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Article history: In this article, the effect of interference fit on fatigue life of holed plate of mechanical joints was
Received 18 October 2008 investigated both experimentally and numerically. In the experimental part, fatigue tests were carried
Accepted 31 December 2009 out on the holed specimens of Al 7075-T6 alloy in which oversized steel pins were force fitted to them.
Available online 18 January 2010
These fatigue tests were conducted on open hole specimen and specimens with 1, 1.5, 2 and 4% nominal
interference fit sizes at different cyclic longitudinal loads. From these tests the stress-life (S–N) data for
Keywords:
different interference fit sizes were obtained. The results show that interference fit increases fatigue life
Interference fit
compared to open hole specimens. In the numerical part of the investigation, 3D finite element simu-
Fatigue
Mechanical joint lations have been performed to obtain stress (or strain) histories and distributions around the hole due to
Finite element interference fit and subsequent cyclic longitudinal loading using FEM package. The stress history from
finite element (FE) simulation was used to explain the reason for fatigue life improvement in the
interference fitted specimens.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
0997-7538/$ – see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.euromechsol.2009.12.009
676 T.N. Chakherlou et al. / European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 29 (2010) 675–682
studied in the previous researches by the authors (Chakherlou however, standard tests were performed on tensile specimens to
et al., 2008; Chakherlou and Vogwell, 2003), in the case of knowing obtain s–e curve and Poisson’s ratio. The true stress versus the true
the isolated effect of interference fit, it will be much easier to strain curve obtained from tests is shown in Fig. 3. The elasticity
a mechanical joint designer to decide which combination of them modulus, Poisson’s ratio and hardness were measured to be
will create the best joint from fatigue life point of view. So in this E ¼ 71.5 GPa, y ¼ 0.33 and 188 HV, respectively. Also the yield
paper in order to investigate the isolated effect of interference fit on strength and ultimate strength of the Al alloy were 503 MPa and
fatigue life improvement, a holed plate with an oversized pin force 600 MPa, respectively.
fitted was studied experimentally and numerically. In the experi- In experimental tests, in addition to Al-alloy 7075-T6, steel pins
mental part four batches of Al 7075-T5 alloy specimens with four were also used. These pins, which force fitted to fatigue specimens’
different sizes of interference fit also one batch of open hole were hole to create interference fit, were made from AISI-D2 steel with
fatigue tested to obtain S–N data. In the numerical part, contrary to mechanical properties of E ¼ 207 GPa, y ¼ 0.26, hardness ¼ 62 HRC
2D FEM models investigated in the literature, 3D finite element (746 HV) and yield strength of more than 1000 MPa. The dimen-
method (FEM) models were used to capture stress and strain sions of the pin which caused a 2% interference fit are shown in
variations through the plate thickness around the hole and also to Fig. 4. The big diameters of used pins to create various percentages
explain fatigue crack initiation location for different sizes of the of interference fit are shown in Table 1, the tolerance of the pins
interference fit. Although the effect of interference fit was studied diameter was (0.000 and þ0.003 mm) during manufacturing. The
on only one holed plate in this research, its results can be used in interference fit size was defined as
much complicated practical joints to some extent.
Dd
I ¼ 100;
d
2. Experimental test specifications
where D is the big diameter of pin and d is the diameter of fatigue
In experimental part of the research to observe interference fit specimen hole.
effect on fatigue life improvement, fatigue test specimens, their To force fit the pins into the fatigue specimens’ hole, a 60 kN
dimensions are shown in Fig. 2, were prepared. These specimens capacity Roel pull–push test machine was used. To do so, the con-
were made from a 4.5 mm thick Al-alloy 7075-T6 plate. They were tacting surfaces, including the hole inner surface and the pin outer
cut from the plate with planar dimensions of 1.2 m 1.2 m. The surfaces, were smeared with MoS2 lubricant (a special lubricant
longitudinal direction of the specimens was aligned in rolling which is used in metal forming and has a friction coefficient of 0.1).
direction of the plate. As the figure shows the specimens have Then flat end of the pin was located inside a specially pre-designed
a 5 mm diameter hole in the centre, which was drilled and reamed fixture that was fixed to the upper grip of the test machine. After
to achieve the precise size of hole (i.e. 5 0.005 mm). that a washer with 8 mm inner and 12 mm outer diameters was put
Although the mechanical properties of Al-alloy 7075-T6 were around the hole under the specimens (as a support) on the lower
available in many references (Wuanlin and Xiangjiong, 1991; Shah
and Ramachandran, 2002; Mechanical Engineer’s Handbook, 1998)
Fig. 4. Dimensions of the pin for 2% interference fit size (mm) and force fitting it into
Fig. 2. Fatigue test specimen dimensions (mm) without inserted pin. a specimen hole.
