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Up until the last two decades, aluminum in airplanes and steel in automobiles were the primary materials used to produce these two complex machines. These metal-to-metal assemblies, and specifically the same-type metal-to-metal assemblies, have resulted in distinct manufacturing process advantages over decades of production. However, advances in material types have driven manufacturing to adapt and align the fabrication and assembly processes to continue to facilitate a quality product that is reliable, can be manufactured at a price point that is affordable and be manufactured in quantities that can be widely distributed. Dissimilar metal and composite material assemblies are now requiring highly complex manufacturing processes. Innovations in Automotive and Aerospace Assembly addresses how these new, disruptive materials usage are changing the manufacturing and production processes for the transportation industries.

In order to support the T-38 Wing Life Improvement program, the Materials and Process Product Support group was requested to perform a metallurgical examination of a test article containing several cold expanded holes drilled in an aluminum/aluminum and an aluminum/steel assembly. The assembly, complete with a wing skin which were composed of a trunnion or landing ear rib, and a tip rib, was designed to represent a miniature T-38 wing and was used to determine the feasibility of cold expanding or cold working of holes drilled in T-38 wings using automated machinery incorporating a split mandrel process per Process Specification FH-114.