Process Redesign for Chain Weight Reduction

Abstract

The process of Drive Chain manufacturing is as important as its analyses. In today’s era, it is an intelligent and profit making job to produce an optimum product. Currently, chains production is done having 1.5mm link plate thickness and it will be commendable job if we are able to produce such a chain, which have lesser link plate thickness but have equal or greater strength as the existing one. For the same a chain has to pass tensile test, acid test, endurance test and fatigue test Machines on which a specimen is mounted and testing are available there in the company. These testing are carried out at hourly, daily or monthly rates depending upon the type of test. Changes have to be done in production procedure like heat treatment and other mechanical surface treatment and in design if possible. If it is thought to change the dimension of product, then practically we have to check the present heat treatment parameters for its hardness at variable sheet thickness Use of computer software’s can help us a lot in the field of optimization. Models for Ultimate tensile testing, Endurance Testing, and Fatigue Analysis can now days are successfully analyzed on a computer. Even our new design change in existing product can also be analyzed before actual production. Technological advances in steels heat treatments, structure and the microstructure of most steels are well known by now, as well as the effects of the heat treatments in changing their mechanical properties, which will also be help full in increasing the strength of low carbon steels.