International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Improving fretting fatigue behaviour of Al 7075-T6 bolted plates

using electroless Ni–P coatings
R.H. Oskouei a,b, R.N. Ibrahim a,⇑
a
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
b
School of Computer Science, Engineering & Mathematics, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, the effect of electroless nickel–phosphorous coatings on the fatigue and fretting fatigue
Received 23 December 2011 behaviour of Al 7075-T6 bolted plates has been investigated. A double-lap bolted joint specimen was
Received in revised form 7 May 2012 designed and manufactured from the aluminium plates and subsequently coated with Ni–P coatings of
Accepted 11 May 2012
40 lm in thickness with a high phosphorous content of 10–13 wt.%. Then, different tightening torques
Available online 23 May 2012
were applied to clamp the plates together with the aim of studying the effect of clamping force on the
fretting fatigue life of the joints. Ni–P coatings were found to protect Al 7075-T6 clamped plates against
Keywords:
fretting fatigue damages even at low fatigue loads where the uncoated joints showed a large reduction in
Fretting fatigue
Mechanically fastened joints
their fatigue life due to the fretting effects. Fretting fatigue life of moderately and firmly clamped plates
Electroless nickel plating was successfully improved by approximately 30–40% and 50–60% respectively after the application of
Ni–P coatings. Furthermore, fatigue cracks were found at the outer surface of the aluminium substrate
at the edge of the hole associated with nodular defects whose deleterious effect was more pronounced
at high cyclic loads. The Ni–P deposit presented a very good adhesion to the substrate at low and mod-
erate loads; however, considerable delaminations and fracture of the coating film at high cyclic loads was
observed.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Bolted joints are extensively used in aircraft structures as the
dominant fastening mechanisms to join primary structural compo-
nents made from aluminium alloys and composites [1,2]. However,
metallic bolted joints may suffer from fretting fatigue damages
which occur on the contacting surfaces of the joint components
due to the small relative displacements (typically 5–50 lm) be-
tween the mating surfaces under fatigue loading. Under fretting
conditions, fatigue strength of the components can be reduced by
as much as 50–70% [3]. During fretting fatigue, cracks can initiate
at low stresses, well below the fatigue limit of non-fretted materi-
als [4–6]. A review of the literature generally confirms that the bolt
clamping force can significantly increase the fatigue life of the
joints [7–9]. Preliminary work showed the presence of longitudinal
compressive stresses around Al 7075-T6 bolt-filled holes with
localised maximum magnitudes at the critical edge of the hole as
a result of the bolt clamping force [10,11]. The compressive stress
in the plate clearly reduced the net effect of the damaging cyclic
longitudinal tensile stress which causes fatigue crack initiations
and propagation due to the applied loads. Therefore, the fatigue
strength of bolted plates was substantially improved using higher
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 99051982.
E-mail address: raafat.ibrahim@monash.edu (R.N. Ibrahim).
tightening torques [12]. However, it has been shown that high
clamping forces may cause fretting damages on the surface of
bolted plates resulting in considerable reductions in the fatigue life
of the joints [13–16].
The resistance of materials against fretting fatigue can be in-
creased by improving surface conditions, such as hardness, rough-
ness and reducing friction coefficient. This is best accomplished by
surface modification methods such as surface coatings [17–19].
Although surface coatings can protect contacting materials from
fretting damages, contact conditions control the effectiveness of
the coating [20]. It is reported that there are at least five different
mechanisms in using surface modification methods to improve fret-
ting resistance: (1) introducing residual compressive stresses; (2)
decreasing friction coefficient; (3) increasing surface hardness; (4)
altering surface chemistry; (5) increasing surface roughness [21].
This paper investigates the fretting fatigue behaviour of alumin-
ium alloy 7075-T6 in bolted joints. A double-lap bolted joint spec-
imen is clamped with three different tightening torques. Fretting
fatigue damages are studied to detect fatigue crack initiations on
the aluminium plate surface. Subsequently, the aluminium plates
are coated with electroless Ni–P coatings with a high content of
phosphorous to improve fretting fatigue resistance of the joint
plates. The S–N curves of both coated and uncoated joints are eval-
uated to assess how successfully the surface coating method can
improve fretting fatigue life of the aluminium joints.

