Theoretical, experimental and simulated advances of impact mechanics in

mechanical engineering - Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2019, Vol. 11(4) 1–10
Ó The Author(s) 2019
Influence of radial interference on DOI: 10.1177/1687814018817640
journals.sagepub.com/home/ade
torque capacity of shrink-fit camshaft

Jiao Zhao1, Jun-Xiong Wang1, Chao Yu2, Si-Qi Tang1 and Jin Yao1

Abstract
The maximum contact strength stress in the shrink-fit camshaft assembly was obtained by finite element method. It is
found that there is a maximal radial interference, below which there is no plastic deformation and which can be used as
the limitation for the radial interference. In our case, the maximal radial interference is 0.08 mm. Then, based on Lamé’s
equation and experimental data, the relationship between friction coefficients on the contact surface of shrink-fit cam-
shaft and the radial interference is established. For the shrink-fit camshaft in our case, the range of friction coefficient is
0.14–0.19. After that, the relationship between the torque capacity and the radial interference for the shrink-fit camshaft
is established by the finite element model for torque capacity testing based on the friction coefficient obtained before.
There is a positive correlation between the radial interference and the torque capacity, but their relationship is not sim-
ple linear, similar to the exponential relationship. The slope of the torque capacity curve decreases gradually with the
interference increasing. In the elastic range, the results obtained from experiment and simulation are in good agreement,
with a maximum relative error of 8.1%. The results of our study are expected to design and manufacture for shrink-fit
camshaft.

Keywords
Shrink-fit camshaft, coefficient friction, torque capacity, radial interference

Date received: 9 February 2018; accepted: 5 November 2018

Handling Editor: Jianjun Zhang

Introduction connection methods become the hotspot and keystone

Camshaft is one of the most important components in
the engine valve mechanism, which determines the tim-
ing of the valve switch, which directly affects the vol-
ume of intake air, dynamic performance, and gas
emission of the engine. The assembly camshaft has the
advantages of light weight, low cost, compact structure,
and good material matching performance. At the same
time, it has the advantages of flexible manufacturing
and high automation level and has become the main
development direction of the camshaft manufacturing
industry.1 For assembly camshaft, because the connec-
tion strength between the cam on the steel pipe and the
steel pipe directly determines the stability of the cam-
shaft performance and the length of life, a variety of
of the researchers. The main connection is divided into
welding, powder metallurgy, expanding pipe, knurling
connection shrink-fit, and so on. The first three assem-
bly methods have the disadvantages of large deforma-
tion of camshaft and poor assembly precision, and
knurling connection has the disadvantages of
1
School of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Sichuan University,
Chengdu, China
2
CNAIC Chengdu Auto Parts Co., Ltd. Chengdu, China
Corresponding author:
Jin Yao, School of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Sichuan
University, Chengdu 610065, China.
Email: yaojin@scu.edu.cn

