Original Article

Proc IMechE Part B:

J Engineering Manufacture
1–11
Analysis on technology and defects of Ó IMechE 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0954405414539493

connecting rod pib.sagepub.com

Hongyu Yang, Shuqing Kou, Wenqiang Gao and Peng Zhang

Abstract
The principle of connecting rod (con-rod) fracture splitting was analyzed, and the microscopic morphology of fracture
surface was observed using scanning electron microscope. Crack initiation and propagation during the fracture splitting
of con-rod process was numerically simulated. The effects of the bolt hole on the fracture splitting force and distribution
of stress and strain were investigated. Typical location of fracture splitting defects and why they were generated were
analyzed, and methods were proposed to avoid them. The results show that the nature of con-rod fracture splitting is a
mode I quasi-brittle fracture, and the position of crack initiation can be found during the analysis process. Existence of
the bolt hole is helpful to optimize fracture splitting technology and improve product quality, and the optimized range of
bolt hole position was achieved based on simulation result. Moreover, defects such as steps, break-outs, usually occur
between the bolt hole wall and outer edge of the con-rod big end in that two cracks converged and propagation velocity
was slow in this region. The fracture splitting defects can be reduced or avoided when the outer shape of the fracture
surface is a circular arc.

Keywords
Fracture splitting of connecting rod, crack propagation, fracture splitting defects, numerical simulation, quasi-brittle
fracture

Date received: 15 January 2014; accepted: 19 May 2014

Introduction of fracture mechanics has solved the above questions

A connecting rod (con-rod), whose big end is connected
to the crankshaft and small end is connected to the pis-
ton, is one of the key parts of an automobile engine.
Transmitting and transforming energy are the impor-
tant functions of con-rod. The work environment of
con-rod is extremely harsh in the automobile engine.1,2
According to the crankshaft structure, the big end of a
con-rod is divided into two parts, including a cap and a
rod. In traditional method, the big end of a con-rod is
cut off by a milling cutter. There are two major require-
ments: (1) the cap and rod should have high precision
rejoining surfaces, which is required by later machining
procedures, such as rough grinding and finish grinding
and (2) the structures of bolts are used to position.
Therefore bolt holes need to be perpendicular to rejoin-
ing surfaces. All these requirements greatly increase the
difficulty of processing, procedures and cost. However,
the fracture splitting (FS) technique of con-rod, which
is a high-precision manufacturing technology based on
the crack technology and stress concentration principle
perfectly. The big end of a con-rod is divided into a cap
and a rod using FS technology, which can improve the
production efficiency and reduce cost.3 At the same
time, the jagged fracture surface is obtained, which pro-
vides the precise three-dimensional position between
the cap and rod, and significantly improves assembly
quality and load bearing capacity.
FS technology has become the development situa-
tion of future for con-rod processing because of its sig-
nificant economic benefits and quality advantages, and
has been increasingly applied to production. FS mate-
rial, FS force, notch processing methods and parameter
optimization4 were extensively researched to optimize
Roll Forging Research Institute, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Corresponding author:
Shuqing Kou, Roll Forging Research Institute, Jilin University, Changchun
130025, China.
Email: kousq@jlu.edu.cn

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2 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

