Effects of chamfering, cold expansion, bolt clamping, and their combinations on fatigue life of aluminum–lithium alloy single plate

The objective of this study was to establish the effects of cold expansion, chamfering, bolt clamping, and their combinations on the fatigue life of an aluminum–lithium alloy single plate. Fatigue tests were conducted to quantify the anti-fatigue effects of the different techniques. A scanning electron microscope was used to perform fracture analyses of the used specimens, and the residual stresses were measured using an X-ray diffraction device. In addition, three-dimensional finite element models of the specimens were established and used to characterize their stress states, and the Smith–Watson–Topper method was used to predict the fatigue lives of the specimens. The fatigue test results showed that all the considered processes improved the fatigue life of the pristine specimen. The most effective was a combination of 3.2% cold expansion, 1-mm chamfering, and bolt clamping using a 6.4-N m torque, which improved the fatigue life of the pristine specimen by a factor of 15.5. The finite element method results also revealed that this combination decreased the maximum stress and confirmed its superiority in relation to the other fatigue-life enhancement techniques in terms of the anti-fatigue effect. The Smith–Watson–Topper method underestimated the specimen fatigue life, but the accuracy satisfied engineering requirements.