0142-1123/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2012.05.003
158 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167

2. Experimental techniques

2.1. Design and preparation of test specimens

A double-lap bolted joint specimen was designed for fatigue

testing, as shown in Fig. 1. The joint includes two middle plates
joined through two connecting plates. Achieving a symmetric
Fig. 2. Tensile test specimen, dimensions in mm.
geometry and loading conditions was the main consideration in
the design of the joint configuration to avoid secondary bending ef-
fects within the joint. Moreover, the fastener holes were carefully
Chicago, USA. In the plating process, sodium hypophosphite was
located with a sufficient distance relative to both the edges of
used as a chemical reducing agent in the plating solution to pro-
the joint plates to prevent catastrophic failure modes of tearing
mote the plating of the nickel and phosphorous ions onto the sub-
and shearing under loading.
strate surface. Before performing the EN plating process, the
The middle and connecting plates of the bolted joint specimen
aluminium plates were chemically cleaned to remove unwanted
were made from a 3.175-mm-thick aluminium alloy 7075-T6 plate
dust and oils followed by water rinsing (three times) to remove
in bare condition such that the longitudinal axis of the plates was
chemicals from the surface. After the plating process, the coated
aligned with the rolling direction of the aluminium plate. The sur-
plates were finished with trisodium phosphate followed by pure
face of the joint plates were polished using three successive grades
water rinsing to prevent unwanted stains. Subsequently, the plates
of silicon carbide sandpaper with a final grade of 1200. The holes of
were completely dried. During the deposition process, the alumin-
the middle plates were mirror polished using 1 and 0.3 lm alpha
ium substrate plates were exposed to 190 °F (90 °C) in the plating
alumina to obtain a smooth surface for the holes that is free of
tank for a total period of 5 h to achieve a 40-lm-thick EN deposit.
small scratches and other surface defects.
The thickness of the coating layer and state of the coating-sub-
The plates were then joined together using two metric high
strate interface were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy
strength steel bolts (M5x0.8-30, grade 8.8) by applying identical
(SEM) techniques on the coated samples. Moreover, the chemical
tightening torques to the bolts using a Norbar torque wrench
composition of the EN deposit was evaluated by an energy disper-
(Model SLO) to develop two identical clamping forces at the joint.
sive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The SEM and EDS analyses were
Three different tightening torques of T = 2, 5 and 8 Nm were se-
conducted by means of a JEOL JSM-840A scanning electron micro-
lected to slightly, moderately and firmly clamp the joint speci-
scope at a potential of 30 kV and 15 kV, respectively.
mens, respectively. In addition to the bolted joint specimens, a
The hardness of the deposited coatings was measured with a
number of standard tensile test specimens were also manufactured
Vickers indenter using a 100 g load. Friction coefficients between
from the Al 7075-T6 plate according to ASTM E8 standard, as
contacting plates (uncoated and coated) were experimentally ob-
shown in Fig. 2.
tained from a test based on the sliding of a small piece of the plate
under its own weight on the sloped surface of an aluminium plate.
2.2. Coating deposition and characterisation
2.3. Mechanical testing
Electroless nickel–phosphorous (Ni–P) coatings with a high
phosphorous content of 10–13 wt.% and a thickness of approxi- Tensile properties of Al 7075-T6 as well as Al 7075-T6 coated
mately 40 lm were deposited onto the aluminium plates using with electroless Ni–P coatings were determined by conducting ten-
electroless nickel plating (EN) method at Reliable Plating Corp., sile tests on three specimens from each batch using an Instron test-

Middle plates

Connecting plates

(a)