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without
further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/
open-access-at-sage).
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
complicated equipment and large mounting force.2
Shrink-fit with induction heating solves the problem of
large deformation and assembly precision of the above
methods. At present, a large number of research papers
are focusing on welding, expanding pipe, knurling con-
nection, and so on,3–7 and there are only few research
papers focusing on shrink-fit camshaft.
Shrink-fitting is a technique in which an interference
fit is realized by a relative change in size after assembly.
This is usually achieved by heating or cooling one com-
ponent before assembly and allowing it to return to
room temperature after assembly to make a connection.
The shrink-fitting method has been widely used in the
assembly of mechanical parts. For the heating and cool-
ing system, the minimum heating temperature can be
determined through the relationship diagram among
cooling water velocity, initial heating temperature and
thermal deformation established by Xiaofeng Wang,
etc.8 For shrink-fitting, the torque capacity is the mini-
mal torque to resist the relative rotation between the
two parts assembled, which measures the assembly’s
resistance to torque, and is primarily determined by the
stress and friction coefficient between the contact sur-
faces. There are many factors that affect the torque
capacity, among which the radial interference is one of
the most important factors. With the increase in the
radial interference, the contact stress increases obvi-
ously, the interference increases further, and the increas-
ing rate of stress was slowed down due to the yield of
the material. At the same time, the increase in the radial
interference also reduces the friction coefficient, which
is caused by the local yield of material, and makes small
cracks between the contact surfaces, which have a nega-
tive influence on the connection strength.9–12 Obviously,
the appropriate radial interference is extremely impor-
tant for the torque capacity of shrink-fit connection.
Many scholars have studied the stress distribution and
the torque capacity of assembly with shrink-fit, such as
shaft–hub system and gear-shaft connection. By changing
the axial contact length of the interference fitted shaft–hub
assembly, radial interference, and other parameters, S Sen
and B Aksakal13 discussed the impact of these parameters
on the contact surface stress of shaft–hub system under
elastic–plastic deformation conditions. R Cao et al.,14 who
studied the interference assembly of titanium–aluminum
turbine shaft and K418 alloy bushings, analyzed the
change of stress and the location of maximum stress dur-
ing the press-fitting process. In research on mounting the
gears, SJ Chu et al.10 studied the relationship between
press-fit force, radial displacement, and interference with
finite element method and further obtained the range of
static friction coefficient, from 0.24 to 0.4, by experimen-
tally measuring the torque capacity. JD Booker et al.15
proposed a theory based on Lamé’s equation to calculate
the holding torque (torque capacity) of shrink-fit assem-
blies in which an average coefficient of friction is used. CE
Truman and JD Booker8 illustrated that the friction coef-
ficient was related to the contact pressure in the interfer-
ence assembly by the experiments designed. C Mascle
et al.16 studied the influence of many parameters on the
torque capacity of shrink-fit assembly between cylinders,
such as the roughness and the interference. From the
above work, we can draw a conclusion that the radial
interference has an important influence on the contact
strength stress and friction coefficient. They vary with the
radial interference, which has been proved by experiments.
However, for a particular assembly, the mathematical
relationship between the radial interference and the fric-
tion coefficient as well as the torque capacity is not given
directly.
In this article, first, the stress on the contact surface
between the cam and the steel pipe of the camshaft with
the maximum interference is analyzed, and the stress on
the contact surface is considered to be in the elastic state
mostly. Then, based on the previous analysis, the geo-
metric model of the camshaft was simplified, and the
mathematical formula between the friction coefficient and
the torque capacity was built. The values of the torque
capacity of five kinds of camshaft with different radial
interference were measured by experiment. Based on the
mathematical formula between the friction coefficient and
the torque capacity and the torque capacity from the
experiment, the mathematical model of the radial interfer-
ence, and the friction coefficient were established by poly-
nomial fitting. Finally, the finite element model of the
shrink-fit camshaft was established, and the relation
obtained between the friction coefficient and the radial
interference was applied to the model. The torque capac-
ity was analyzed for different interference amount, and
the relationship between the radial interference and torque
capacity was given. This result is expected to provide ref-
erence for the design and manufacture of camshaft.
Contact stress analysis for maximum
radial interference
In general, for camshaft assembled with a radial interfer-
ence fit, the maximum radial interference corresponds to
the maximum contact stress. However, taking into
account that the heating temperature is limited and
pressure-free assembly of the technical requirements is
needed, the maximum radial interference is taken as
0.1 mm. In the following, the limit value of the contact
stress and stress distribution of the assembly was studied.
The materials of the cam and steel pipe and their
true tensile curves
In our case, the cam material is GGr15 and the steel
pipe material is E355. In the interference fit of the cam
and the steel pipe, the contact area may be plastically
Zhao et al. 3

Table 1. Geometric dimensions.

Geometric parameters Steel pipe Cam

Outside diameter/base 24.1225 31.6005

circle diameter (mm)
Inner diameter (mm) 18.4 24.0225
Length/width (mm) 103 12.5

Table 2. Physical parameters.