T.N. Chakherlou et al. / European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 29 (2010) 675–682 677
Table 1 and loading (during pin force fitting) are symmetric respect to X–Z
Big diameter of the pins for various sizes of interference fit. and Y–Z planes, only a quarter of the plate and the pin were
Pin diameter (mm) 5.050 5.075 5.100 5.200 included in the FEM simulation.
Interference fit size %, I 1 1.5 2 4 To mesh the plate and the pin, linear isoparametric cubic
Solid45 elements were used. This 2 2 2 integration point
element has 8 nodes (one node at each vertex) and each node has 3
Table 2 DOF (degree of freedom) displacement in X, Y and Z directions. This
Maximum applied tensile loads to specimens and their equivalent remote sress element was preferred to 20 node quadratic isoparametric cubic
amplitudes.
Solid95 as it has the same accuracy in plasticity but well-conju-
Pmax (kN) 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 gated with contact elements (Swanson Analysis Systems Inc,
Corresponding remote stress 128.85 137.75 146.65 155.55 164.4 173.3 182.2 2007b).
amplitude (MPa)
To include contact between the pin and the hole surfaces,
CONTA 173 and TARGE 170 were used to mesh the pin outer surface
grip of the machine. In the last stage the lower grip was moved up and the hole inner surface. These contact elements allow pressure
to insert the pin into the hole (see Fig. 4). to be transferred between the contacting surfaces but without
After interference fitting the specimens, fatigue tests were penetrating each other (Swanson Analysis Systems Inc, 2007a). In
performed for four different interference fitted and open hole the model the friction between contacting surfaces was included
specimens. Fatigue tests were carried out at seven different load using the elastic Coulomb friction model with friction coefficient of
magnitudes (as shown in Table 2) to obtain S–N data. In conducting m ¼ 0.1, this value was obtained from experimental test (Chakherlou
fatigue tests, sinusoidal cyclic loads were applied using a Zwick and Vogwell, 2003).
Roel Amsler HA250 fatigue machine (see Fig. 5) with zero load ratio In the FEM model, an elastic–plastic kinematic hardening
(R ¼ Pmin/Pmax ¼ 0 as shown in Fig. 6) and frequency of 15 Hz. material behavior was considered for the Al-alloy plate in which
Experimental fatigue test results are shown in Fig. 7 as semi-log stress–strain curve (see Fig. 3), elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio
(S–N) chart where Sa ¼ Pa/A (Sa is the remote stress amplitude, Pa is were provided by experimental test results. For the steel pin elastic
the applied load amplitude and A ¼ 25 4.5 mm2 is the remote material behavior was used as the pin deforms elastically during
cross-sectional area). It is worth mentioning that a number of interference fit and subsequent longitudinal loading.
fatigue tests were carried out at load levels lower than 29 kN for Regarding to the model constraints, symmetric (displacement)
interference fitted specimens, but in all of them the fatigue crack boundary condition was applied to the plate and the pin in the X–Z
initiated and propagated at region far from the hole at fillet area and Y–Z planes due to the model symmetry.
(their S–N data were not shown in Fig. 7). As explained in the previous section a steel support washer was
placed the test specimen underneath around the hole during the
3. Finite element models experimental pin force fitting to restrain it in Z direction. In the FEM
simulation to account for this support washer, the nodes on the
3.1. Modeling and solution process plate bottom face, which located on the area between the radii
8 mm and 12 mm from the hole centre (showing the washer inner
There are a number of researches about interference fit (Crew, and outer diameters), were constrained in the Z direction.
1975; Shah and Ramachandran, 2002) but these studies were based The FEM solution process was conducted in three load steps
on 2D models in which the effect of stress variations have not been (stages). In the first load step, the pin upper surface nodes were
considered through the plate thickness. However, in this paper a 3D displaced 8 mm in -Z direction through the hole to simulate the
model is used to include stress (or strain) variations in the plate experimental pin force fitting. In the model as shown in Fig. 8, the
thickness. To do numerical simulation for the interference fit, only conical part of the pin was modeled through the hole in a near
the middle part of the 4.5 mm thick fatigue test specimen (see contact condition so as to avoid extra and unnecessary displacing
Fig. 2) was considered to have an optimum model size (i.e. the plate the pin during solution process. After that, in the second load step
model size is 25 mm 40 mm). As the geometry of the specimen a tensile stress (remote stress) was applied to the right end of plate
Fig. 5. Interference fitted specimen before and after fracture in fatigue test machine.
678 T.N. Chakherlou et al. / European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 29 (2010) 675–682
Fig. 10. Longitudinal stress, sx (MPa) distributions around the interference fitted hole
Fig. 7. Fatigue lives obtained from experimental tests. for I ¼ 4% (pin was not shown).
