Fatigue and Fretting of Self-Piercing Riveted Joints

Abstract

The fatigue life and fretting characteristics of aluminum alloy 5754-O self-piercing riveted lap joints have been investigated experimentally and analytically. The experimental program involves a set of 27 cyclic tension tests on three different joints consisting of either 1 mm, 2 mm or 3 mm-thick sheet specimens. In most cases (85%), fatigue cracks are found to initiate on the faying surface of the upper sheet, adjacent to the hole, and at an angular location that lies on the sheet loading axis towards the loading end. Three-dimensional finite element analysis of the three joints has also been performed. Computed distributions of local stresses and rivet-sheet slips are interpreted in terms of experimental observations of fatigue life, crack initiation location and fretting damage observations. Significantly, the calculations provide a rationale for the surprising crack initiation location.