Confined Tube Crimp Using Portable Hand Tools
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
The Lawrence Radiation Laboratory developed handheld tools that crimp a 1/16 inch OD tube, forming a leak tight seal1 (see Figure 1). The leak tight seal forms by confining the 1/16 inch OD tubing inside a die while applying crimp pressure. Under confined pressure, the tube walls weld at the crimp. The purpose of this study was to determine conditions for fabricating a leak tight tube weld. The equipment was used on a trial-and-error basis, changing the conditions after each attempt until successful welds were fabricated. To better confine the tube, the die faces were polished. Polishing removed a few thousandths of an inch from the die face, resulting in a tighter grip on the tubing wall. Using detergent in an ultrasonic bath, the tubing was cleaned. Also, the time under crimp pressure was increased to 30 seconds. With these modifications, acceptable cold welds were fabricated. After setting the conditions for an acceptable cold weld, the tube was TIG welded across the crimped face.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1245568
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-16-22222
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Analysis of the MST-16 crimp process on cold 304L stainless steel
Crimp sealing of tubes flush with or below a fixed surface