FS technology and reduce the defect rate of products.
For example, the FS force can be determined according
to the relationship between the J-integral value and the
stress intensity factor, which can help to select the opti-
mal notch parameters, and so on.5 Research on con-rod
FS in the past usually focused on crack initiation near
the notch. However, FS of the con-rod is different from
the fracture of general notch specimens, because of the
intricate structure of the big end. The machining posi-
tion of the bolt hole and the shape design of theoretical
fracture surface affect the FS process and product qual-
ity. Additionally, it has been found in production that
FS defects generate easily at the outer edge of the big
end of the con-rod,6 rather than the region where the
crack initiates. Consequently, investigation into three-
dimensional crack propagation is necessary.
In this article, according to the fracture mechanics
theory of a notch specimen, the process of the FS of a
C70S6 con-rod was simulated by ‘‘element death’’ tech-
nique of the finite element method.7 Three-dimensional
crack initiation and propagation were analyzed, and
the distribution of stress and strain at notch tip was
investigated. The path and the velocity of crack propa-
gation were determined. The effects of both bolt hole
and shape of fracture surface on the process of FS were
studied, and the reasons for FS defects were analyzed.
This study provides a reference for the design of the
position of the bolt hole and the shape of the fracture
surface, which help to improve the FS quality and effi-
ciently reduce defect rates. The validity of the analysis
results has been proved by experiment.
Principle of con-rod FS
The stress state of the local region of specimen is chan-
ged because of a notch, which causes a triaxial stress
state and stress concentration at the notch tip.8 The
load applied on notch specimen and the stress field
near notch tip are shown in Figure 1(a) and (b). There
is high longitudinal stress (sy) at the notch tip, leading
to transverse shrinkage because of the Poisson effect.
Conversely, the adjacent area tends to retain its original
size, leading to the generation of the transverse stresses
sx and sz and the formation of a triaxial stress state,
which leads to occurrence of brittle fracture instead of
plastic deformation.
The FS technology of a con-rod uses stress concen-
tration effect of notch and the notch sensitivity of

Figure 1. (a) The notch specimen subjected to load and Poisson effect diagram, (b) stress field near notch tip and (c) process of
the con-rod FS.

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Yang et al. 3

Figure 2. Microscopic morphology of the fracture surfaces: (a) under 1000 times and (b) under 2000 times.

material to change the stress state of the designated reaches to KIA. At that moment, the material is dam-
region, which makes the material yield strength in this aged and micro-cracks arise. So the fracture of con-rod
region higher than the brittle fracture strength that is depends on whether the stress at notch tip reaches the
required to achieve a brittle fracture.9 The process of fracture standard of the material. To select the right
FS is shown in Figure 1(c).10,11 On the inner side of the criterion of fracture, the investigation on the nature of
big end hole of the con-rod, two symmetrical notches fracture of con-rod FS is essential.
with the same shape and size are first cut as grooves by To determine the nature of the fracture, microscopic
a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet morphology of the fracture surface was observed using
(Nd:YAG) laser.12 Then, a load is applied perpendicu- a scanning electron microscope (SEM) after the FS of
lar to the theoretical fracture surface. With the increase the C70S6 con-rod, as shown in Figure 2. The quasi-
of load, higher stress will be induced near the tip of the brittle fracture surface was observed. The river pattern
notch. Cracks will initiate at this tip and propagate rap- can be seen from the microscopic morphology, which is
idly until the con-rod is divided into two parts, that is, a characteristic of cleavage fracture. According to the
a cap and a rod. way the external load is applied, FS of the con-rod
belongs to the mode I fracture category. The nature of
FS is quasi-brittle fracture after yielding in a small
Fracture criterion of con-rod FS
region of the elastic–plastic material, and analysis by
Stress components at the notch tip can be formulated linear elastic fracture mechanics could be used.
as follows, and its coordinate system is shown in Fracture will generate when the maximum principal
Figure 1(b)13 stress reaches the limit of the fracture stress of the con-
  9 rod. The maximum principal stress criterion can be
KI u u 3u KI r 3u > > used in quasi-brittle fracture, which is regarded as uni-
sx = pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi cos 1  sin sin  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi cos >
2pr 2 2 2 2pr 2r 2 > >
> fying the crack propagation fracture and regular
  >
>
KI u u 3u KI r 3u >
> strength criteria. Its accuracy has been proved by
sy = pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi cos 1 + sin sin + pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi cos > >
2pr 2 2 2 2pr 2r 2 >
>
>
= experiment and practice.14
KI u u 3u KI r 3u
t xy = pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi cos sin cos  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sin >
>
2pr 2 2 2 2pr 2r 2 >
>
>
> Finite element modeling of con-rod FS
t xz = t yz = 0 >
>
>
>
>
>
sz = n(sx + sy ) >
> Before FS, the diameter of the big end hole of the con-
>
;
sz = 0 rod is 41.8 mm and the diameter of bolt hole is 6.5 mm.
The center distance between the big end and small end
ð1Þ
holes is 147.5 mm, and the thickness of the con-rod spe-
where r is the curvature radius at the notch tip, r and u cimen is 17.9 mm. The material used for the con-rod
are the polar coordinates of a point near the tip, sx, sy, specimen is C70S6 steel. Tensile test was executed to
sz, t xy, txz and t yz are the stress components, n is the obtain the tensile properties of the specimen. The ten-
Poisson’s ratio and KI is the apparent stress intensity sile properties and geometric parameters of the notch
factor. KI represents the strength of stress field at notch are shown in Table 1.
tip, which was affected by load and notch. Under the Because of the symmetry of the con-rod and the min-
constant value of r, there is a critical value of KI, which imal effect of the small end, only a quarter of the big
is considered as the apparent fracture toughness (KIA) end was modeled in this study, as shown in Figure 3(a).
of material. KIA can be obtained by Charpy experiment The result of meshing is shown in Figure 3(b). The
using V-notch specimen. With the increase in load, KI mesh refinement is taken into particular consideration

