A proposed fatigue test protocol for generic mechanical joints

This paper describes a generic test procedure to evaluate materials for aircraft joint applications. The life of mechanical joints is controlled by various parameters and it is difficult to reliably predict the influence of many parameters on life. Therefore, the designer often depends on extensive testing to evaluate the performance of various joint configurations. However, these extensive tests are sometimes impractical for initial material development and down-select decisions since new exploratory alloys are often produced in small quantities. This paper addresses that issue by proposing fatigue test methods that have the goal of discerning material performance in as simple a manner as possible. Generic specimen configurations and test protocols for low load transfer and high load transfer airframe joints are described herein.