Optimization of Mechanical Crimping in The Termina
Optimization of Mechanical Crimping in The Termina
Optimization of Mechanical Crimping in The Termina
Research Article
Optimization of Mechanical Crimping in the Terminal Crimping
Process Using a Response Surface Methodology
Copyright © 2022 Kaona Jongwuttanaruk and Chalermsak Thavornwat. This is an open access article distributed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original work is properly cited.
This research aims to optimize the tensile mechanical properties in the terminal crimping process in the terminal 064 series using
central composite designs (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) on pull force using the Minitab 18 Program. Pull force
testing is the mechanical property of the indicator in the crimping process. Three independent variables of the crimp dimensions
were studied, including crimp height, crimp depth, and crimp width. The optimum crimp dimensions to sustain a maximum
impact pull force of 13.60 Kgf were a crimp height of 1.25 mm, crimp depth of 2.36 mm, and crimp width of 1.48 mm for a
compaction ratio of 18.63%. The tolerance on the crimp height of 0.05 mm maintained the compaction ratio within the SAE/
USCAR-21 Revision 4 standard compaction range of 15 to 20%. This specification requires three consecutive crimp heights to pass
electrical and mechanical tests. Using samples built to this compaction range provides the best opportunity to pass such tests
whilst also addressing the problem of loose wire strands for a pull force of more than 8 Kgf. Finally, an optimization analysis is
carried out to select the finest conditions for the process.
goods, medical devices, aerospace equipment, defence In the process of assembling a wire harness, testing the
hardware, and automotive components. The shapes and suitability of a crimped terminal is crucial. If the terminal is
sizes of the connectors are thus designed based on the re- not properly attached to the end of the wire, it can cause the
quirements of the device or machine [6]. wire (and eventually the entire wire harness) to fail. Most
Terminals are an essential component of wire harnesses, manufacturers use pull testing to assess crimped connections
terminating a conductor in a specific way to secure and and ensure that terminals are properly attached, as shown in
safeguard the electromagnetic connection. Terminals for Figure 2.
wire harnesses are generally made of metals or alloys and Pull testing measures the amount of pull force required
may be combined with other materials such as silicon and to separate a crimped terminal from a wire. An amount of
carbon. Terminals come in a range of different designs, sizes, force should be applied more than 8 Kgf to avoid the chance
and shapes. Depending on the type of connection and wire of product failure. To perform a pull test, one end of the wire
harness, terminals may be shaped into hooks, spades, rings, is fed into the gripping attachment, while the other end is
quick-disconnects, butts, bullets, and flags. Each wire har- secured to a fixed point. The tester then pulls the wire at a
ness application is unique and designed for a specific op- gradual pace, increasing the force until the wire breaks or the
eration with its own set of constraints and grouping of terminal is removed. The speed at which the wire is pulled
signals. Choosing the right connector and terminal for an depends on the wire, terminal, and application standards.
operation is crucial to the overall performance of the wire For example, USCAR-21 specifies that the wire should be
harness [7]. pulled at a rate of 50 to 250 mm per minute. When per-
Terminal section measurement and analysis using image forming the pull test, the tester records the amount of force
processing have been widely applied to harness quality to remove the terminal. By pulling the wire at a constant rate,
detection, but standard approaches are not satisfactory for the tester can pinpoint the peak force needed to remove the
automatic recognition of the terminal contour. Image seg- terminal from the wire.
mentation technology has now advanced to enable calcu- A crimped connection is considered serviceable if the
lation of the terminal contour [8] in a nondestructive way, terminal is removed at a force acceptable for the intended
with the development of a system for the automatic de- application. The acceptance criterium varies depending on
tection of quality and reporting of output [9]. Image pro- the terminal and the size of the wire. Less force is stipulated
cessing is unsatisfactory for automatic detection of crimp to pull a terminal from a thin wire than a thicker one. For
contour quality but then state a system has been developed example, according to UL standard 486A, it should take 1.5
to do just that. pounds of force to pull a terminal from a 30 AWG wire,
Terminal conductor crimp size consists of crimp height while it takes 70 pounds of force to pull a terminal from a 12
(X), crimp depth (Y), and crimp width (Z) measured from AWG wire.
