Plated Steel Rod Axial Segmentation for Machining
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge lies in manufacturing plated components, specifically steel bars or pipes, where the plated surface becomes too hard, making it difficult to perform plastic working or cutting for features like metal flow joining, which is necessary for applications such as hydraulic shock absorbers, as the existing methods hinder productivity and slidability.
Innovation Solution
A method involving quenching, machining, and selective plating where two axially spaced portions of the steel bar or pipe are quenched, with one portion being plated and the other not, allowing for a machined area between them. This process includes high-frequency induction quenching, plating, tempering, and grinding to ensure wear resistance and slidability while maintaining the base metal's properties for hardness measurement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the steel bar or pipe is plated to improve slidability and wear resistance, then the surface becomes hard and smooth, but plastic working or cutting to form grooves for metal flow joining becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The rod is divided into multiple axial sections with different surface treatments: a plated section for slidability, a non-plated section for machining, and another plated section for slidability. This segmentation allows each section to have properties optimized for its specific function.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the rod have different surface qualities: the plated portions have hard, smooth surfaces for wear resistance and slidability, while the non-plated portion has a softer surface that is easier to machine. This local differentiation of properties resolves the contradiction between needing hard plated surfaces and easy machining.
2Reliability
If the entire rod is plated to improve slidability, then wear resistance improves, but productivity decreases due to difficulty in performing plastic working
Solution Approach 1:
The rod is segmented axially into plated and non-plated portions, allowing machining operations to be performed on the non-plated section without the productivity loss associated with machining plated surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
By providing local plating only where slidability is needed rather than plating the entire rod, the invention maintains wear resistance at critical interfaces while preserving ease of manufacture for features like grooves and threads in non-plated sections.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances productivity by allowing stable machining and improves slidability while enabling the measurement of surface hardness without removing the coating, thus maintaining the base metal's properties and reducing defects.
Implementation Method 1
a quenching step of quenching at least two axially spaced portions of the steel bar or the steel pipe
Implementation Method 2
quenching at least two axially spaced portions of the steel bar or the steel pipe to form at least two quenched portions
Implementation Method 3
the surface of the rod is plated with chromium or the like for the purpose of improving wear resistance, slidability
Data Source
AI summary
A steel base material (11) is subjected to a quenching step, a machining step, a plating step, and a tempering step to form a rod (4). In the quenching step, two axially spaced portions of the steel base material are quenched to form quenched portions (12 and 13). In the machining step, plastic working or cutting is performed on a portion of the steel base material between the two quenched portions to form a full-circumferential groove (4C1) in a machined portion 4C. In the plating step, the quenched portion (12) is not plated, but a region of the steel base material including the quenched portion (13) is plated to form a coating layer (16). In the tempering step, the quenched portions are tempered.