CHAPTER -3: DESIGN FOR ASSEMBLY

Contents:
3.1) Review of assembly processes
3.2) Design for welding
3.3) Design for brazing and soldering
3.4) Design for adhesive bonding
3.5) Design for joining of polymers
3.6) Design for heat treatment
3.7) Case studies

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3.1) Review of Assembly Processes

Why Design for Assembly?

DFA: is an exercise to facilitate ease of assembly when
manufacturing a component with multiple parts.
 Reduction in the total number of parts - reducing the total cost
of parts in the assembly and assembly operation.
 DFA should ideally be considered at stages of: material, shape
and processes selection

DFA is the method of design of the product for ease of assembly

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Assembly Processes and Guidelines

 The assembly processes involve the proper placement and

appropriate integration of more than one parts to manufacture
a final component.

 The assembly processes can be broadly classified into three

classes: Adhesives, Fasteners and Welding

 These classes can be further divided into several sub-classes.

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Fasteners
Rivets
 The major virtue of rivets is the strength and performance of the
joints.
 The riveted joints are simple to design, easy to assemble and
economical.
Following are some design rules to be followed for riveted joints.
1. Provide sufficient clearance around rivet locations to allow room
for a standard riveting gun and avoid marring or damaging of the
workpiece contact surface with the rivets

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2. When riveting thick materials, buckling of rivets can be avoided
by counter boring the rivet holes
3. Rivet holes should not be too close or too far from the edges of
the parts being joined
4. Rivets should be of appropriate length to avoid incorrect
clinching

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5. When joining pieces of different thickness, it is preferable to
upset the rivet against the thicker and stronger material
6. When joining soft or fragile materials with rivets, it is desirable
to use metal washers to distribute the force of upsetting and
prevent damage to the parts

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Screw Fasteners
 Threaded fasteners include screws, bolts, and machine screws
and are widely used to secure parts together.
Some of the significant design guidelines are listed below when
threaded fasteners are in use for an assembly.
1. When strong holding force is not required, screw fasteners may
be used to reduce the assembly cost.
2. Various types of screw heads are available [Figure (a)].
Hexagonal head and cross-recess types are preferred as these are
less susceptible to driver slippage and marred surfaces.

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3. Screw and washer assemblies are desirable as they reduce
assembly cost
4. Self-tapping screws are preferable to conventional screws
because they eliminate the need for tapping operations on the
parts to be assembled
5. Use spring nuts whenever torque requirement for the intended
application is not significant.

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Gasket and Seals
 Gaskets are used when a seal is required in an assembly of rigid
parts without using properly prepared mating surfaces.
 Gaskets are made of lather, rubber or even of metals such as
copper and drastically reduce the manufacturing cost.

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 Component Elimination
Example: Rollbar Redesign
‘..If more than 1/3 of the components in a product are
fasteners, the assembly logic should be questioned.’

 24 Parts  2 Parts
 8 different parts  2 Manufacturing processes
 multiple mfg. & assembly  one assembly step
processes necessary
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 Fastener Cost

• Select the screwing

most
inexpensive
riveting
fastening
method
required plastic bending

snap fit

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General Design Principles

Self-fastening features

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 General Design Principles

Symmetry eliminates reorientation

Asymmetric Part Symmetry of a part

makes assembly easier

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General Design Principles
Top-Down Assembly

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Mistake Proofing Issues

72 Wiring Harness
Part Numbers
CDC - Rocky Mount,
NC

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 Quantitative criteria
• Handling Time: based on assembly process and
complexity of parts
– How many hands are required?
– Is any grasping assistance needed?
– What is the effect of part symmetry on assembly?
– Is the part easy to align/position?

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 Handling Difficulty

• Size
• Thickness
• Weight
• Fragility
• Flexibility
• Slipperiness
• Stickiness
• Necessity for using 1) two hands, 2) optical
magnification, or 3) mechanical assistance

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 Handling Difficulty

size slipperiness

sharpness flexibility

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Eliminate Tangling/Nesting

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 Insertion Issues
• Provide self-aligning & self locating parts

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 Insertion Issues
• Ensure parts do not need to be held in
position

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 Insertion Issues
• Parts are easy to insert.
• Provide adequate access & visibility

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 Insertion Issues
• Provide adequate access and visibility

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 Eliminate Secondary Operations
• Re-orientation (assemble in Z axis)
• Screwing, drilling, twisting, riveting,
bending, crimping.

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 Eliminate Secondary Operations

• Welding, soldering, gluing.

• Painting, lubricating, applying liquid or gas.
• Testing, measuring, adjusting.

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3.2) Design for Welding
Objective:
(a) how a weld joint should be designed to improve the joint
performance, and
(b) what are the possible welding defects and remedies

Welding is a process in which material of the similar type or class

are brought together and joined through the formation of primary
(and, occasionally, secondary) chemical bonds under the combined
action of heat and pressure.
.

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Types of Welds and Weld Joints
There are eight basic types of welds (Figure below), which are
commonly used to prepare welded joints.

Figure: Schematic outlines of five basic types of weld joints

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Figure: Schematic outlines of eight basic types of welds
Design Recommendations for Economical and Efficient Welded
Fabrication
1. Welded assemblies should be made up of as few parts as
possible. Reduction in the number of joints leads to less
handling, processing time, equipment, service inspection,
testing, less distortion etc.
2. Placement of weld joints should facilitate easy access of the
welding nozzle. This is particularly important for consumable
electrode fusion arc welding processes.
3. Whenever possible, design should be such that the joint is
horizontal during welding with the electrode pointing
downward.

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 Parts should fit-up properly. This is essential not only for welding
speed but also for minimizing distortion of the finished weldment.

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 In some cases, curved edge parts can be used to provide the
equivalent of a grooved edge for the weld joints

Figure :Joints that have natural grooves and thus need little or no
edge preparation

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 If machining after welding is required, welds should be placed
away from the material to be machined to avoid machining near
to the weld joints.
 Back-up strip can be included as an integral part of the
component to be welded to reduce the effort related to holding
the back strip .

Figure (a) Keep the weld metal outside the portion of the weldment, (b) Integral
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backup strip
 Cast and forged parts should be designed so that the wall
thickness of both these parts to be joined is equal at the joint
interface to minimize weld joint distortion

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Design Recommendations for Weld Strength
For efficient and economical welding, minimize the stress that the
joint must carry.
Design the weld joint in such a fashion that it stays away from the
stressed area or the part itself bears the load instead of the weld
joints

Figure: Joint design for minimize stress concentration field

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Residual Stress and Distortion in Welding
 Residual stresses are referred to as internal stresses (due to
non-uniform heating and cooling) that would exist in a body
after the removal of all external loads
 Distortion refers to the permanent (plastic) strain that would be
exhibited in terms of dimensional change after the welding is
over.

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Defects in Welding

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Figure: Schematic sketch of various fusion welding defects
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Post-weld Inspection
 Visual Inspection
 Liquid Penetrant based Inspection

Figure: (1) Crack, (2) Penetrant applied, (3) Developer applied,

(4) Crack Visible
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Magnetic Particle inspection

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Radiographic Testing

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Ultrasonic Inspection

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