the top and side surfaces of the crimp formation to the base Pull-force testing enables manufacturers to properly
radial surface as shown in Figure 1 (extrusion points are not calibrate the crimping tool by providing data on the strength
shown in this configuration). Measuring crimp size in this of the connection and any damage that may have occurred in
fashion is a quick, nondestructive method to help verify the crimping process [12].
correct metallurgical compression of a terminal around the In the current study, an analysis response surface design
wire’s conductor and as such is an excellent approach for was used to model curvature in pull-force data to identify
process control. Crimp size specification is typically set to crimp settings that optimized pull-force response [13]. As is
balance the electrical and mechanical performance over the typical for response surface design, a factorial or fractional
complete range of wire strands, coatings, terminal mate- factorial experiment was performed to identify the most
rials, and plating. While it is possible to optimize the crimp important factors in the crimp process for eliminating de-
height for individual wire strands and terminal plating, fects and improving the quality of the crimp process.
only one specification for crimp size is normally created
[10]. 2. Literature Review
Once a good crimp is established and proven using other
methods, measurement of the total crimp height for the The theory and practice of response surface methodology
specific terminal, wire, and tooling combination offers a (RSM) are studied and reflected in many published studies.
useful reference value. Subsequent crimps can be measured Zaidon et al. [14] used RSMs to optimize processing vari-
and compared to the reference value to determine if the ables for high polymer loads in compressed wood. The RSM
crimp was properly set. The crimp height measurement was used to optimize processing variables to achieve high
identifies tooling wear, setup mistakes, or press inconsis- polymer loading in compressed sesenduk wood (Endo-
tency and has the advantage of being nondestructive, which spermum diadenum). In this study, RSM and three process
is suitable for spot testing a production run without any variables, namely, the phenol-formaldehyde concentration
scrapping of materials. However, crimp height measurement (PC), precuring time (PCT), and compression ratio (CR) of
is time-consuming and is not easily automated without the the central composite design (CCD), were used to optimize
use of expensive camera-based systems. Further, the per- the loading of these variables in the polymer. Through this
formance of the measurement requires a sufficient level of design, a secondary polymer loading model was obtained.
operator skill to obtain consistent results, so training is The experimental value was in good agreement with the
required to achieve consistency [11]. predicted value, the model was highly significant, and the
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering 3
the maximum value of the curve; that is, it depends signif- 3. Materials and Methods
icantly on the aspect ratio and the fibre content. Kumar et al.
[18] used the RSM to analyze the freshness and hardening The mechanical strength of the crimping assembly was
properties of concrete containing E-waste plastic, namely, closely related to the indentation depth. Although a large
high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), as a partial substitute for number of crimping tools with different brands and di-
coarse aggregate. In this study, a multifaceted center com- versified styles have emerged in the industry in recent years,
posite response surface design was used. A statistical model most manufacturers only refer to a rough crimping speci-
was established between these factors (HIPS and water-ce- fication for the design of indentation depth corresponding to
ment ratio) and their response variables (settling, fresh different specific combinations of contacts and strands in the
density, dry density, compressive strength, shed tensile initial stage of product development as Figure 3. To form the
strength, and bending strength). The Design Expert 9.0.3 final product design specification in line with the industry
software package was used to analyze experimental values, standard, it is necessary to supplement a large number of
establish relationships, and develop the final mathematical pull-force tests of the crimping assembly in the later stage.
model based on the factors coded from the predicted re- Wire strands were crimped into the terminal 064 series
sponse. The influency of factors on all variable attributes can (Figure 4) to obtain loose strands and to affect less than the
be visually observed in the response surface and contour standard pull force of 8 kg as measured by a digital force
plots. Experimental verification shows that the experimental gauge (Imada: DST-500N IMADA).
values are in good agreement with the predicted values, In the crimping process, the strength of the crimp and
which verifies the desirability of the calculated response the current-carrying capability may be greatly reduced if not
surface model � 1. Replacing HIPS affected all the properties all the wire strands are fully enclosed in the conductor crimp
and water-cement ratio of concrete. Although various section. To obtain a good crimp, the crimp height should be
properties had a downward trend, the empirical and pre- met as specified by the connector manufacturer. If all the
dictive values show that HIPS, which is expected to be used as strands do not contribute to the crimp height and thus crimp
a coarse aggregate in concrete, achieves a certain replacement strength, then the crimp will not perform to specifications.