Figure 1. True stress–true strain curve.
Physical parameters Cam Steel pipe

Density (kg/m3) 7.85 3 103 7.85 3 103

Modulus of elasticity (MPa) 2.06 3 105 1.983105
Yield strength (MPa) 632 530
Poisson’s ratio 0.28 0.3
Specific heat (J/kg °C) 0.55 3 103 0.46 3 103
Thermal conductivity (W/m °C) 40.04 53.16
Thermal expansion (°C) 1.40 3 1025 1.23 3 1025

cam dc1 is obviously less than dt2. dc2 and lc, respec-
tively, represent the diameter of the cam base circle and
the width of the cam. Let d be the radial interference.
Figure 2. Assembly schematic diagram of camshaft.

deformed because of the larger interference, which will
lead to the non-linear change of the contact stress. In
the following finite element modeling of assembly pro-
cess, the true stress–true strain curve is needed, which
can be obtained using the tensile experimental values
and transferring them, as shown in Figure 1.
Finite element modeling of assembly process
Description of assembly process. Assembly schematic dia-
gram is shown in Figure 2. During assembly of the cam-
shaft, first, the outer member, such as cams, signal
wheels, and the like (in following, we use the cam to pres-
ent the outer member for convenience), is electromagneti-
cally heated and moved to position 1 by the NC assembly
machine, so that the interference between the shaft pipe
and the outer member is eliminated and the inner hole of
the cam is larger than the outer surface of the steel pipe.
Second, the outer member is moved, by the manipulator
of the numerical control assembly machine, accurately
from the position 1 to the preinstalled position 2 on the
steel pipe, without press-fit force due to no interference.
Then, the cam which is just assembled in position 2 is
forced to cool by a cold air in high speed, and the cam
shrinks to accurately and quickly fix to the steel pipe at
position 2. With the above method, the cam, oil pump
cam, signal wheel, and so on, are assembled in sequence
according to the specific order.
In Figure 2, let dt1, dt2, and lt be the inner diameter,
outer diameter, and length of the steel pipe, respec-
tively. Before the shrink-fitting, the inner diameter of
Geometric and physical parameters. When there is a large
radial interference, the plastic deformation of the con-
tact area will occur. In the simulation of assembly pro-
cess, the maximal between the cam and steel pipe is
taken as 0.1 mm. Tables 1 and 2 show the geometrical
dimensions of the cam and the steel pipe and the asso-
ciated physical parameters.17 The relationship between
true stress and strain is shown in Figure 1.
Simplification and meshing of three-dimensional models. In
the assembly process, there are a few cams to fit onto
the steel in order, in which each fitting process is inde-
pendent, so that in the modeling process, only one cam
is taken into consideration in the article. For simplicity
of the model, the small fillet machined in order to guide
the assembly is neglected. There is always a heat
exchange among the cam and the steel pipe and the
environment during assembling. In the process of mod-
eling, the complex process of mechanical gripper grasp-
ing parts to assembly is simplified, and the heating
temperature is set near the actual assembly temperature.
Simulation belongs to the coupled temperature–
displacement analysis; the element type is C3D8T with ther-
mal freedom. The contact area between the steel pipe and
the cam is the focus of study. Therefore, the mesh in this
area should be refined to obtain more accurate results. As
for the finite element model that with 0.1mm interference,
the total number of elements for the cam and the steel pipe
are 9756 and 3600. As for the finite element model that
with 0.1mm interference, the total number of elements for
the cam and the steel pipe are 9756 and 3600.
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 3. Finite element model of camshaft.
Interaction and boundary conditions. Simulation mainly
involves two types of a total of four kinds of interac-
tion situations; one is the mechanical interaction prop-
erty, and it is set as penalty function and hard contact.
Another type of thermal contact properties has three
contact situations: first is the natural convection of the
outer surface of the assembly and the air throughout
the assembly process, the second is the convection