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4 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

Table 1. The tensile properties of specimen and geometric parameters of notch.

Specimens of C70S6 steel con-rod Yield strength ss (MPa) 578

Tensile strength sb (MPa) 932
Fracture stress sf (MPa) 1125
Elastic modulus E (MPa) 2.1e5
Notch Length l (mm) 17.9
Depth h (mm) 0.4
Opening angle a (°) 90
Radius of curvature r (mm) 0.2

Figure 3. Finite element model: (a) geometry model of big end, (b) mesh and (c) contact and load.

in the specific area where the crack propagates.15 In
order to conserve computer resource and improve com-
putational speed, the model was meshed into a hexahe-
dral meshwork using the transition sub-network
method. Literature showed that an element size equal
to 0.05 mm yields optimum results.16 The conclusion
was in agreement with the tests using numerical analy-
ses, so the side lengths of hexahedral element were set
to 0.05 mm at crack propagation region. The maximum
value of the element aspect ratio was 1:2, and the mini-
mum value of the Jacobian was 0.92 beyond crack pro-
pagation region.
The boundary conditions were defined in accor-
dance with the actual working conditions, as shown in
Figure 3(c). There were two contact pairs. One was
between the deformation body and rigid fixed block,
and the other was between the deformation body and
rigid movable block. The rotation and displacement in
all directions of the fixed block were fixed. For the
movable block, the rotation and the displacement in
x-axis and z-axis were fixed, and displacement in y-axis
was applied. The movement velocity of movable block
along y-axis was about 14 mm/s in accordance with
actual conditions. Moreover, uz = 0 on nodes in plane
1 and ux = 0 on nodes in plane 2. Due to mode I load-
ing, the friction between the crack surfaces is not con-
sidered in the modeling.
After building the finite element modeling, a mesh
element was hypothesized to die when its maximum
principal stress reached to the presetting fracture stress
(sf) in the process of calculation. The dead element
would not to be displayed anymore in the modeling, so
crack propagation process was numerically simulated.
Then, the path of crack propagation can be clearly
observed.
Results and discussion
Crack growth and stress distribution
Figure 4 shows the first principal stress distribution
during the process of crack initiation and propagation.
It can be seen that the stress distribution is symmetrical
on both sides of the theoretical fracture surface,
namely, on the direction of u = 0 (as indicated in
Figure 1(b)). High stress distribution is in the shape of
a butterfly at the notch tip and crack tip, and it exhibits
the most significant effect of stress concentration. The
initiation point was measured to be about 0.05 mm
away from the notch tip of the middle thickness sur-
face. Under the loading velocity in accordance with
actual conditions, the propagation distance of the crack
was about 11.75 mm and took about 0.0006 s to propa-
gate to the end after initiation. Thus, the average calcu-
lated velocity of propagation was about 19.6 m/s.
During the propagation process, compressive stress
existed outside of con-rod.
The law of stress distribution in special locations
(lines 1–3) has been analyzed, and special locations are
shown in Figure 5(a). Figure 5(b)–(d) shows the distri-
bution curve of principal stress and equivalent stress at
the notch tip (line 1) and notch bisector (lines 2 and 3)
at the crack initiation. It can be seen from Figure 5(b)
that the principal stress and equivalent stress increase

