A Study of the Impact of Knurling Parameters on Knurl Quality With the Design of Experiments Approach

Abstract

A local company produces various types of connecting cables for a number of military and civilian customers. A key part of these cables is the knurled component to provide proper frictional force for easy assembly and maintenance. In the past, the company has usually faced a problem of inconsistent knurl quality. There has been no report in the literature about knurling process design. Vendors of knurling tools could only recommend the traditional try-and-error method. This research uses the design of experiments (or 2n-k fractional factorial design) approach to examine the impact of different knurling process parameters on the knurl quality. Our purpose is to determine the key factors and factor interactions that have significant effect on the knurl quality so that we could set the process parameters in such a way that the process is robust (or insensitive) to any uncontrollable factors. As a result, a robust knurl quality is achieved. A case study illustrates our approach.