**7. Conclusions**

Interfaces can be modelled using Cohesive Zone Elements. However, standard formulations do not consider membrane deformations that occur during forming of hybrid bulk material components. Membrane Mode Enhanced Cohesive Zone Elements capture these effects. An implementation of this technology in the nonlinear finite element solver MSC Marc is carried out. The new technology can be used for thermomechanical simulations in combination with all capabilities that Marc provides for usual Cohesive Zone Elements as it is implemented as a material subroutine in the provided standard interface element.

Simulations of a transverse link are carried out to test the technology. The material parameters stem from a different joining process and the development of the transverse link itself is not finished yet. Though some general findings might be valid:


An indentation test is suited to investigate mesh dependency due to a simpler geometry. The load increment and also the position of failure initiation change from coarse to fine mesh, but are stable for further mesh refinement.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, F.T.; software, F.T.; investigation, F.T.; writing—original draft preparation, F.T.; writing—review and editing, S.L. and P.W.; visualization, F.T.; supervision, S.L. and P.W.; funding acquisition, S.L. and P.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—CRC 1153, subproject C4 - 252662854.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