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Yang et al.
Figure 4. The distribution of first principal stress during crack growth process: (a) before crack initiation, (b) crack initiation,
(c) propagation and (d) propagation end.
rapidly in the range of distance 0.7 mm from the outside
surface and increase slowly outside the range. As shown
in Figure 5(c) and (d), the three-dimensional high stress
region at the notch bisector concentrates in the range of
0.5 mm from the notch tip. The point with the highest
first principal stress is located at about 0.05 mm from
the notch tip on the middle thickness surface. The sec-
ond principal stress and third principal stress are rela-
tively high in this peak point, where the crack initiates.
Figure 5(e)–(g) shows the distribution curve of shear
stress at the notch tip and notch bisector at the crack
initiation. It can be seen that the shear stress is approxi-
mately equal to 0 at notch tip and notch bisector, mean-
ing that the shear stress does not exist on the theoretical
fracture surface.
Influence of the bolt hole on the FS of the con-rod
Figure 6 shows the FS force, plastic deformation and
stress distribution in the simulations using con-rod spe-
cimens with and without a bolt hole. As shown in
Figure 6(a) and (b), the FS force is reduced by 40%
and the plastic deformation of the con-rod big end is
reduced by tenfold with the existence of the bolt hole.
The decrease in the FS force can decrease the require-
ments on the FS equipment. The decrease in the plastic
deformation of the big end hole can reduce its ovality
defect. As shown in Figure 6(c), the point with maxi-
mum value of the first principal stress at the notch tip
is found on the middle thickness surface using con-rod
specimens with a bolt hole. The stress value is basically
the same as that of the con-rod specimens without a
bolt hole except the value near the outside surface,
which leads to the non-uniqueness of the crack initia-
tion point. This will reduce the quality of FS con-rod.
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5
Besides, if the bolt hole is machined on the cap and
rod separately after FS, both the positioning of bolt
hole and chucking of a cap and rod will be very hard.
Accordingly, the existence of the bolt hole is beneficial
to optimize the FS process.
Toughness of materials is a measure of a material’s
resistance to fracture or crack propagation.17 It is often
expressed in terms of the energy requirements to pro-
duce new fracture surface, as the crack grows towards
the critical condition for fracture.18 The position of the
bolt hole has an effect on FS process, because the thick-
ness of the specimen affects its fracture toughness.19 To
analyze this law, the values of B0 and B00 were set in
Figure 7(a).
Five series of B0 and B00 are shown in Table 2. The
results of comparing the effects of different bolt hole
positions on the FS force and the plastic deformation
are shown in Figure 7(b)–(e).
Figure 7(b) shows that the effect of different bolt
hole location on the FS force. It can be seen that the
FS force rise along with the increase in the value of B0 .
When B0 is less than 2.377 mm, the FS force increases
more slowly. As shown in Figure 7(c), when the B0 is
equal to 1.750 or 3.004 mm, the range of plastic defor-
mation near notch tip on the middle thickness surface
is lager. As shown in Figure 7(d), the range of plastic
deformation near notch tip on the outside surface
increases with increase in the value of B0 .
With the variation of value B0 , rules on the plastic
deformation zones of the middle surface and the out-
side surface are different. The reason is that the bolt
hole is located inside the fracture surface and far from
the outside surface. So its location only affects the size
of non cracking strip along the x-axis in region I near
notch, but does not affect the size of non cracking strip
6 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

Figure 5. (a) The special locations near notch (lines 1–3), (b) the distribution curves of principal stress and equivalent stress at the
line 1, (c) the distribution curves of principal stress and equivalent stress at the line 2, (d) the distribution curves of principal stress
and equivalent stress at the line 3, (e) the distribution curves of shear stress at the line 1, (f) the distribution curves of shear stress
at the line 2 and (g) the distribution curves of shear stress at the line 3.