(b) (c)
Fig. 1. Double-lap bolted joint specimen: (a) Joint assembly, (b) Middle plate; and (c) Connecting plate, dimensions in mm.
 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167
ing machine (model 5500R with a load capacity of 100 kN). The
tensile tests were carried out with a displacement rate of
0.50 mm/min at room temperature. The hardness of the Al 7075-
T6 substrate after experiencing the coating process was evaluated
by means of a macro-indentation test. The Vickers hardness (HV)
values were obtained as an average of five measurements. In the
Vickers hardness test, a 5 kg load was smoothly applied and held
in place for 15 s.
2.4. Fatigue testing
Fatigue tests were accomplished using an Instron servo-
hydraulic fatigue testing machine (model 1342) with a 100 kN
load capacity. The cyclic load regime was set as constant-ampli-
tude sinusoidal loading at a frequency of 10 Hz with a load ratio
of 0.1 to keep the joint specimens in tension throughout the fati-
gue test with the aim to prevent any compressive loading effects
on the joint. Ultimately, five fatigue test batches were considered,
as given in Table 1, with the aim of studying the effect of electro-
less Ni–P coatings on the fatigue and fretting fatigue behaviour of
both moderately and firmly clamped joints as well as the effect of
tightening torque on the fretting fatigue behaviour of the un-
coated joints.
For each batch of specimens, five fatigue testing sets were per-
formed at different levels of remote maximum alternating stress
(Smax). The applied maximum stress was varied in the range of
80–220 MPa in order to obtain fatigue results in both low and rel-
atively high cycle fatigue zones of the joint specimens. The high-
est maximum stress was carefully estimated such that the
bearing and shear stresses introduced around the hole of the mid-
dle plates remain well within the corresponding allowable values
of the Al 7075-T6 plate. Considering the stress concentration at
the edge of the hole, the selected range of the maximum stress
could cause the hole to be purely in elastic region and/or in elas-
tic–plastic region, depending on the maximum cyclic stress ap-
plied. The remote maximum alternating load was therefore
obtained to be between 6.35 and 17.46 kN. At each level of cyclic
load, a minimum of two fatigue tests were carried out for each
tested batch. The average values of the obtained fatigue lives
were then determined in order to obtain an S–N curve of best
fit for each batch. The total number of cycles to completely frac-
ture the middle plate was recorded as the fatigue life of the joint
specimen.
2.5. Fractographic inspections
Fracture surfaces of failed specimens as well as fretting dam-
ages were inspected by means of SEM techniques to detect fatigue
crack initiation sites. Both the uncoated and coated specimens af-
fected by fretting and/or stress concentration at the hole edge were
closely examined. The fractographic analysis was also used to de-
tect any delamination of the coating from the substrate under fati-
gue loading. The fractographic examinations were conducted by
employing a JEOL JSM-840A scanning electron microscope at a po-
tential of 20 kV.
Table 1
Fatigue test batches.
No. Description
1 Bolted joint without coating lightly clamped with T = 2 Nm
2 Bolted joint without coating moderately clamped with T = 5 Nm
3 Bolted joint without coating firmly clamped with T = 8 Nm
4 Bolted joint coated with Ni–P moderately clamped with T = 5 Nm
5 Bolted joint coated with Ni–P firmly clamped with T = 8 Nm
159
Al 7075-T6
substrate
Ni-P
film
Fig. 3. SEM image of a cross-section of a coated sample showing an even deposit of
approximately 40 lm in thickness.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Characteristics of EN coatings
Fig. 3 illustrates a cross-section view of the coating-substrate
system indicating the deposition of a uniform coating layer with
a thickness of approximately 40 lm. The SEM images showed that
there were no pores and cracks within the EN coatings and inter-
face. The EDS analysis results of the EN deposit is shown in
Fig. 4. The results indicated the presence of 11.9 wt.% phosphorous
and 88.1 wt.% nickel as average values at different positions of the
coating layer. Also, the hardness of the EN deposit was measured to
be 5.2 GPa which is in the range of 500–600 kg/mm2 reported in
the literature [22]. The friction coefficient between the contacting
aluminium plates significantly decreased from 0.35 to 0.19 after
the application of Ni–P coatings. This confirms that a low friction
coefficient of EN plating allows smooth movement between the
coated plates.
3.2. Tensile and hardness tests results
The tensile properties of Al 7075-T6 and Al 7075-T6 coated with
Ni–P are given in Table 2. The yield strength of the coating-sub-
strate system was found to be 545 MPa which is slightly (4.2%)
higher than that of the original Al 7075-T6. However, there was
no considerable difference in the ultimate strength of the coat-
ing-substrate system and the uncoated substrate. The EN deposit
also caused the elongation of the aluminium substrate to decrease
from 16.2% to 11.1%. The reduction in the elongation of the coat-
ing-substrate system was believed to be due to the lack of ductility
of Ni–P coatings. As a result, under tensile loading, particularly
after yielding, the Ni–P coating layer fractured in many places over
