Rebar splicing is essential in construction sites. Traditional methods, such as lap splicing and welded splicing, have the disadvantages of being complicated to construct, taking up a lot of space, and difficult to maintain high quality. To overcome ...
Rebar splicing is essential in construction sites. Traditional methods, such as lap splicing and welded splicing, have the disadvantages of being complicated to construct, taking up a lot of space, and difficult to maintain high quality. To overcome these limitations, one-touch rebar couplers have been developed and are receiving attention, but the current products are heavy and expensive, and there is room for improvement in terms of structure and process.
This study aims to improve both economic efficiency and constructability by reducing the weight of one-touch rebar couplers and improving the manufacturing process. We analyzed the inefficiencies in the design and manufacturing processes of existing couplers using D25 rebars, which are widely used in the domestic construction market, and introduced various design techniques and processing methods to improve them. We applied the heat treatment process of SCM440 steel to enhance the mechanical properties of the coupler, and applied trapezoidal screws instead of existing triangular screws to improve the joining strength. In addition, we developed a new press processing method to design the housing to reduce its weight while maintaining structural stability.
In addition, this study systematically evaluated the main variables of the coupler housing using the Design of Experiments (DOE) method and derived the optimal housing shape through the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Through this, the shape and thickness of the housing were optimized to achieve weight reduction and the economic feasibility of the coupler was significantly improved. In addition, the manufacturing process of the housing and collet was simplified to increase production efficiency, and the overall manufacturing cost and time were reduced through design improvements.
The coupler developed through this study has a lightweight design and high joining strength compared to existing products, enabling more efficient rebar connection work at construction sites. The results of the study provide important guidelines for the design and manufacturing of one-touch rebar couplers and suggest the possibility of expansion that can be applied to rebars of various diameters and special earthquake-resistant rebars in the future.