FAILURE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF DESK CHAIR CASTORS

Abstract

Desk chairs are ubiquitous in the officeenvironment and are often prematurely disposed of becauseof broken castors. Improving the performance and lifespanof these castors will result in significant qualityimprovement as well as a decrease in end-user cost. Thispaper focuses on KEVI™ castors since they are the mostcommonly used desk chair castor. Computer aided designmodels of the castors were created tested using finiteelement analysis to determine the cause of failure. Scanningelectron microscopy must be performed on failed samples tooffer comparison with the computer simulation. It isexpected that the part failure arises from a combination ofthree aspects: lack of stress distribution in design, excessiveloading from improper use, and use of a material whichlacks significant toughness. Based on the failure analysis,alternative castor designs and material options can beinvestigated for product improvement.Index Terms ⎯ Computer aided design, Designoptimization, Failure analysis, Finite element analysis.