Numerical Simulation of the Crimping Process

Crimping is a mechanical joining technique to manufacture electrical connectors by squeezing the clip's crimp barrel onto the conductor. Primarily, crimped connections have to fulfill mechanical and electrical functions. The increasing number of electrical components in automobiles makes crimp connections very important parts, the reliability of which must be assured. Simulation of crimping process and operation is an efficient tool to optimize crimped connectors and to reduce the amount of expensive testing during development of new crimps. A three dimensional finite element model validated with crimp experiments is used to simulate the crimp process. Tensile tests on clip and wire material were performed to determine the parameters of the material models employed in the process simulations. The calculations lead to various process dependent results like crimp force, contact pressure and final stress state allowing to estimate the performance of the crimp connection. Thus, a significant reduction in cost and development time can be achieved.