• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.1-5
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• 2001

One of the major advantages of using engineering plastics is ease of part assembly through a locking mechanism known as a snap fit. The typical snap fit involves a short cantilever beam with a projection at the free end. which slides over a one way ramp on the mating part to lock in place. The tightness of the mechanism is determined by the lateral interference of the two sliding members If too small they become loose and can't hold together. while if too large. excessive force can be generated. causing failure of the cantilever beam during the assembly operation. Therefore. the accurate determination of the force-deflection relationship for cantilever beams is a key element in snap fit design. And also. the process of injection molding should be considered when cantilever beam is designed. But it is not easy for novice designers to design them appropriately because of the profound knowledge related to injection molding. In this paper. an intelligent design program has been developed and proposed to improve a conventional empirical design method.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.378-385
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• 2017

This study investigated the design of a snap fit, which is widely used for fastening plastic parts. We analyzed the assembly mechanism of a lock snapfit, measured the assembly force and separation force based on the design of experiments, and derived a regression equation through an analysis of variance. The response surface methodology was also used. Polybutylene terephthalate was used to fabricate specimens, and the assembly force and separation force were measured using a micro-tensile tester. The length, width, thickness, and interference were considered as factors. A second-order regression model was used to derive the regression equation. The assembly force decreased with increasing length and width, but it increased with increasing thickness and interference. The finite element method was used to analyze the assembly mechanics. The width decreased the assembly force by increasing the ductility. The influences of the factors for low assembly force and high release force were shown to be opposite to each other. It was necessary to design a structure that minimized the assembly force while maintaining an appropriate level of separation force.