Design and characterization of an assembly to obtain a linkage pivot by crimping process

Laboratoire de Génie de Production Mécanique et Matériaux, National Engineering School of Sfax, University of Sfax, B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia

^⋆ Corresponding author: krichenabdelkader@yahoo.fr

Received: 26 June 2013
Accepted: 11 December 2013

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to design and test a linkage pivot assembled by metal forming process. The assembly is obtained by crimping a tubular component onto a cylindrical grooved component using an experimental instrumented device. The quality of the linkage pivot is evaluated by a pullout test which measures the force required to break or dismantle the assembly. The study is focused on analysing the effect of the main process parameter (i.e. the crimping depth) and geometrical parameters (i.e. the tubular component thickness and the groove radius). For one set of geometrical parameters, an appropriate crimping depth leading to the maximum assembly strength and assembly stiffness is determined. The study of the geometrical parameters shows that the tubular component thickness and the groove radius do not affect much the assembly strength. However, the tubular component thickness affects considerably the forming load, the assembly stiffness and the failure mode. According to the obtained results, one set of parameters that meets industrial requirements is selected to design the linkage pivot.