Abstract: A method of head trimming a fastener blank in a cold-forging process comprises placing a fastener blank into a bore of a punch having an end face; supporting an underside of a head portion of the fastener blank with the punch end face; moving a die having an internal passage and a trim plate with a cutting edge toward the fastener blank; shearing the head of the fastener blank with the cutting edge of the trim plate; stopping movement of the die at an extended trim position where the cutting edge lies beyond an underside of the head portion of the fastener blank; ejecting the fastener blank from the punch bore and through the die passage to an opposite side of the die; retracting the die; and removing a scrap ring from around the punch by a stripper sleeve.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for angularly extruding a workpiece through a die to form blanks and articles having refined grain structure. The die is also used to form the workpiece to a desired shape, such as a cylinder. The angular extrusion method can be used in place of some heat treatments, thereby lowering the cost and time for manufacturing articles. The method is compatible with materials with high strength-to-weight ratios such as aluminum, titanium, and alloys thereof. The blanks can be used to form articles having favorable mechanical properties such as strength, toughness, formability, and resistance to fatigue, corrosion, and thermal stresses.

Abstract: A simplified method for producing internally threaded blind fasteners includes cold forming of the thin deformable walls of the fastener into bowed out sections by reverse extrusion to form deep grooves, and subsequent further cold forming to increase the diameter of this thin walled portion of the fastener to form it into bowed out sections. Three or more or even five or more sections may be formed, to increase the “pull-out” resistance by increasing the “footprint” of the deformed sections of the blind fastener.

Abstract: Disclosed is a self plugging blind rivet for securing together apertured members, the rivet comprising a tubular shell having a tail end face at one end and a preformed radially enlarged bead at the other end, and a stem that extends through the shell and has a stem head adjacent the tail end face of the shell and a breakneck located away from the stem head, in which the region of the stem shank on the stem head side of the breakneck has a plurality of depressions formed therein extending to the breakneck, the corresponding region of the shell substantially filling the depressions in a region adjacent the stem head and progressively less towards the breakneck whereby, in use and under axial compression loading of the shell, the shell preferentially buckles in the region adjacent the member remote from the preformed head to form a blind head in contact with the member so as to clamp together the apertured members.

Abstract: A method of forming a tubular member with longitudinal slots along part of its wall, comprising the steps of: firstly, forming longitudinal zones of weakness along part of the wall of the tubular member, and secondly, expanding the said part of the tubular member radially to cause fracture of the wall of the member along the longitudinal zones, thereby to form longitudinal slots.

Abstract: The present invention comprises aluminum solid rivets and methods of manufacturing aluminum solid rivets for aircraft and other demanding applications to provide rivets with high strength and excellent driveabiltity while improving the rivets resistance to fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. In accordance with the method, an aluminum rivet blank approximately the same diameter as the head of the finished rivet is used. This rivet blank is forced into a die to extrude the tapered region and the shank of the finished rivet. The fabrication process provides more uniform cold working at the junction of the shank and the tapered region of the rivet, and better orients the flow lines in this region. The process also can provide a superior surface finish, and may be suitable for use in wet wing fabrication without further processing for improved surface finish. Alternate embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: In a first embodiment, a method for forming a hardened fastener having a hardened fastener head. Alloys made of cobalt, nickel, chromium, and molybdenum have very high hardnesses while maintaining ductility. Metals conforming to the chemistry of AMS 5844 and AMS 5842 are disclosed as the preferred materials. These hardnesses are also maintained at high temperatures. In order to form a head upon such materials, a fastener blank is first initially hardened by cold reduction twenty to thirty percent (20%-30%). A fastener head is then formed in the fastener blank by additional cold forging. The remaining shank portion of the fastener blank is cold worked in a third process with the entire three-part cold forging process cold reducing the material forty-eight to fifty percent (48%-50%). Additional hardness may be obtained by heating the material in a temperature range between ca. 1200.degree. F. and 1300.degree. F.