the tested area of the substrate. This resulted in substantial delam-
inations of the coating from the substrate under tensile loading.
Batch name
Uncoated clamped with T = 2 Nm
Uncoated clamped with T = 5 Nm
Uncoated clamped with T = 8 Nm
EN coated clamped with T = 5 Nm
EN coated clamped with T = 8 Nm
160 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167
Fig. 4. EDS spectrum of electroless Ni–P coatings.
Table 2
Tensile properties of the tested samples.
Sample name 0.2% Yield strength Sy (MPa)
Al 7075-T6 523
Al 7075-T6 coated with Ni–P 545
The hardness test results of Al 7075-T6 substrate before and
after coating revealed an approximately same hardness value of
180 HV indicating that hardness of the base material was not af-
fected by the condition of the deposition process (90 °C for 5 h).
3.3. Fatigue tests results
Fatigue life results of bolted joint specimens are presented
using S–N diagrams in the format of remote maximum alternating
stress (Smax) versus number of cycles to failure. Fig. 5 presents the
S–N curves of uncoated joint specimens clamped with three differ-
ent toques of T = 2, 5 and 8 Nm. The beneficial role of the high
clamping force to significantly prolong the fatigue life of the joint
can be clearly seen in the diagram. For instance, 8 Nm bolted joints
could show a fatigue life 26 times longer than 2 Nm joints at the
highest tested cyclic load. The presence of compressive stresses
around the hole especially at the critical edge of the hole, where
there is a high stress concentration, reduced the resultant stress
at the hole edge under cyclic tensile loadings. Therefore, the net ef-
fect of the damaging cyclic tensile stresses to cause fatigue crack
initiations and accelerate crack propagations was mitigated. The
more compressive stress as a result of the higher clamping force
was thus associated with bigger improvements in the fatigue life
particularly at high cyclic loads.
However, the joints clamped with tightening torques of 5 and
8 Nm were found to suffer from fretting and therefore experienced
less number of cycles when subjected to low cyclic loads. It was
also observed that the firmly clamped joints (T = 8 Nm) showed a
considerable reduction in the fatigue life compared to the moder-
ately clamped joints (T = 5 Nm) at maximum stress of 80 MPa, as
shown in Fig. 5.
The effect of EN coatings on the fatigue life of the aluminium
joints clamped with 5 and 8 Nm torques is displayed in Figs. 6
and 7, respectively. The obtained results revealed beneficial effect
of the EN deposit on the fatigue life of both moderately and firmly
bolted joints particularly at low cyclic loads. As the S–N curves
indicate, fatigue life of the coated joints showed neither reduction
nor improvement at high cyclic loads as well as slight improve-
ments at moderate loads compared with uncoated joints. More
importantly, EN coatings presented a very favourable role to im-
Ultimate strength Su (MPa) Elastic modulus E (GPa) Elongation 100ef (%)
582 76 16.2
588 79 11.1
prove the fatigue life of the joints at low cyclic loads where the alu-
minium joints were significantly influenced by fretting fatigue.
Uncoated bolted joints clamped with 5 and 8 Nm were found to
mitigate their fretting fatigue life up to 30–40% and 50–60% after
the application of the coating, as indicated in Figs. 6 and 7,
respectively.
Considering the fatigue response of coated joints at different
torques (Fig. 8), similar trends were found to those of the uncoated
ones. This means that the higher torque of 8 Nm could also in-
crease the fatigue life of the coated joints comparing with 5 Nm ex-
cept at low cyclic loads similar to what occurred in uncoated joints
(Fig. 5). At low cyclic loads, it was found that although 8 Nm joints
showed more improvement in their fretting fatigue life after coat-
ing, they experienced a less number of cycles in comparison with
5 Nm coated joints. This confirmed that the fretting fatigue was
much more detrimental in the firmly bolted joints such that it
caused much earlier failure comparing with moderately bolted
joints. Fatigue response of both coated and uncoated joints at dif-
ferent torques is shown in Fig. 9 for comparison. As a general trend,
firmly bolted joints after the application of EN coatings were found
to yield the highest fatigue lives compared with the less tightened
torque secimens.
4. Fractographic analysis and discussion
Fractographic examinations of the uncoated and coated speci-
mens clamped with different torques at both low and high cyclic
loads helped to better understand the fatigue and fretting fatigue
behaviour of Al 7075-T6 double-lap bolted joints. Fig. 10 shows
the fractured middle plate of the uncoated joints at different con-
ditions. The uncoated aluminium plate was substantially affected
by the wear between the contacting surfaces at very high cyclic
stress of Smax = 220 MPa, as indicated in Fig. 10a and b. Wear dam-
ages were found near the hole along the longitudinal direction at
the three tested tightening torques due to the gross sliding of the
plate surface under the high cyclic loading. In these cases, fatigue
cracks were initiated from the edge of the hole as a consequence
of the high stress concentration. Therefore, increasing the applied
tightening torque from 5 to 8 Nm could reduce the localised stress
 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167 161