rate, thereby gradually reducing harmful solids through Generally, the problem of loose wire strands is very easy to
exhaustion and waste and protecting natural resources. solve by simply gathering the wires together before inserting
Garlapati et al. [19] showed that the tableting process has an them into the terminal to be crimped. The wires should be
incomprehensible impact on the appearance, content uni- gathered with open wings with the core exposed or folded
formity, hardness, thickness, friability, disintegration time, down into the core, but not touching (i.e., not locked), as
and dissolution time of the tableting process. Among all the shown in Figure 5.
parameters of the tablet press, the speed of the feeder, The study of optimum conditions using the RSM is an
precompression, main compression force, and speed of the experiment to determine the optimum conditions of the
turntable have a significant effect on the characteristics of the responses, which is a process that uses mathematical and
tablet. The objective of this study was to use statistical statistical knowledge for designing the experiments, and it is
modelling and optimization methods to model and optimize widely applied in scientific and industrial research fields. In
the compression process of levocetirizine tablets using re- addition, the RSM has 2 popular experimental designs,
sponse surface methods [20]. By adopting the speed of the namely, the Box–Wilson experimental design and
turret and front and rear stages, a 3-stage center composite Box–Behnken design. The Box–Wilson experimental design
design was selected. The main compression force and feeder is commonly used because it can resolve the problems of the
speed were used as input variables, and the tablet charac- 3n factorial design used for multivariate quantitative studies,
teristics (hardness, thickness, and disintegration time) were and its experiments cover more than the Box–Behnken
used as output variables. A nonlinear regression model design, which requires numerous experimentations for 3n
corresponding to the output variables (hardness, thickness, factorial designs. To reduce the number of experiments, [21]
and disintegration time) was obtained. The R2 values of developed the central composite design (CCD) from the 2n
hardness, thickness, and disintegration time were 99.26%, factorial design. The CCD, therefore, increased the accuracy
98.01%, and 99.84%, respectively. The effects of simple terms, of the factorial experiment at the center and axial points,
square terms, and interaction terms on the hardness, dividing into 5 levels, lowest (−α), low (−1), medium (0),
thickness, and disintegration of the table surface are sum- high (+1), and highest (+α) [22], to form a curvilinear or
marized through the significance test and are described in the second-order model, and the CCD has 2n + (2n + 6) ex-
response surface graph. Using a turret speed of 68 rpm, main periments for experiment with four factors or independent
compression and precompression forces of 2.05 and 7.95 kN, variables. To enhance the efficiency of a crimped terminal to
respectively, and a feed rate of 27 rpm, the tableting process pull force, the Minitab 18 Program was used in central
variables predict a hardness of 15.3 kPa, thickness of 3.7 mm, composite designs (CCD) using a response surface meth-
and a disintegration time of 226 s to optimize the tablet odology (RSM) with a model dependent on 3 factors: crimp
performance. The results demonstrate the reliability of the height (X), crimp depth (Y), and crimp width (Z) [23–25].
proposed statistical method to model and optimize the Table 1 shows the crimp parameters used in the experiment,
compression study of levocetirizine tablet formulations. This for which 20 generalized response surface models were run,
research helps to increase the compression rate of the tablets including 10 factorial design runs, 5 axial points, and 10
during the formulation of levocetirizine tablets. replicates at the center points [26].
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering 5
Hold Values
Crimp Width (Z) 1.48
15
Pull force (Kg.f)
10
5
3.0
0
)
2.5
(Y
th
1.3 1.5
D
Crimp H 1.4
p
eight (X)
im
Cr
Figure 6: Surface plot of pull force versus crimp depth (Y) and crimp height (X).
Hold Values
Crimp Depth (Y) 2.355
15
Pull force (Kg.f)
10
5
1.4
X)
0 1.3
(
ht
1.3 1.2
eig
1.4
Crimp W 1.5 1.1
H
1.6
p
idth (Z)
im
Cr
Figure 7: Surface plot of pull force versus crimp width (Z) and crimp height (X).
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering 7
Pull for
Maximum
y = 13.5993
d = 0.95769
Crimp dimensions were estimated using a compaction Figure 10: Crimp at a height of 1.20 mm.
analysis. The compaction can be estimated using the fol-
lowing formula:
S1
Compaction% � 1001 − , (1)
S0
5. Conclusions References
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