between the contact surface and the forced cold air
flow in the forced cooling stage, and the third is the
heat transfer between the steel pipe and the cam, and
the heat transfer coefficients are nonlinear functions of
cooling water flow rates.18 The heat transfer coefficient
in contact surface between the steel pipe and the cam
continuously varies with the contact pressure and is
given by the paper by Graff.19
Boundary conditions can be divided into two cate-
gories: thermal boundary and mechanical displacement
boundary. During the heating stage, the cam is set to a
temperature boundary condition that the cam is
expanded to eliminate the interference. During assem-
bly, end of the steel pipe is fixed, and an appropriate
axial displacement is applied to the cam toward the
steel pipe, which moves the cam fit to position 2. The
final finite element model is shown in Figure 3.
Contact strength stress analysis
Figure 4(a) shows the contact strength stress described
by von Mises stress nephogram on the contact surface
of the cam inner hole and the steel pipe when the radial
interference is 0.1 mm. The results show that the stress is
distributed symmetrically on both sides of the geometric
symmetry plane b of the cam, and the closer to the cam
end in axial direction, the greater the stress is. The area
of stress concentration appears on the edge of the inter-
section of cam end and the inner hole of the cam. The
maximum stress is 719 MPa, which exceeds the yield
limit of cam material, indicating that plastic deforma-
tion occurs in some areas. Figure 4(b) shows the equiva-
lent plastic strain nephogram of the inner hole of the
cam. The results show that plastic strain still distributes
symmetrically along the plane of a and mainly concen-
trated on the edge of the intersection of the cam end and
the inner hole and the area near the symmetry plane.
The maximum plastic strain is 0.002252.
Figure 4(c) and (d) shows the Mises stress and the
equivalent plastic strain nephogram of the steel pipe.
Compared with the cam, the maximum stress of the
steel pipe is 575 MPa, which appears at the inner hole
of the steel pipe, not on the contact surface. The maxi-
mum stress on the contact surface of the steel pipe is
560 MPa, which corresponds to the position of the max-
imum stress of the cam. The maximum stress on the
contact surface of the steel pipe is larger than the yield
strength of the tube material, and there is a little plastic
deformation on the contact surface. The maximum
amount of plastic strain produced on the inner surface
of the steel pipe is 0.000264.
The above analysis shows that for the maximal inter-
ference 0.1 mm, the region of plastic deformation is rela-
tively small. The number of elements of plastic
deformation on the contact surface account for only
4.1% of the total number of elements, so the plastic
deformation has little influence on the mechanical prop-
erties of the model. In general, the greater the interfer-
ence, the greater the contact strength stress. Therefore,
for the interference below 0.1 mm, the contact strength
stress of the camshafts is considered to be within the elas-
tic limits of the two materials. Plastic deformation can be
neglected when establishing the theoretical model.
Mathematical model of friction coefficient
In this section, according to the research works by
Truman and Booker and Chu,9,10 the friction coeffi-
cient will change with the change in contact pressure.
The mathematical model between friction coefficient
and radial interference is established by theoretical
deduction and experiment. The conclusion will be fur-
ther applied to the simulation of camshaft in the fol-
lowing work.
The mathematical formula of the relationship
between friction coefficient and torque capacity
Simplification of geometric model and stress distribution of
shrink-fit camshaft. For a well-assembled shrink-fit cam-
shaft, the stress distribution on the contact surface is
assumed to be symmetrical. The outer contour of the
cam has a negligible effect on the pressure on the con-
tact surface. Thus, the camshaft model is simplified as
interference fit for two thick-walled circular cylinders.
The stress change in the axial direction of the contact
surface is negligible relative to the radial and circumfer-
ential stresses, and the pressure, in the axial direction,
Zhao et al. 5

