Effectiveness of epoxy staking of fasteners in aerospace applications
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of locking or staking of fasteners with epoxy material systems to prevent loss of preload in aerospace environments.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative experimental method is adopted to evaluate epoxy material systems for staking of fastener assemblies subjected to varying dynamic and thermal loads. A statistical design of experiments is employed to probe specific design parameters.
Findings
Results show that epoxy application can provide satisfactory fastener locking under a variety of service conditions. It is found that: Epon 828 epoxy provides superior fastener locking compared to 3M Scotch‐Weld Epoxy 2216; epoxy application around screw threads is more effective than application around screw head; and abrading the plate surfaces with 180 grit SiC paper is not an effective or useful surface preparation technique.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is limited to two commercial epoxy material systems and does not consider important qualitative considerations for industrial use such as cure time and viscosity.
Practical implications
This and future paper may form the basis of new standards for epoxy staking in the global aerospace industry.
Originality/value
This paper is believed to be one of the very few original experimental studies of fastener staking available in the open literature.
Keywords
Citation
Salmon, S., Swank, M., Janaki Ram, G.D., Stucker, B.E. and Palmer, J.A. (2009), "Effectiveness of epoxy staking of fasteners in aerospace applications", Assembly Automation, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 341-347. https://doi.org/10.1108/01445150910987754
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited