Abstract
In the world of product design and manufacturing, when recycling aspect is put into product development, not only the development of recycling technology is necessary, but the establishment of design method for easy-disassembly characteristic and meanwhile maintaining easy-assembly characteristic, is needed as well. In this paper, snap-fit connection is chosen out of various types of connection that highly influent assembly/disassembly characteristics, where the beam of snap-fit is modified by cutting a hollow slot into it, thus, making it reconciles easy-assembly and easy-disassembly characteristics. By studying the effects of hollow slot size and its location on the snap-fit, optimum snap-fit shape for assembly/disassembly is formulated.
