This grant provides funding for the development of a new method for selective assembly in manufacturing to allow the use of low precision mating parts to achieve high precision mechanical products. The new method will provide a mathematical model to predict the matchable degree of mating parts before assembly, and correspondingly a quantitative criterion on how to adjust manufacturing processes so that the desired match between mating parts could be guaranteed. A recursive algorithm will be developed and implemented in design of selective assembly for optimally allocating the machining tolerance range for each selective group to achieve the minimum surplus parts. Experimental work and industrial testing will be carried out to validate and further improve the new method developed. If successful, the results of this research will have a significant impact on manufacturing industries to improve their competitiveness through reduced manufacturing production cost of mechanical parts. The results will also provide effective integration of design, manufacture and assembly of mating parts that have high fit accuracy requirements. Specifically, the outcomes of the research project will provide a completely new yet much more effective way to design for selective assembly with the capability to improve mechanical product performance by achieving tighter tolerances at lower cost. In particular, the proposed new selective assembly method will have a significant economical impact on small-business industries to achieve high precision mechanical products based on their limited manufacturing facilities.