T.N. Chakherlou et al. / European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 29 (2010) 675–682 679
Fig. 11. Paths chosen for stress distribution as graphs in the following discussions.
Fig. 14. Longitudinal stress, sx distributions in the defined paths for the interference fit
size of I ¼ 2%.
Fig. 13. Longitudinal stress, sx distributions in the defined paths for the interference fit Fig. 15. Longitudinal stress, sx distributions in the defined paths for the interference fit
size of I ¼ 1.5%. size of I ¼ 4%.
680 T.N. Chakherlou et al. / European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 29 (2010) 675–682
Fig. 16. Node locations at the smallest cross-sectional area in the FEM simulation.
Fig. 19. Longitudinal stress, sx history of node No.1 for different interference fit sizes
and open hole models for maximum 29 kN of cyclic loading.
Fig. 20. Fatigue crack growth in interference fitted specimens for 29 kN and more
cyclic loading.
Fig. 17. Longitudinal stress, sx (MPa) history at nodes No. 1, 100 and 200 for model
in Section 3.1) is shown in Fig. 19 for maximum 29 kN cyclic
with 1.5% interference fit size which subjected to a maximum longitudinal load of
29 kN cyclic loading. loading. As the figure shows interference fit reduces stress ampli-
tude and increases mean stress compared to open hole model.
stress compared to the other three nodes as can be seen from the However, with increasing interference fit size the rate of stress
figure. amplitude reduction decreases so that the stress amplitude
The longitudinal stress, sx history at node 1 for different reduction for 2% and 4% interference fit sizes is almost the same, but
percentages of interference fit and open hole model (not explained increasing interference fit sizes entails mean stress increase.
Fig. 18. Longitudinal stress, sx history at nodes No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 for model with 1.5%
interference fit size which subjected to a maximum longitudinal load of 29 kN cyclic Fig. 21. Fatigue crack growth in interference fitted specimens for cyclic loading less
loading. than 29 kN.
T.N. Chakherlou et al. / European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 29 (2010) 675–682 681
Fig. 22. Crack initiation, growth and fracture locations of an open hole specimen for
35 kN cyclic loading. Fig. 24. Crack initiation, growth and fracture locations of 2% interference fit size
specimen for 35 kN cyclic loading.
5. Discussion
The obtained S–N data from experimental tests for open hole
and interference fitted specimens shown in Fig. 7 indicate the effect
of interference fit on increasing the fatigue life compared to open
hole specimen which confirms the results presented in literature.
Also, as the figure shows increasing the interference fit size from 1%
to 1.5% and 2% entails more fatigue life improvement, however,
further fatigue life improvement is not appreciable when interfer-
ence fit size increases to I ¼ 4% and even in a number of specimens
the fatigue life decreases a little compared to the specimens with
I ¼ 2%. Fig. 25. Crack initiation, growth and fracture locations of 4% interference fit size
Also the fatigue life improvement in the interference fitted specimen for 35 kN cyclic loading.
specimens compared to open hole ones is explained using FEM
simulation. As Fig. 19 shows, interference fit generally decreases
cyclic stress amplitude (the most effective parameter in fatigue life) I ¼ 2%, but the mean stress is much bigger in comparison. This could
and increases a little mean stress at the hole edge at the smallest be the reason why no more fatigue life improvement was appeared
cross-sectional area compared to open hole. With increasing the in the experimental fatigue tests for interference fit size of I ¼ 4%.
interference fit size from I ¼ 1% to I ¼ 2% this phenomenon is much Investigating the fracture section at the smallest cross-sectional
appreciable (see Fig.19) thus causing more fatigue life improvement. area of the specimens reveals that the fatigue crack initiates and
However, in bigger interference fit size (i.e. I ¼ 4%) the cyclic stress propagates around the middle plane for the open hole (see Fig. 22)
amplitude reduction is almost the same as interference fit size of but from the top plane for the interference fitted specimens (see Figs.
23–25) at hole edge. This also could be explained from FEM simu-
lation by prying Figs. 17 and 18. As the first figure shows the stress
amplitudes (in cyclic longitudinal loading) for three nodes in the top,
middle and bottom planes at the hole edge (for interference fitted
models) are almost the same, however, the mean stress in node one
on the top plane is bigger in comparison with node 100 and 200.
Likewise such a phenomenon can be observed for node 1 in Fig. 18
when its amplitude and mean stress are compared with those of
nodes 2, 3, 4 at the top plane. So the location of node 1 is the critical
point (or region, loosely saying) to early fatigue crack initiation.
6. Conclusion
fitted specimens, however, further interference fit size increase (i.e. Finney, J.M., 1993. Cold Expansion and Interference for Extending the Fatigue Life of
Multi-Layer Metal Joints. Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Aero-
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