Impact of Riveting Parameters on Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Alloy (LY-12) Sealant Applied Lap Joint of an Aircraft

The assembling process includes various techniques, out of which riveting has been employed most successfully in fields like construction of enormous structures, auto-motives, and most notably in the aerospace industry. This process includes marking, drilling followed by riveting. Furthermore, being a successful process, most of the aircraft structure is assembled using rivets. However, various factors contribute to the result. Therefore, the effect of riveting process parameters such as Sheet Thickness, Rivet Diameter, Rivet Type, and Riveting Sequence have been studied on responses, i.e., Deformation and Joint Load Capacity of lap joint composed of Aluminum Alloy sheets (LY-12) at T0 condition by sandwiching aerospace-grade sealant (XM-22B). Each of these parameters is studied on three levels and the experimental setup is designed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The main objective of this work is to demonstrate the effect of riveting parameters on lap joints with sealant and analyze the effect through careful measurement of deformation and joint load capacity of the test specimen. Finally, a variance analysis (ANOVA) is performed to identify significant factors influencing response parameters using Design Expert Software V-12.