This paper aims to explore the effects of the loading distance of the expansion rod and the friction coefficient between two pipes on the expansion quality between the threaded sleeve and the guide pipe in the support frame of nuclear fuel assembly.Based on the established equal scale numerical model of the threaded sleeve and guide pipe and the designed two-factor four-level orthogonal test,the finite element analysis method is used to numerically analyze different test combinations under given conditions.The test results show that the loading distance of the expansion rod and the friction coefficient between two pipes have a significant influence on the quality of the expansion joint.In order to improve the optimization efficiency,combined with Kriging model and particle swarm optimization algorithm,with the maximum thinning rate ≤ 10%as the constraint,the optimal solution is carried out within the given loading distance of expansion rod and the friction coefficient between two pipes,and the obtained loading distance of expansion rod is 28.42 mm and the friction coefficient is 0.14.The research in this paper provides a theoretical reference for improving the quality of expansion joint between the threaded sleeve and the guide pipe and improving the expansion joint process.