Exchange of manufacturing process ratchet pawl

The objective of this paper is to make feasible the exchange of the manufacturing process of pawls, one of the components of manual ratchet wrench tool, which currently is manufactured by the micro fusing process. The development has taken place, primarily, in analyzing the possible processes that could meet the technical requirements that the part requires, and after research, the process that has best met the requirements was powder metallurgy. To confirm the research, a prototype of the part has been made through the powder metallurgy process, in which the alloy for raw material has been adapted to the mechanical demands that the part will undergo. After molding, the prototype has gone through sintering and surface treatment to increase hardness and wear resistance. The prototypes have been assembled in six wrenches and subjected to torque test, in which has been applied 62 N.m, according to DIN 3122 which regulates the product. All 6 wrenches tested have been approved, but the sample 1 that had undergone carbonitriding treatment has shown the greatest resistance, resisting 98 N.m. (C) 2014 Sociedade Portuguesa de Materiais (SPM). Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.