Figure 6. The effects of bolt hole on FS force, plastic deformation and stress distribution: (a) the effect of bolt hole on FS force, (b)
the effect of bolt hole on plastic deformation of big end hole and (c) the effect of bolt hole on the first principal stress at notch tip.
FS: fracture splitting.

along the x-axis on outside surface near notch, as deformation occurs easily. When B0 is equal to
shown in Figure 7(a). For the middle surface, when the 3.004 mm, crack initiation needs larger FS force. The
B0 is equal to 1.750 mm, the thickness between the larger FS force also leads to the increase of plastic
notch tip and the bolt hole wall is thin, plastic deformation. For the outside surface, the plastic

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Yang et al. 7

Figure 7. (a) Cross-sectional view of the big end along the direction of theoretical fracture surface, (b) the effect of bolt hole
location on the FS force, (c) the effect on the plastic deformation near notch tip on the middle thickness surface, (d) the effect on
the plastic deformation near notch tip on the outside surface and (e) the effect on the plastic deformation of bolt hole on fracture
surface edge.
FS: fracture splitting.

Table 2. B0 and B00 for different locations of bolt hole.

1 2 3 4 5

B0 (mm) 1.750 2.004 2.377 2.750 3.004

B00 (mm) 3.004 2.750 2.377 2.004 1.750

deformation range is only controlled by the change of
FS force. As shown in Figure 7(b), the FS force rises
with the increase in the value of B0 . So the plastic defor-
mation on the outside surface increases with the
increase in the value of B0 .
The position of the bolt hole has affected the defor-
mation of the bolt hole as shown in Figure 7(e). With
the increase in the B0 value and the decrease in the B00
value, the bolt hole deformation near the notch is
decreased. In contrast, the bolt hole deformation far
from the notch is increased. When the value of either
B0 or B00 was lower than 2 mm, the bolt hole deforma-
tion on the corresponding side increased noticeably.
But when the values of B0 and B00 were both greater
than 2 mm, the variation in the plastic deformation was
not obvious.