Fig. 5. S–N curves for uncoated Al 7075-T6 bolted joint specimens clamped with different tightening torques, at R = 0.1.

Fig. 6. S–N curves for uncoated and coated Al 7075-T6 bolted joint specimens clamped with T = 5 Nm, at R = 0.1.

Fig. 7. S–N curves for uncoated and coated Al 7075-T6 bolted joint specimens clamped with T = 8 Nm, at R = 0.1.
162 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167

Fig. 8. S–N curves for EN coated Al 7075-T6 bolted joint specimens clamped with T = 5 and 8 Nm, at R = 0.1.

Fig. 9. S–N curves for uncoated and coated Al 7075-T6 bolted joint specimens clamped with T = 5 and 8 Nm, at R = 0.1.

concentration at the hole edge resulting in a significant improve-
ment of 420% in the fatigue life, as can be seen in Fig. 5.
When the applied cyclic load is decreased in magnitude, the
amplitude of oscillatory motion between the contacting surfaces
reduces correspondingly. As a result of a small-amplitude oscilla-
tory motion, fretting fatigue may potentially occur on the plates
in contact. Fig. 10c and d reveals fretting fatigue failure in the un-
coated specimens clamped with 5 and 8 Nm respectively failed at
low cyclic stress of Smax = 80 MPa. It is evident that the small rela-
tive displacements between the clamped aluminium plates sub-
jected to low cyclic load caused the fretting fatigue cracks to
initiate from the surface even far from the edge of the hole. In fact,
the fretting damages began with local adhesion between the mat-
ing surfaces and progressed when adhered particles were removed
from the surface. In these cases, the number of cycles required to
initiate fretting cracks on the surface was much less than the num-
ber of cycles required for initial cracks to nucleate at the hole edge
due to the stress concentration.
Experimental results and observations demonstrated that the
8 Nm clamped joints were more influenced by fretting fatigue
compared to 5 Nm joints particularly at moderate and low cyclic
loads. This can be clearly seen from the S–N curves shown in
Fig. 5 where the 8 Nm curve approaches the 5 Nm curve and finally
shows a shorter fatigue life at the lowest cyclic load. Moreover, the
fretting damage sites in the case of 8 Nm torque were found to
move further from the hole boundary to a region of heavy fretting
compared to 5 Nm (Fig. 10c and d). It can be assumed that the large
friction introduced between the contacting plates as a result of the
higher clamping force was responsible to intensify fretting fatigue
failure in the 8 Nm joints. It is thus understood that an increased
frictional force between the contacting plates due to a higher ap-
plied clamping force can significantly accelerate fretting fatigue
failure when a small-amplitude oscillatory motion is provided.
It should be also noted that the fractographic inspections
showed that all of the lightly bolted joint specimens (2 Nm) failed
from the hole edge due to the stress concentration without show-
ing any sign of fretting fatigue damages. It is therefore understood
that the low torque of 2 Nm was not sufficient enough to consider-
ably reduce the high stress concentration at the edge of the hole;
therefore, fatigue cracks were initiated from the hole edge and
then propagated before any fretting cracks could be nucleated on
the surface of aluminium plates.
 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167 163

Wear Wear

(a) Uncoated, T=5 Nm, (b) Uncoated, T=8 Nm,

Smax=220 MPa Smax=220 MPa

Fretting
Fretting

(c) Uncoated, T=5 Nm, (d) Uncoated, T=8 Nm,

Smax=80 MPa Smax=80 MPa

Fig. 10. Fractured middle plate of uncoated bolted joint specimens, clamped with 5 and 8 Nm failed at low and high cyclic loads.