Figure 4. The results of finite element analysis: (a) von Mises stress of the cam (MPa), (b) equivalent plastic strain of the cam (MPa),
(c) von Mises stress of the tube (MPa), and (d) equivalent plastic strain of the tube (MPa).

between the contact surfaces is considered to be uni-

form in the axial direction. The simplified geometric
model of shrink-fit camshaft is shown in Figure 5.

Mathematical formula of torque capacity and friction

coefficient. According to the above simulation of contact
strength stress, when the radial interference is 0.1 mm, the
plastic deformation area in the contact area accounts for
only 4.1% of the whole contact area. The mathematical
model can be treated as elastic deformation. For the sim-
plified model, the following work is based on Vullo.20 The
normal assembly pressure pf determined by the radial
interference is given by equation (1)
Figure 5. Thick-walled cylinder model.
d
pf = ð1Þ
re 3 k of the steel pipe, and the outer radius of the steel pipe.
where d is the radial interference, the coefficient re is the Thus, when the radial interference is given, the normal
radius of the joint surface experimentally determined, assembly pressure pf has been determined by equations
the coefficient k is given by equation (2) (1) and (2).
If l is the length of the contact surface in the axial
    direction, the relation between the resultant moment
1 ra2 + re2 1 re2 + rd2
k= + y c +  y t ð2Þ Mf (referring to torque capacity here) and the friction
Ec ra2  re2 Et re2  rd2
coefficient u is equation (3)
In equation (2), Ec and Et are Young’s moduli of
cam and steel pipe materials; nc and nt, respectively, are Mf
u= ð3Þ
their Poisson’s ratio; ra, rd, and re, respectively, are the 2pre2 lpf
outer radius of base circle of the cam, the inner radius
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 6. Experimental equipment and shrink-fit camshafts tested: (a) CNC assembly machine, (b) camshaft, and (C) torque
capacity testing machine.

Torque capacity experiment

The relationship between the friction coefficient and the
torque capacity of the camshaft was given, and the key
geometric parameters of the assembled camshaft were
obtained by measuring the torque capacity—torque
capacity test was carried out for the camshaft with dif-
ferent radial interference. After obtaining the torque
capacity of camshaft, the relationship between the fric-
tion coefficient and the radial interference was deduced
by equations (1)–(3). This relationship will be applied in
the finite element model.
Experimental method. According to the magnitude of
radial interference, the experiment was divided into five
groups. Each group has eight cams on the steel pipe
and one steel pipe, in which the radial interference of
the camshaft is constant. The outer diameter of the steel
pipe is unchanged, and the different interference were
controlled through the different cam inner holes. The
radial interference is 0.02, 0.025, 0.035, and 0.05 mm,
respectively. After the torque capacity test, eight values
of torque capacity were obtained under the same radial
interference. Figure 6(b) shows the five groups of com-
plete shrink-fit camshafts. In the each group, eight cams
were numbered from left to right. Figure 6(a) and (c)
shows CNC assembly machine and torque capacity
testing machine, respectively.
Experimental results of torque capacity. Table 3 shows tor-
que capacities of the shrink-fit camshafts under differ-
ent radial interference.
Calculation of friction coefficient
As shown in Figure 7, at the installation position of 1#
cam, the diameter of the joint surface of the nosepiece
and the steel pipe is dn, the axial mating dimension is ln,
Figure 7. Assembly schematic diagram with nosepiece, cam,
and steel pipe.
dn . dt1, and the nosepiece and the steel pipe are also
assembled in interference fit. The fitting area of steel
pipe and the nosepiece and that of the cam and the
steel pipe coincides in the axial direction. Nosepiece
without holes is a solid shaft. After the nosepiece is
installed, the steel pipe is expanded in the radial direc-
tion to make its diameters increased to dt3 and dt3 . dt2.
Therefore, the actual interference between the 1# cam
and the steel pipe is increased, and torque capacity
increased. Considering the above reasons, the torque
value of the 1# cam in the experiment should be
ignored. In statistics, the maximum and minimal values
of the torque capacity should be negligible. Mt is the
average torque capacity calculated through such a
method, which represents the torque capacity obtained
by experiment, which is used to replace the Mf in
Equation 3 and to calculate u in Table 4.
The coefficient k corresponding to the different
radial interference is calculated according to equation
(2), the normal contact pressure pf is determined by
equation (1), and finally the value of friction coefficient
u corresponding to different radial interference is deter-
mined by equation (3). Table 3 shows the torque capa-
cities obtained by testing. Table 4 shows the friction
coefficient and other relative parameters calculated by
equations (1)–(3).
The polynomial interpolation is carried out with the
radial interference as the independent variable and the
Zhao et al. 7

Table 3. Torque capacity of camshaft with different radial interference.