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8 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture
Figure 8. FS defects found in experiments: (a) break-outs and (b) steps.
To sum up, the FS force is relatively low and the
plastic deformation range is relatively small when the
value of B0 is between 2.0 and 2.75 mm. The plastic
deformation of the bolt hole is small when the value of
B0 and B00 is greater than 2 mm. Therefore, the B0 should
be controlled between 2.0 and 2.75 mm and the B00
should be greater than 2 mm in processing of con-rod
FS.
Cause and preventive measures for FS defects
FS defects have been usually found in production, such
as break-outs, steps, and so on. As shown in Figure 8,
several defects are usually located on the outer edge of
the con-rod big end. This article analyzed the cause of
defects occurrence from crack propagation view. Path
and velocity of crack propagation was achieved by
numerical simulation. The left side of Figure 9 shows
the path of crack propagation. The color stands for
time changing, and the black curve stands for crack
front line at this moment, so the color stripe between
the two black curves is one time step. The right side of
Figure 9 shows the velocity of crack propagation.
Based on the different propagation velocities, the frac-
ture surface is divided into several regions.
It can be seen from Figure 9(a), the crack initiates at
the notch tip and propagates to the front and to the
outside surface at the same time. The main crack
divides into two parts when it reaches the bolt hole and
then converges after passing by the bolt hole. The steps
easily occurred in region IV where the two cracks con-
verge. When the cracks propagate to region V, the pro-
pagation velocity is lower because of the extrusion
pressure in this region, leading to break-outs.
Therefore, the reduction in the ranges of the regions
IV and V and the increase in the propagation velocity
can reduce the incidence of defects. In this article,
changing the design of outer shape of the fracture sur-
face was taken into account. As shown in Figure 9(b),
basic dimensions of the con-rod remains the same, and
trapezoid fracture surface could be attained by tilting
two end lines 30° inward. Another shape of fracture
surface outer edge was designed for circular arc, which
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was required to be concentric with bolt hole and tan-
gent to the two tilted end lines. Figure 9(c) and (d)
shows the crack propagation simulation results.
According to Figure 9(c) and (d), it can be seen that
when the outer shape of the fracture surface is a circular
arc, there is no obvious boundary between regions IV
and V. The ranges of these two regions are small, and
the crack propagates rapidly. Therefore, the arc shape
fracture surface is the most suitable within the accepta-
ble range for practical application.
To validate the simulation results and facilitate prac-
tical production, C70S6 con-rods were fracture split in
the FS facility with a drop-off wedge invented indepen-
dently by Jilin University (as shown in Figure 10(a)).
The results show that the quality of FS con-rod with
arc shape fracture surface is good, and the defect rate is
almost null. Figure 10(b) shows the FS con-rods with-
out the break-out and the step defects.
Conclusion
1. According to how the external load applied and
micro morphology of the fracture surface, the
nature of FS is a mode I quasi-brittle fracture after
yielding in a small region of the elastic–plastic
material. The results of numerical simulation show
that the point of crack initiation is located at about
0.05 mm from notch tip on the middle thickness
surface. The stress distribution is symmetrical on
both sides of the theoretical fracture surface and
shear stress is equal to 0 on the theoretical fracture
surface.
2. The FS force can be reduced by 40% and the plas-
tic deformation of the big end of the con-rod can
be reduced by tenfold under the existence of the
bolt hole. Besides, the existence of the bolt hole
changes stress distribution at notch tip, which leads
the point of crack initiation to be unique. Analysis
of the effect of different bolt hole location on FS
shows that the distance between the notch tip on
the middle thickness surface and the bolt hole wall
should be controlled between 2.0 and 2.75 mm. The
 Yang et al.

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Figure 9. (a) Crack propagation path and velocity of actual fracture surface, (b) changing the design of outer shape of the fracture surface, (c) crack propagation path and velocity of trapezoid
fracture surface and (d) crack propagation path and velocity of arc shape fracture surface.
9
10
Figure 10. Experimental setup of con-rod FS: (a) experimental facility and (b) experimental results.
distance between the bolt hole wall and outer edge
of the fracture surface should be larger than 2 mm.
Under this condition, the quality of the FS is the
best.
3. The main crack will divide into two parts when it
reaches the bolt hole, and these cracks then con-
verge after passing the bolt hole. When the two
cracks converge, some defects might occur, such as
steps. During the propagation process, compressive
stress exists outside the con-rod, causing low velo-
city of crack propagation, which finally leads to FS
defects, such as break-outs. When the outer shape
of the fracture surface is a circular arc, the range
where defects are prone to occur is decreased.
Moreover, the crack propagation velocity in this
range is increased, which can help to reduce the FS
defects rate.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Science and
Technology Major Project (2013ZX04002021) and
International Science and Technology Cooptation
Project (2011DFR 70350).
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Appendix 1 ss yield strength
sx tensile stress components along x-axis
Notation
sy tensile stress components along y-axis
B0 distance from notch tip to bolt hole wall sz tensile stress components along z-axis
on middle thickness surface txy shear stress components in xy-plane
B00 distance from bolt hole wall to con-rod txz shear stress components in xz-plane
outer edge on middle thickness surface tyz shear stress components in yz-plane
E elastic modulus

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