A detailed analysis of coldworking to evaluate the extent and movement of elasto-plastic front, considering both elastic strains and strain hardening effects, is developed. The elasto-plastic solution for a plate specimen with a hole subjected to internal pressure is developed using modified Nadai's auxiliary variable and von Mises yield criterion. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of specimen width on pressure requirement for a given extent of elasto-plastic boundary. It is observed that for a specified elasto-plastic boundary the displacement at the edge of the hole varies linearly with the pressure. It is also observed that with increase in strain hardening, the pressure required is higher and the corresponding displacement at the edge of the hole is smaller in magnitude. Residual stresses decrease with increase in strain hardening. The method evolved here correlates the necessary pressure with the radial expansion using a mandrel to achieve the same amount of coldworking. Subscripts c elasto-plastic boundary p plastic s secant y yield i internal r radial 0 tangential Superscripts e elastic p plastic r residual.