(a) Coated, T=5 Nm, (b) Coated, T=8 Nm,

Smax=220 MPa Smax=220 MPa

(c) Coated, T=5 Nm, (d) Coated, T=8 Nm,

Smax=80 MPa Smax=80 MPa

Fig. 11. Fractured middle plate of coated bolted joint specimens, clamped with 5 and 8 Nm failed at low and high cyclic loads.

Regarding coated joint specimens, Fig. 11 shows the fractured the substantial wear damages observed on the uncoated plates
middle plate of the joints clamped with tightening torques of 5 (see Fig. 10a and b) were much alleviated by depositing EN coat-
and 8 Nm failed at low and high cyclic loads. At Smax = 220 MPa, ings onto the contacting aluminium plates. The beneficial role of
164 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167

A1 B1

Delaminated
coating layer

A2 B2

Nodular
Nodular defects
defects

Fig. 12. SEM images of a fatigue fractured surface; coated and clamped with T = 5 Nm failed after 20,226 cycles at Smax = 220 MPa.

the electroless nickel–phosphorous coatings, as a good wear resis-
tant coating material, can be clearly seen to protect the aluminium
plates from significant wear damages as a result of gross sliding
under high cyclic loadings. More importantly, EN coatings could
successfully prevent formation of fretting fatigue damages at the
joint interface even at the lowest cyclic stress of Smax = 80 MPa
where fretted regions were found in the uncoated joints. This
behaviour could be explained mainly by the increased hardness
as well as decreased friction provided by EN coatings on the con-
tacting aluminium plates under the applied clamping force and
cyclic loads. The hardness was largely increased from 180 HV to
5.2 GPa and the friction coefficient was reduced from 0.35 to
0.19. Therefore, in the absence of fretting, fatigue failure was
started from the edge of the hole, as shown in Fig. 11c and d.
Fatigue fracture surface of the coated specimens was further
examined using SEM analyses to inspect fatigue crack initiations
at the edge of the hole. The most important interest was to identify
if the fatigue cracks originated from the coatings, interface and/or
the aluminium substrate. Also, whether the coating layer has re-
mained well-adhered to the substrate, particularly at the edge of
the hole, or it may have been delaminated due to the cyclic load.
Fig. 12 shows the fracture surface of the coated specimen clamped
with T = 5 Nm and failed at high maximum stress of 220 MPa. As
can be seen, the EN deposit was cracked and therefore fractured
at some points of the hole edge (B1) under the high alternating
load. Additionally, significant delaminations between the coating
layer and aluminium substrate were observed (A1). Fatigue cracks
were found to nucleate at the interface on the outer surface of the
aluminium substrate mostly due to the presence of some nodular
defects, as indicated in Fig. 12A2 and B2.
Fatigue failure mechanism in the case of the higher tightening
torque (T = 8 Nm) at high maximum stress was found to be very
similar to that of T = 5 Nm, as shown in Fig. 13. The coating layer
experienced considerable delaminations as well as fracture at the
hole edge, but not as severely as 5 Nm joints. Fatigue cracks were
observed to be associated with nodular defects located on the out-
er surface of the substrate, as shown in Fig. 13A2. In this case, the
higher torque may delay fatigue crack initiations at the edge of the
 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167
Delaminated
region
A1
EN
coating
Fig. 13. SEM images of a fatigue fractured surface; coated and clamped with T = 8 Nm failed after 92,961 cycles at Smax = 220 MPa.
hole as a result of introducing more compressive stress compared
to 5 Nm joints. Less severe fracture and delaminations were also
understood to be because of lower resultant tensile stresses at
the hole edge of the firmly bolted joints.
When the coated joint specimens were subjected to moderate
and low cyclic stresses the coating layer was found to be well-ad-
hered to the aluminium substrate without revealing any consider-
able delaminations at the critical edge of the hole. Fracture surface
of the coated specimens clamped with 5 and 8 Nm failed at low
