This paper reports the location of stress concentration and compares the results obtained by theoretical analysis with the analysis done by the analysis software. In order to avoid economic losses of production due to stoppages related to repair work, there is a need to study the development of measures to increase their reliability. Despite knowing the importance of this a very little research work has been reported in this field. An appropriate analysis of the literature was carried out in order to find directions for improving methods performance of keyed joints. The paper analyzes the features of the work of the most common non-stressed connections prismatic keys. Analysis of the state of operation of non-stressed keyed joints, directions for improving their designs, and modern simplified method of calculation explains the relevance of studies of workability and reliability improvement. Ways have been considered to increase the reliability of connections with prismatic keys. In this work, a review of some of the latest, most interesting, by the author's opinion, is carried out, studies on the contact interaction of parts. The requirements for the development and research of new keyed joints are formulated. The basic design of the connection with cylindrical working surfaces of the key is adopted. Known methods of determination are analyzed contact deformations by various scientific schools. The requirements for the development of the method of calculating unstressed keyways are formulated connections. All our calculations were primarily made based on the method of the Scientific School of Volgograd State Technical University and it was adopted as the basic one.
Key words: non-stressed keyed connections, unstressed keyed connections, reliability, keyway connection with a cylindrical segment, contact deformation, destruction, improvement of the design, self-locking of the key, fracture