Radial interference (mm) Torque capacity (N m) Average (N m)

1# 2# 3# 4# 5# 6# 7# 8#

0.02 135 67 96 86 101 81 93 117 91.4

0.025 177 128 149 110 116 115 110 94 115.8
0.035 217 158 135 162 152 202 160 142 154.8
0.045 241 181 188 204 164 175 173 138 176.2
0.5 240 202 197 188 179 174 194 211 192.0

Table 4. Friction coefficient and other relative parameters calculated (i -radial interference).

i (mm) Mt (N m) rd (mm) re (mm) ra (mm) k pf (MPa) u

0.02 91.4 9.2 12.039 16.007 3.657 3 1025 45.42 0.178

0.025 115.8 9.2 12.041 16.009 3.656 3 1025 56.78 0.179
0.035 154.8 9.2 12.046 16.013 3.654 3 1025 79.50 0.171
0.045 176.2 9.2 12.051 16.017 3.653 3 1025 102.23 0.151
0.5 192.0 9.2 12.053 16.019 3.652 3 1025 113.60 0.148

m(d) = 3200d3  367:565d2 + 12:250d + 0:054 ð6Þ

Draw the fit curve of the radial interference and the

Figure 8. The relation curve of the radial interference and the
friction coefficient.
friction coefficient, as shown in Figure 8.
As can be seen from Figure 8, in general, the rela-
tionship between the radial interference and the friction
coefficient is that the friction coefficient decreases with
the increase in the radial interference. Among the radial
interference 0.020–0.025 mm, the friction coefficient has
a slight increasing trend, while among the radial inter-
ference 0.025–0.050 mm, the friction coefficient has a
decreasing trend. According to the existing friction the-
ory, the reason for this phenomenon is that the contact
pressure is too large and over the yield limit of material,
which produces the ‘‘flattening effect.’’

