To meet the stringent corrosion performance required by the naval aerospace operational environment, permanently installed fasteners need to be treated with a corrosion-inhibiting, “wet” sealant prior to their installation This assembly method, known as “wet installation”, has been used for over 100 years and is proven to control corrosion on naval aircraft. In aircraft production the process requires specialized fluid dispensing fastener systems for coating the rivets prior to installation. It is expensive, time consuming, subject to technician omission, and requires the use of an environmentally hazardous sealants attributing to added material handling and disposal costs.  In the fleet, removal and replacement of “wet installed” fasteners is also labor intensive and time consuming, leading to increased down time for aircraft repairs. NAVAIR has evaluated alternatives to traditional wet installed fasteners under the DLA Aircraft Reliability Program and NAVAIR AERMIP project. They have been successfully tested for corrosion performance in accelerated testing, beach exposure, and actual field application. The new pre-coated fasteners have the shown the benefits of being as easy to apply as dry fasteners, and deliver as good or superior corrosion performance compared to the present wet installation, with a minimal impact to cost. The new pre-coated fasteners can be used by any aircraft manufacturer since they do not require the use of special guns or equipment, allowing any manufacture to provide the corrosion protection needed for naval aircraft without impacting their operations. 

This presentation will report on the approach defining the test parameters and candidate coatings, results of laboratory accelerated corrosion exposure testing,  beach exposure status, test result rating criteria, field testing, corrosion fatigue tests, thermal cycle/flexure tests, leak testing, specification development, and manufacturing/logistics considerations. The presentation will also focus on the benefits to the warfighter to combat corrosion, reduction in Acquisition and O&S costs, and optimizing DoD resource use.