Fretting behaviour of self-piercing riveted aluminium alloy joints under different interfacial conditions

The fretting behaviour of self-piercing riveted aluminium alloy joints with three different interfacial conditions has been investigated in this study. The fatigue life of the joints was observed to be dependent on the fretting behaviour under different interfacial conditions. The presence of a wax-based solid surface lubricant on the surface of the aluminium alloy sheet could delay the onset of fretting damage leading to longer fatigue life. Inserting PTFE tape at the interface between the two riveted sheets led to the reduction and even elimination of fretting damage in a self-piercing riveted joint. However, the presence of PTFE tape at the interface resulted in a significant reduction in the fatigue life and led to a change in the failure mode. The effect of the frictional force during the fretting fatigue process of a self-piercing riveted joint is also discussed.