friction coefficient as the dependent variable, and the math-

ematical relationship between the radial interference and Finite element model of torque capacity
the friction coefficient is obtained. Using the Lagrange Finite element model
interpolation polynomial, the interpolation function is as
follows A description of the problem for torque capacity testing. In
the torque capacity testing, the steel pipe is fixed and
X
n the torque is applied to the cam and gradually increased
Ln (d) = yi li (x) ð4Þ until the relative motion occurs between the cam and
i=0
the steel pipe and they slip relatively and the torque
where li is given by applied keeps almost unchanged. As shown in Figure 9,
position 1 shows the previous state of the cam in the
(x  x0 )    (x  xi1 )(x  xi + 1 )    (x  xn ) solid line, and position 2 shows the slipping state of the
li (x) = cam in the dashed line.
(xi  x0 )    (xi  xi1 )(xi  xi + 1 )    (xi  xn )
ði = 0, 1, 2, . . . , nÞ
ð5Þ Interaction and boundary condition. In the torque capacity
finite element model, it is necessary to establish a refer-
When n = 3, the expression is simplified as shown in ence point at the center of the cam assembled, which is
equation (6) coupled to the outer surface of the cam. The reason
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 9. Schematic diagram of the torque capacity testing
process of a cam.
why the coupling constraint is added on the outer sur-
face is that the clamp fixes the steel pipe and the outer
surface of cam is loaded in the torque capacity test of
camshaft. The interaction between the cam and the steel
pipe is mechanical interaction property, described as
penalty function and hard contact. After the assembly
simulation is completed, the final state of the stress field
of the camshaft needs to be read and taken as the origi-
nal state for torque capacity testing model. Then the
torsional boundary condition is set up. As the reference
point is coupled to the outer surface of the cam, the
angular displacement is applied to the reference point.
The effect of the radial interference on the torque
capacity
The connection strength of the shrink-fit camshaft
depends on the contact pressure between the cam and
the steel pipe and the friction coefficient. The ability of
the camshaft to withstand the torque reflects the
strength of the camshaft connections. Using the relation
between the friction coefficient and the interference
Figure 10. Curves of rotation angle and torque capacity for different radial interference.
given by equation (6), the friction coefficient is obtained.
The simulation for the torque capacity testing is carried
out, with different radial interference values, 0.02, 0.025,
0.03, 0.035, 0.04, 0.045, 0.05, 0.06, 0.07, 0.08, 0.09, and
0.1 mm. Figure 10 reflects the relationship between the
rotation angle and the torque capacity for different
amounts of interference.
In Figure 10, the straight line is set to perpendicular
to the x-axis at the 0.0059 rad, which is twist angle
between the cam and the steel pipe to show the connec-
tion failure. The values at y-axis of the intersection
points between the straight line c and the curves of
rotation angle and torque capacity are ones of the tor-
que capacity for difference radial interference. Before
the torque increases to the torque capacity, the cam
and the steel pipe only have an elastic deformation and
do not slip. As the torque increases to torque capacity,
the cam begins to slip. Until the slip to a given bound-
ary condition of 0.052 rad, the assembly connection is
considered as failure. In the event of elastic deforma-
tion, the torque capacity and the radial interference are
positively correlative, close to the proportional rela-
tionship, that is, the torque capacity increases with the
increase in the radial interference. The torque capacity
is 79.2 N m for interference 0.015 mm, 272.3 N m for
0.08 mm. Figure 11 shows that von Mises stress of the
assembly connection for radial interference 0.08 mm is
664 MPa, which is greater than yield limit of the cam
material. When continuously increasing the interfer-
ence, the cam and the steel pipe will undergo plastic
deformation, and the plastic deformation will not only
reduce the connection stress but also produce a certain
deformation. When the interference is too large, the
cam, even with high strength, high wear resistance, and
lower plasticity, will be broken. Therefore, large inter-
ference between cam and steel pipe shall be avoided.
Zhao et al.
Figure 11. Von Mises stress of the cam and the steel pipe due to radial interference 0.08 mm (MPa).
Figure 12. Comparison of experimental and simulated torque
capacity.
For different types of camshaft bearing different tor-
que, in order to ensure certain connection strength
between the cam and the steel pipe, the radial interfer-
ence is as large as possible until leading to the plastic
deformation in the simulation for the shrink-fit.
Furthermore, the values for different interference
below 0.08 mm are used to interpolate. The radial
interference is taken as the independent variable and
the torque capacity as the dependent variable. After
trying various fitting methods, it is found that the
exponential model for interpolation is the best in sta-
tistics, with a variance (SSE) of 15 and the coefficient
of determination (R2) of 1, expressed as equation (7).
The interpolation curve for the relationship between
the torque capacity and radial interference is shown
in Figure 12
Mt = 1127d0:3797  157:5
In general, there is a positive correlation between the
