WEIGHT OPTIMIZATION OF OUTER LINK PLATE OF ROLLER CHAIN
Keywords:
EN-19, EN-24, FEA; Heating and Soaking time; tensile test; Topological approach; UTMAbstract
An objective of this paper is to optimize the weight of outer link plate of a chain by topological approach and
its strength evaluation by various heat treatments. Roller chains operate under various forces resulting into failure of
chain link plate and costly production downtime. Therefore productivity is highly dependent on performance of chains.
As per field work study, most of time chain is under tension which causes elastic and plastic deformations and results
into elongation. Main causes of these failures are improper material selection, improper design, manufacturing process
errors and uncertainties in heat treatments. Since lot of work has been done in increasing the life of chain, this work
focuses into reducing weight and simultaneously increasing the breaking load. For this purpose FEA has been used to
weight optimization in topological approach and experimental validation has been carried out. As stress concentration
near to pinholes in chain link plate is higher, breaking takes place at location of minimum cross section area. In chain
link plate most dimensions are parametrically defined, however the only dimension i.e. radius between interconnecting
pinholes is left to manufacturer’s convenience. Thus, we access an impact of the radius on stress generated in system and
to see the possibility of material saving and efficiency increment. This study will help in reducing failure modes
generated during manufacturing process of chain link plate in turn help in reducing downtime and maintenance cost