cyclic stress of Smax = 80 MPa is shown in Figs. 14 and 15, respec-
tively. In these cases, the SEM observations on the lateral wall of
the hole edge (source of crack initiations) showed the integrity of
the coating. In both torques, fatigue crack initiations were found
at the outer surface of the aluminium substrate along the hole edge
which were associated with nodular defects. Such nodular defects
were presumed to be formed during the deposition process due to
the presence of very small pores on the aluminium hole surface.
5. Conclusions
Aluminium alloy 7075-T6 was studied in double-lap bolted
joints subjected to fatigue loads. The joints were found to suffer
from fretting fatigue especially at high clamping forces and low
alternating loads. However, coating the aluminium plates with a
40 lm-thick electroless Ni–P deposit with a high phosphorous
content of approximately 12 wt.% could favourably give rise to a
significant improvement in the fatigue life of the joints affected
by fretting fatigue. The concluding remarks are summarised below:
 Fatigue damage mechanism in the uncoated Al 7075-T6 double-
lap bolted joints was found to be strongly dependent on the
amount of applied tightening torque and maximum alternating
load. At high cyclic loads, the joints experienced a fatigue failure
165
A2
with crack initiations from the edge of the hole because of the
high stress concentration; therefore, increasing the torque
could improve the fatigue life of the joint very significantly as
a result of more compressive stresses around the hole. However,
at low cyclic loads, small-amplitude oscillatory displacements
between the aluminium plates caused both moderately and
firmly bolted joints (clamped with T = 5 and 8 Nm) to suffer
from fretting fatigue with crack initiations on the contacting
surface away from the hole. Fretting was more pronounced in
the firmly bolted joints (8 Nm) as a result of the higher friction
introduced between the contacting plates.
 As the most important finding, electroless Ni–P coatings suc-
cessfully protected Al 7075-T6 in double-lap bolted joints
against fretting fatigue even at low fatigue loads. Moderately
and firmly bolted joints were found to improve their fretting
fatigue life by approximately 30–40% and 50–60% respectively
after the application of EN coatings. Higher hardness, good wear
resistance and lower friction coefficient offered by EN coatings
to the aluminium plates resulted in fretting fatigue life
improvements of the joint.
 In the coated bolted joints, fatigue crack origins were found at
the outer surface of the aluminium substrate along the hole
edge associated with nodular defects whose deleterious effect
was more pronounced at high fatigue loads. The EN deposit pre-
sented a very good adhesion to the substrate at low and moder-
ate loads. However, substantial delaminations and fracture of
the coating layer occurred at high fatigue loads. Increasing the
tightening torque from 5 to 8 Nm resulted in less severe frac-
ture and delaminations mainly because of lower resultant dam-
aging tensile stresses present at the edge of the hole.
 This work showed that electroless Ni–P coatings deposited onto
the aluminium 7075-T6 double-lap bolted plates offer the high-
est fatigue life to the joint when it is firmly clamped.
166 R.H. Oskouei, R.N. Ibrahim / International Journal of Fatigue 44 (2012) 157–167

A1 EN A2
coating

A3

Nodular
defect

Fig. 14. SEM images of a fatigue fractured surface; coated and clamped with T = 5 Nm failed after 1,697,916 cycles at Smax = 80 MPa.

A1 A2

Nodular
defect

Al 7075-T6
EN substrate
coating

Fig. 15. SEM images of a fatigue fractured surface; coated and clamped with T = 8 Nm failed after 1,274,509 cycles at Smax = 80 MPa.

Acknowledgements References

The authors would like to acknowledge the Monash Centre for
Electron Microscopy (MCEM) for providing access to scanning elec-
tron microscopy facilities in order to perform SEM and EDS analy-
ses. The authors also wish to acknowledge support received from
the Monash University Postgraduate Publications Award scheme.
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