R. P.

Goel 1
Member Technical Staff,
Stress Relaxation in Press-Fitted Joints
Bell Telephone
Laboratories, Inc., When contact pins, wire wrap posts, etc., are press fitted into printed circuit boards, the
Columbus, Ohio contact force at the interface of a post and plate relaxes with time. Much of the relaxa-
tion of the contact force occurs immediately after the connection has been made. Theo-
retical estimates on the reduction in contact force until a steady state (a steady state is
assumed to be reached when the stress rates become 1 percent of their initial values) is
reached are presented. Since most of the relaxation of the radial stress component oc-
curs in the vicinity of the hole, the effect of adjacent joints on the relaxation character-
istics of a joint are neglected. And, therefore, only an idealized geometry of a thin circu-
lar plate with a single press-fitted hole is considered.

Introduction tion problem considered here has formally been presented.

When contact pins, wire wrap posts, etc., are press fitted into Analysis
printed circuit boards, the contact force at the interface of a post The assumptions of plane stress, small strains, and a negligible
and plate relaxes with time. In order to insure a stable perfor- change in the thickness of the plate are made in the following anal-
mance of such joints one of the requirements will be that the plate ysis. Furthermore, it is assumed that the total strains are a sum of
and the contact posts make a strong connection which does not elastic and plastic parts. Then at any point in the plate (polar
lose its integrity due to stress relaxation in the plate. coordinates), we have
In general there are several pins and posts mounted on a single
plate and thus the stress-relaxation phenomenon may become very
complicated due to the interaction of nearby connections. How-
ever, in most of the backplane connector panels the spacing and and (1)
size of pins (usually 6.35 mm (0.025 in.) dia pins are spaced in a
31.25 mm (0.125 in.) grid size) are such that the effect of adjacent e„ = € « , + € ," = f(ue-uar) + ee" = ^
joints on the stress-relaxation characteristics of a joint is very
small. It is due to the fact that the initial stress distribution at a where
distance of about three times the radius of the hole is a small value u = radial displacement
and thus most of the relaxation is expected to occur in the vicinity a = stress
of the connection. E = Young's modulus
Radial stiffness of the post is usually much higher than that of r = radius
the mounting plate. Due to the interference fit, the interfaces of t = strain
the joint will be subjected to a compressive force. Since the com- v = Poisson's ratio
pressive creep, being inhibited by friction hills, is very small, thus Superscripts e and p denote elastic and plastic parts while sub-
we can easily ignore the effect of creep on post dimensions. There- scripts r and 6 denote radial and tangential components, respec-
fore, to avoid complexity, the case of a circular plate with a single- tively. In addition o> and ao (Fig. 1) must satisfy the following
press fitted circular hole with a rigid post will be considered here. equilibrium equation:
Transient creep problems of stretched thin plates have been pre-
sented by other authors [4, 5], 2 but no solution of the stress-relaxa- 8o-r _crj
= 0 (2)
Br
1
Following Penny and Sim [3], equations (1) and (2) upon combin-
Currently, Visiting Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ing become
A. and T. State University, Greensboro, N.C.
2
Numbers in brackets designate References at end of paper. i 8M
Contributed by the Reliability, Stress Analysis, and Failure Prevention 2
(3)
3r r 3r r dr
Committee of the Design Engineering Division and presented at the Win-
ter Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, November 30-December 5, 1975, of where
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Manu-
script received at ASME Headquarters April 8, 1975. Paper No. 75-WA/ = (1 - v) (V, - V»)
DE-4. (Vr + vV„)

Journal of Engineering for Industry FEBRUARY 1976 / 137

Copyright © 1976 by ASME
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 - Free lairiiri A_
U =— + BX for T = 0 <'!!)
2X
in which

3g' -f
h = IF J, xax 2 J, Xi
dX

where A, B, C, and D are constants of integration to be determined

by the boundary conditions.
Since we have assumed that the posts and contacts are rigid,
then that implies that the deformation of plate at the hole diame-
ter is held constant. Also the outer boundary of the plate will be
assumed to be free from any external constraints. These boundary
conditions can be written as

