Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2005) 25: 883–887
DOI 10.1007/s00170-003-2022-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Z. Gu · S. Yang · S. Ku · Y. Zhao · X. Dai
Fracture splitting technology of automobile engine connecting rod
Received: 20 October 2003 / Accepted: 14 November 2003 / Published online: 2 February 2005
 Springer-Verlag London Limited 2005
Abstract The fracture splitting method is an innovative process-
ing technique in the field of the automobile engine connecting
rod (con/rod) manufacturing. Compared with traditional method,
the technique has remarkable advantages. It can decrease manu-
facturing procedures, reduce equipment and tools investment and
save energy. Hence the total production cost is greatly reduced.
Furthermore, the technique can also improve product quality and
bearing capability. It provides a high quality, high accuracy and
low cost route for producing connecting rods (con/rods). The
method has attracted extensive attention and has been used in
some types of con/rods manufacturing. The process and its key
factors such as materials, notches for fracture splitting, frac-
ture splitting conditions and fracture splitting equipment are dis-
cussed in detail.
Keywords Automobile engine · Connecting rod ·
Fracture splitting · New process
1 Introduction
In recent years, with the rapid development of the automobile in-
dustry, the competition in the international automobile markets
has become more severe. New market conditions demand man-
ufacturers employ higher quality, greater efficiency and lower
cost manufacturing technology to fabricate automobile parts so
as to improve their competitive capability and meet the market
requirements. Therefore, many new technologies for producing
Z. Gu (u) · S. Yang · S. Ku · Y. Zhao
Institute of Roll Forging,
Jilin University,
Changchun, P.R. China
E-mail: gzweii@163.net
Tel.: +86-10-62782938
Fax: +86-10-62788675
X. Dai
Center for Laser Rapid Forming, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Tsinghua University,
Beijing, P.R. China
parts have been developed. The con/rod is an important part of
engine and its processing technology has been gaining great in-
tention. The fracture splitting technology of con/rod is an innova-
tive processing technique that appeared in the 1990s. Compared
with the traditional method, the process owns the advantages
of greatly improving product quality and production efficiency
and dramatically reducing cost and energy [1–4]. Therefore, the
technology has been studied and applied extensively. Some fa-
mous companies, such as GM Ford and Chrysler in the USA
and Benz and BMW in Germany, etc., employ the technology to
manufacture con/rods [5]. GM, Ford, MTS SYSTEM (America),
ALFING and EX-CELL-O (German), etc., have successfully de-
veloped production equipment and production lines for fracture
splitting con/rod [6, 7]. Now the technology is becoming mature.
It has a very low defect ratio and has been used in the mass pro-
duction of some types of con/rods.
2 Principle of con/rod fracture splitting technique
The con/rod processing procedure is shown in Fig. 1. The tradi-
tional method is a machining technique in which the big end of
a con/rod is cut off by a milling cutter and the con/rod is divided
into two parts: a cap and a rod. In the technique, there exist two
major requirements. (1) The cap and rod should have high preci-
sion rejoining surfaces, so many later machining procedures such
as rough grinding and finish grinding, etc., are required. (2) The
parts such as bolts used to position and the structures of whorl
hole are very complex, and still the whorl hole is demanded to
keep a high vertical level to surfaces. All these requirements
greatly increase the processing difficulty, procedures and cost.
However, the fracture splitting technique of con/rod, which is
a mechanical method, settles the above questions perfectly. From
Fig. 1, it can be seen that on the inner side of con/rod’s big end
hole two symmetrical notches with the same shape and size are
first broached, forming the starting point of splitting cracks out
of stress concentration effect. Then, a push key with wedge shape
is drawn to move downwards and push the fixture of the big end
to move transversely, resulting in the big end brittlely fracturing
884
Fig. 1. Processing methods of con/rod
from two broached notches. At last these two split parts are as-
sembled with bolts on a special equipment so as to perform later
processes.
The 3D structure characteristic of uneven cleavage surfaces
can be seen in the process. It ensures a perfect fit between the cap
and rod, which makes the two parts accurately positioned and as-
sembled. Therefore, there is no need to machine joint surfaces of
the cap and rod and use abrasive finishing processes to process
the whorl hole and employ parts such as inserted pins, dow-
els or reamer bolts for positioning. The structures of traditional
Fig. 2. Processing of whorl hole
Fig. 3. Conventional con/rod and fracture splitting con/rod
bolt and whorl hole are simplified and the whole machining pro-
cess is also reduced. For example, as far as the processing of
whorl hole is concerned, the traditional method needs 14 proced-
ures, but it only requires six steps by applying fracture splitting
method (Fig. 2). It is reported that the fracture splitting process
can decrease manufacturing procedures by 60%, reduce equip-
ment and tools investment by 25% ∼ 35% and reduce energy use
by 40% [1, 7–9]. So the total production cost is reduced con-
siderably. The con/rods made by traditional method and fracture
splitting method are shown in Fig. 3.
3 Key influence factors of fracture splitting process
3.1 Materials of fracture splitting con/rod
The material of con/rod is a major factor that influences the
fracture splitting process. Material not only affects con/rod’s me-
chanical properties such as rigidity, hardness, tensile and fatigue
strength, but also directly influences fracture splitting ability and
cleavage surface quality. The material suitable for fracture split-
ting con/rod should have the following properties: (1) little de-
formation in fracture splitting; (2) good intensity; (3) proper brit-