealed secure installation having improved push-off and anti-rotation strength.