U{1) = 0, 1/(1) = t/ 0 for T ' > 0 (9a,/.i

Fig. 1 Circular plate with a rigid inclusion
and V and u represent strain and displacement, respectively, nor-
malized with respect to a nominal elastic strain, eo = oo/E where ao
is the initial elastic stress at the interface of the joint.
If we nondimensionalize u and ?• by the following relations,
£/ = •and X = =*
r (7) and (9a) and (9d) will yield constants C and D. Thence
where ao denotes the radius of the hole, then after some algebraic
manipulations equation (3) becomes
and
S r (X 0 ) = S r (X 0 ) = 0 for T > 0 (9c, r/)
where 2 = a/aa is a nondimensionalized stress component and the
subscript denotes its direction. In the foregoing 1 and XQ are, re-
spectively, the nondimensionalized inner and outer boundary radii
of the plate, So is the initial normalized radial stress at X = 1 due
to UQ where Uo is the deformation at the inner boundary given ini-
tially and then held constant. Equations (9b) and (9c) when sub-
stituted in equation (8) will yield constants A and B and equations
*o2
A = 2 ( 1 - y)S 0

axx ax x's x ax (4)

B = -
(1 + v)T, n

For details see Penny and Marriot [1]. For the ensuing creep the
equilibrium equation (4) will become equation (5) and for a plate and
with no plastic deformations the right-hand side of equation (4) (1 + f)/ 2 (X 0 ) + (1 - v)liiiJH
s(X,
D = ^
will become zero and the resulting equation is given by equation (1 + v) + (1 - V)X^
(6): where

(5)
axiX ax(xn~x ax for T > o h (X) =
2 Jx X
dX

0 for = 0 (6) and

~ax xX ~ax <!>}:
T

where a dot represents a partial derivative with respect to the non

dimensional time parameter T defined in the Appendix. Integra
tion of equations (5) and (6) yields
I 3 (X) •X'
r
j
i
zg'-f
X3
dX

From equations (1) along with the previously obtained resuk-

U-- + DX for T > 0 (7) we can obtain the normalized stress rates 2 r and So and
2X stress S r and 2«. After some algebraic manipulations, the
and are given as follows:

.25 .30 .75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25

Fig. 2 Tangential and radial stress versus time at inner edge

138 / FEBRUARY 1976 Transactions of the ASME

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 1.4-
,

1.2 \ Effective stress n T

*
\ V
\ \ w I*2=I,2+I92-IrI6

t
II , ^N^_ ^"•s^ " ,
I... • ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

.4- H=3

;
.59 .75 111 1.25 1.51 1.75 2.00 2.25
Fig. 3 Effective stress versus time at inner edge

-s„ when the stress rates become 1 percent of their initial values. In
S„ = (X2 + X 0 2 )
this analysis, a parameter m is introduced (see Appendix) which
defines the creep characteristics of the plate material.
for T = 0 (10)
Results and Conclusions
s, = - I^-V) For different values of m, stress distribution in the plate is ob-
-*,
tained by using equation (12) repeatedly. Results are presented in
and Figs. 2-5 for a plate in which the ratio of inner radius to outer radi-
1 (1+ ) + (1 (ya ) us, Xo, is taken to be 0.2. Fig. 2 shows how the radial and tangen-
"• _ 1 - v* {(i - v)x> - a + „» ( f^; + (1 "^- - tial stresses relax with time at the hole edge. Fig. 3 represents re-
laxation in the effective stress. The tangential stress diminishes
-2(/2(X) + / 3 ( X ) ) - 7 f l rapidly in the early stage of relaxation. The rate of relaxation is
also influenced by the creep parameter m. As the steady state ap-
for 7 > 0 (ID proaches, the effect of creep parameter m on tangential stress and
-1 radial and effective stresses is opposite. In other words, the lower
S,= 2 {(1 + v) the value of m the higher the effective and radial stresses and the
l - i >
lower the tangential stress. The spatial variations of the stresses
(1 + v)l2(X0) + (1 - ^ ( X j ) , /2(x) , I3(X) are presented in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 shows that the radial stress is
+ (1 - y)Z 2 }
(1 + V) + (1 - ^)X02 1 1 + y not significantly affected beyond a distance of about two times the
where Vr and V» are given in the Appendix. hole diameter. However, the tangential stress, shown in Fig. 5,
The stresses at any time T can be obtained by step-by-step inte- tends to become uniform throughout the plate. Therefore the as-
gration of stress rates as follows. Such a method of integration was sumption of neglecting the effect of neighboring joints on the
used by Penny [2] for creep flow problems in shells. For a small in- stress-relaxation characteristics of a joint was a reasonable one.
crement of time AT, we can write Theoretical estimates of relaxation in the pressure of a press-fit-
ted joint are presented. Much of the relaxation is found to occur
(S„) T + A T = ( S „ ) T + A T ( S ; i ) T (12) immediately after the joint is made. Interaction of the neighboring
Step-by-step integration of equation (11) is continued till a joints in the relaxation of a pressure joint can be assumed small if
steady state is reached. A steady state is assumed to be reached the joints are spaced in a grid size of approximately 3ao (where ao

