Process capability requirement under maximum material condition

Abstract

A frequently used geometrical tolerance is the position tolerance. When it is assigned at the maximum material condition (MMC), an increase in the position tolerance is allowed, equal to the departure of the particular feature from the maximum material condition size. Neither concept - position tolerance and maximum material condition - analytically related with the exact coordinate dimensions that locate the feature. A feature position is usually allocated on the basis of its theoretically exact co-ordinate dimensions, whereas positional accuracy is pursued through an appropriate planning of the machining process in conjunction with appropriate machine tool(s) and/or jig(s). Exploitation of the MMC tolerance bonus is taken into account mainly during part inspection in order to reduce rejects. Such an approach is not systematic, considering that the MMC benefits are not taken directly into account in the process planning stage in order to control the overall process cost. In this paper, the permitted manufacturing errors of a feature size and position are considered and studied simultaneously in an analytical way. It is shown that a lower process capability (PC) requirement can then be established that leads to a significant process cost reduction. An application example demonstrates the use of the method and the obtained results are discussed.