Crimped wire termination connections are very common in electrical goods, including small and large appliances, heaters, power tools and ride-on toys. However, these items often fail when crimped wire termination connectors are improperly manufactured or inappropriately used. These failures often result in financial losses for the product user and/or manufacturer, as well as safety issues that are ultimately resolved through a product recall.
According to B02 member Jesse Aronstein, industry standards serve to qualify the basic integrity of commercially available crimp terminals, but the standards do not qualify the terminals as suitable for specific applications. "This must be done by product designers, however, a consolidated package of basic information for product developers and designers on the selection and qualification of crimp wire terminations has been lacking," says Aronstein. Subcommittee B02.11 on Electrical Contact Test Methods developed B 942, Guide for Specification and Quality Assurance for the Electrical Contact Performance of Crimped Wire Terminations, to fill this need.
The purpose of B 942 is to act as a handbook for product designers and engineers, component specifiers and manufacturing engineers and managers. It includes information on selection, manufacturing and quality control/assurance for crimped wire terminations. "It provides a methodology for selection that minimizes the risk of termination failures in critical parts of a products circuitry," says Aronstein, who also notes that the information in B 942 is in a form that can readily be understood at a practical application level by non-specialists.
Aronstein says that interested parties with knowledge and experience in the subject of crimped terminals are always welcome to get involved in future revisions of B 942.
For further technical information, contact Jesse Aronstein, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (phone: 845/462-6452; protune@aol.com). Committee B02 will meet May 15-16, at the May Committee Week in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For membership or meeting details, contact Jeffrey Adkins, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9738; jadkins@astm.org).
Release #7299