Orbitform Engineers Take on New Challenges
Posted on 06/26/2017 | by The Orbitform Blog Team
Carbide peen. 60 Rc hardness ASTM 52100 bearing steel. Automotive OEM high performance engine component. Special pressure pad. Process monitoring.
The words and phrases above could cause some companies to walk away, or to wilt under the pressure, when used in conjunction with the product engineering and process development of a new automotive engine component. The Orbitform orbital forming engineers and Orbitform lab technicians eat the challenges associated with these special materials, demanding performance specifications, and time constraints for lunch!
We had to prove it when an automotive OEM asked Orbitform for help developing the assembly process of a newly designed engine component. The assembly process involved the orbital riveting of a very hard pin made of ASTM 52100 bearing steel (60 Rc). The development project included the design of a special part holding fixture, a unique pressure pad to push the components down before orbital forming, the use of a carbine orbital forming peen to deform the bearing steel pin, and the requirement to prevent the pin from cracking during the riveting process while still allowing the pin to rotate after the process was complete.
An Orbiform model B-500 orbital forming machine was used to generate the pneumatic force while a HS-500 orbital forming head was selected to secure and present the angled carbide peen to the pin. Several tests were run with different advance rates, varied rotational speeds, modified forming forces, different forming depths, and a variety of dwell times while the peen was in contact with the pin.
The Orbitform team was able to develop the process to swell the diameter of the pin the appropriate distance while avoiding cracks in the formed pin head and also allowing the pin to freely rotate after the riveting process finished. It was a successful lab project that we hope leads to a successful engine performance improvement for our customer.