Inner tie-rod (ITR) end assembly module is widely used in the steering systems of automobiles. The ITR module is composed of ball stud, ball seat, and socket and manufactured by caulking process. To qualify the final product of the ITR module, caulkin...
Inner tie-rod (ITR) end assembly module is widely used in the steering systems of automobiles. The ITR module is composed of ball stud, ball seat, and socket and manufactured by caulking process. To qualify the final product of the ITR module, caulking process of the ITR module should be optimized to satisfy requirements of the ITR module such as allowable displacement, pull-out force, tilting angle and torque of the ball stud. In this paper, we investigate the deformation characteristic of both caulking and pull-out processes using FE analysis and clarify the effect of the forming parameters on allowable displacement, pull-out force and tilting angle. The FE analysis results are compared with experiments for validity of FE analysis.