Analysis of Micro-Machining Process for External Thread of Micro Round Tube

This study aims to analyze the stainless steel micro round tube external threading process for the influence of different outer threading pitches (0.25 mm, 0.4 mm) and outer diameters (Ø1.9, Ø1.94, Ø2). This study also analyzes the effects of different friction factors (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9) and different tube thicknesses (0.4, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55, and 0.6 mm) on the threading process. This study considers size effect to use corrected material parameters for the microtube to conduct the finite element analysis by DEFORM-3D software. The goal is to understand stainless steel (SUS304) micro round tube threading and the difference by using macro material parameter analysis. The historic forming data from the simulation and experiment of threading processing are presented, and the corresponding stress/strain distribution and thread shape are also calculated. The experiment results are compared to the simulation results to verify the reliability of this analysis method. The result shows that the torque/stress/strain obtained by the modified model is always lower than by Swift’s model. It means that the size effect can be considered to apply on the forming process and provided proper torque to form the external thread of the micro round tube, e.g., the maximum torque of the round die for M2 × 0.25 occurs over the fourth stroke. For the influence of the outer diameter of the micro round tube, the larger diameter induces the larger maximum torque on the round die for M2 × 0.4, but for the smaller pitch of M2 × 0.25, the larger maximum torque is not influenced by the diameter of the tube. When the pitch of the round die is increased, the torque, stress and strain are also increased relatively. As the friction factor and torque between the round die and tube increase, the stress and strain become lower. Changing the tube thickness will not significantly change the torque, the stress, and the strain. These results guide the simulation and experiment of optimized micro round tube threading development and design to reduce cost and increase product quality.

Technological support of thread quality with single methods

The problems in technological support of external and internal thread are considered. There are presented different methods for external and internal thread formation. Particular attention is paid to the methods of internal thread deformation. There are shown investigation results on external thread electro-machining.

Elastic-plastic fracture analysis of external thread of drive shaft shell of a positive displacement motor

For a positive displacement motor (PDM), the threaded joint connecting drive shaft shell (DSS) and universal shaft shell that is close to the bit is inclined to fracture. In this paper, elastic-plastic fracture performance of the threaded connection is simulated under both make-up torque and bending moment. Firstly, an FE model, which includes a cracked external thread of the DSS and an engaging internal thread of the universal shaft shell, is established and validated. Secondly, influences of both plastic deformation and the helix angle on fracture properties of the cracked thread are evaluated quantitatively. Meanwhile interactions between two cracks are also discussed. Finally, under the two kinds of loading conditions, i.e. loaded by pre-load only and loaded by both pre-load and bending moment, explicit relationships between characteristic J-integrals and the crack depth are obtained for the DSS.