radial interference and the torque capacity, but their
9
relationship is not simple linear, similar to the exponen-
tial relationship. The slope of the torque capacity curve
decreases gradually with the interference increasing.
Comparative analysis between
experiment and simulation
The experimental results are compared with the simula-
tion results, as shown in Figure 12. The graph is divided
into two parts: the curve with an asterisk is drawn from
the simulation data for the radial interference from 0.15
to 0.1 mm and the curve with the diamond from the
experimental data from 0.02 to 0.05 mm. From the
results, the experimental data and the simulation data
are in good agreement, their maximum error occurs
when the radial interference is 0.05 mm, and their rela-
tive error is 8.1%, which proved that the finite element
modeling of shrink-fit assembly process and the torque
capacity testing are effective and practical.
Conclusion
Based on the experimental and finite element analysis,
the relationship between the torque capacity and the
radial interference for the shrink-fit camshaft is estab-
lished. There is a positive correlation between the radial
interference and the torque capacity, but their relation-
ship is not simple linear, similar to the exponential rela-
tionship. The slope of the torque capacity curve
decreases gradually with the interference increasing. In
the elastic range, the results obtained from experiment
and simulation are in good agreement, with a maxi-
ð7Þ mum relative error of 8.1%. In addition, the relation-
ship model of the radial interference and the friction
coefficient is obtained by the experiment and the poly-
nomial interpolation.
10
The friction coefficient between the contact surfaces
of the cam and steel pipe is related to the radial inter-
ference. As the radial interference increases, the friction
coefficient decreases in general. For the shrink-fit cam-
shaft in our case, the range of friction coefficient is
0.14–0.19.
There is a positive correlation between the radial
interference and the torque capacity when there is no
larger plastic deformation of the cam or the steel pipe.
In order to avoid the plastic deformation on the assem-
bly surface of shrink-fit camshaft, the radial interfer-
ence cannot be greater than a certain value. In this
article, the interference between the cam and the steel
pipe did not exceed 0.08 mm.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
References
1. Korte V, König S, Kobus A, et al. Development trends
for the camshaft in passenger car engines. VDI-Berichte
2004; 2: 38–45.
2. Long JY and Fang XZ. Processing technology and devel-
opment trend of assembly camshaft. Auto Technol 2014;
12: 57–60.
3. Kou SQ, Zhang P, Lin BJ, et al. Analysis of influencing
factors on assembled camshaft connection strength of
tube expanding connection. Chin Int Combust Engine
Eng 2015; 36: 57–62.
4. Nallicheri N, Clark J and Field F. An economic assess-
ment of alternative manufacturing processes for the cam-
shaft. SAE Trans 1999; 99: 1112–1125.
5. Isaac C and Yuyuan Z. Advances in powder metallurgy.
1st ed. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, 2013.
6. Yuan SJ, Liu G, Huang XR, et al. Hydroforming of typ-
ical hollow components. J Mater Process Tech 2004; 151:
203–207.
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
7. Uca B, Durmusa and Ozaydin F. Assembled camshaft
manufacturing method, involves arranging flat-shaped
knurling balls on cam hole inner surface, and forming top
channel and bottom channel in cam hole inner surface
after rubbing inner surface of cam. TR201401639-A, 2015.
8. Xiaofeng W, Baochang L, Ke G, et al. Analysis of ther-
mal deformation and influencing factors in shrink-fitting
assembly of aluminum alloy drill pipe. Advances in
Mechanical Engineering 2016; 8.
9. Truman CE and Booker JD. Measuring the coefficient
of friction for use in shrink-fit calculations. Exp Techniq
2011; 5: 7–13.
10. Chu SJ, Geong TK and Jung EH. Effect of radial inter-
ference on torque capacity of press-and shrink-fit gears.
Int J Automot Techn 2016; 17: 763–768.
11. Zhang XG. Researches of experimental modeling and sys-
tem dynamics on frictions concerning extended Stribeck
effect. PhD Thesis, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
Shanghai, China, 2009.
12. Liu BQ. Theoretical and experimental research on interfer-
ence fit friction coefficient. PhD Thesis, Dalian Univer-
sity, Dalian, China, 2008.
13. Sen S and Aksakal B. Stress analysis of interference fitted
shaft-hub system under transient heat transfer conditions.
Mater Design 2004; 25: 407–417.
14. Cao R, Li L, Zhang J, et al. Internal stress analysis of
interference fittings of TiAl turbine shaft and K418 alloy
sleeve. Phys Test Chem Anal 2010; 46: 552–556.
15. Booker JD, Truman CE, Wittig S, et al. A comparison of
shrink-fit holding torque using probabilistic, microme-
chanical and experimental approaches. Eng Manuf 2004;
218: 175–187.
16. Mascle C, Balazinski M and Mhenni AB. Effect of rough-
ness and interference on torque capacity of a shrink fitted
assembly. Int J Adv Manuf Syst 2017; 13: 143–158.
17. Ma QF and Fang RS. Practical thermophysical handbook.
1st ed. Beijing, China: China Machine Press, 1986.
18. Youhong S, Xiaofeng W, Baochang L. Inverse solution
to heat transfer coefficient during heat assembly of alumi-
num alloy drill pipes. Advances in Mechanical Engineering
2017; 9.
19. Graff WJ. Thermal conductance across metal joint. Mach
Design 1960; 32: 166–172.
20. Vullo V. Circular cylinders and pressure vessels. 1st ed.
New York: Springer, 2014.