Experimental investigation of the effect of double cold expansion on the residual stresses distribution and on the fatigue life of rivet hole

Abstract

The use of riveting as an assembly technique, especially in the aeronautical construction, requires the implementation of several holes in aluminium alloy sheets, which leads to a stress localization in the drilled zones and affect the fatigue life. Studies have shown the beneficial effect of the cold expansion technique in obtaining better fatigue life of rivet holes, but only few of them have examined the effect of double cold expansion. This paper presents the results of an experimental work which aimed to evaluate the new enhancement of fatigue life by double cold expansion process of rivet holes.