*tw X
3

C s = Steady-state time

Fig. 4 Radial stress distribution with X

J
°urnal of Engineering for Industry FEBRUARY 1976 / 139

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 .8 .4

Fig. 5 Tangential stress distribution with X

is the diameter of the hole). Relaxation rates and the steady-state

X= (3/2)k*/a*
stress levels are dependent on the creep parameter of the material.
where and a* denote the effective plastic strain rate and effec
Acknowledgment tive stress, respectively, and are given by
The author is grateful to Messrs. J. A. Bayer and W. J. Rhines
for their valuable comments. €*z=(2/3)(e/2+e/-e/e/)
2 2
ff*2 = crj + ae - uro (A-4)
References If we assume that the uniaxial creep data can be given by ;i
1 Penny, R. K., and Marriott, D. L., Design for Creep, McGraw-Hill, product of two functions—one a function of stress only and the
London, 1971.
2 Penny, R. K., "The Creep of Spherical Shells Containing Discontinui- other a function of time only, then we can write
ties," Int. J. Mech. Sci., Vol. 9,1967, pp. 373-388. k = S{a)P(t)
3 Penny, R. K., and Sim, R. G., "Time Dependent Creep of Plates and
Pressure Containers," International Conference Pressure Vessel Design, where e is the rate of strain. Different forms of S(cr) and P(i) have
Delft, 1969. been used in the literature. For the present analysis we have as-
4 Penny, R. K., and Hayhurst, D. R., "The Deformations and Stresses in sumed S(ff) = an and P(t) is kept an arbitrary function of time.
a Stretched Plate Containing a Hole During Stress Redistribution Caused Furthermore, it is assumed that the effective-stress and effective-
by Creep," Int. J. Mech. Sci., Vol. 11,1969, pp. 23-29.
5 Hayhurst, D. R., "Stress Redistribution and Rupture Due to Creep in plastic strain rates fit the uniaxial creep data, that is
a Uniformly Stretched Thin Plate Containing a Circular Hole," Journal of
Applied Mechanics, Vol. 40, TRANS. ASME, Series E, Vol. 95, No. 1, Mar. k* = (a*)mP(t) (A-r>)
1973, pp. 244-250.
6 Mendelson, A., Plasticity: Theory and Application, Macmillan, New Then combining (A-l)-(A-5), we get
York, 1970.
g/= (o*)m-Hor-ve/2)p(t)
APPENDIX
and
Creep Strain—Stress Relationships. If we assume that the
plastic deformations occurring in creep follow von-Mises yield cri- ke" = (a*)"-Hcr e - o- r /2)PU) (A-0)
terion and the plastic potential theory, then we have
where m is a parameter defining the creep characteristics of the
'=\ot, (A-l) material.
Nondimensionalizing the stresses and strain rates, we get
where iif are the plastic strain rates and A is a constant of propor-
tionality, or;/ denote the deviatoric stress components. For the Vr = S*"-1(Sr-29/2)
plate problem we have o> and as as the only two nonzero stress
components. Then and

a / = -(o> + <re)/3
v9 = s*m-Hse-sr/2) (A-7)

ff/ = 2(crr - or e /2)/3 where the dot in equations (A-7) represents a derivative with iv-
spect to the nondimensionalized time parameter T given by
and (A-2)
oy = 2(o-„-o-,/2)/3
= .Eo-o"'"1 f Pti()dX
Substituting equation (A-2) into (A-l) yields tf, iff, and y .
Following Mendelson [6], we get and (jo is a nondimensionalizing stress parameter.

140 / FEBRUARY 1976 Transactions of the ASME

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