Variance of Particle Size: Another Monitor to Evaluate Abrasive Wear

The effect of variance of particle size plays a dominant role in the wear rate of materials. In the present research, such effect is investigated using computer simulation, in which Monte Carlo method has been combined to calculate the wear rate of the materials. Abrasive wear rates of materials with the same particle average size exhibited a rapid increase with increasing variance of particle sizes distribution from small variance. Then wear rates maximize and decrease slightly with further increase of variance. The relationship between particle variances and hardness is also investigated. The particle size effect is explained via comparison of wear pattern of different particle sizes.     

A study on the dynamic characteristics of the Korean Yi-dynasty bell type structure

The dynamic characteristics of the Korean Yi-dynasty bell type structure, including the acoustic effects, are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. The numerical solutions of natural frequencies and mode shape for membrane and flexural behavior are obtained by using the NASTRAN program for the finite element method with plate shell elements of triangular and quadrilateral types. Test bells, A and B types similar to the Kap-Sa bell in Kong-Ju chosen among typical Korean Yi-dynasty bells, are manufactured on different scales to the original bell. To consider the effects of the variation of the structural dimension on the dynamic response, these bells are analyzed with respect to the variation of the thickness of the wall and the bottom rim and the asymmetric Dang-Jwas. The impact method with the Fast Fourier Transform Analyzer is adopted to experimentally assess the dynamic response. Results are in good agreement with the numerical solutions.     

Detecting oscillation amplitude and defects of hard disk rotating in high speed by laser Doppler technique

Laser Doppler technique is widely used in industry for the purpose of detecting vibration and oscillation. Many researchers have found that using non-contact laser vibrometry to measure surface roughness of disk under dynamic status is more difficult than that of the static condition. In this paper, we proposed a laser Doppler technique for the purpose of measuring the oscillation amplitude and defects of hard disk rotating in high speed. Laser light source, optical Doppler system, detector and data process system were integrated in our experimental system. The whole system was calibrated using a sinusoid generator. The method for converting the measured voltage signals into the corresponding size data was described in detail. It was found that the average size of defects of the hard disk in our experiment is from 1 μm to 5 μm. The developed technique may be useful for quality control in real time in mass production processes.     

Unified synthesis of Watt-I six-link mechanisms using evolutionary optimization

A Watt-I mechanism can operate in eight different combinations of assembly modes and output link. In this paper, a novel approach is presented for carrying out unified optimum synthesis of various combination types of Watt-I mechanism, irrespective of whether identical or different ranges of variables are specified for different combination types. By carrying out unified synthesis the less suited combination types can be identified, leading to their elimination from the synthesis process. This results in a saving of the overall computational time. The presented approach can be implemented with most of the evolutionary optimization methods. In this paper, the Differential Evolution algorithm is chosen as the optimization method. Unified optimization results are presented for two problems. The proposed approach is general and can be used, with suitable modifications, to carry out unified optimum design of alternate mechanical systems which can perform a given task.     

Leonardo da Vinci’s Friction Experiments: An Old Story Acknowledged and Repeated

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is universally regarded as a brilliant polymath, designer, astronomer, artist, philosopher, and a visionary engineer of the Renaissance era. Interestingly, due to the delayed discovery of several caches of his notebook pages (as late as the 1960s), his immense contribution to the field of tribology has only recently surfaced. From these salvaged documents, da Vinci’s three notable observations that preceded the development of the laws of friction were uncovered: (1) Friction is independent of apparent contact area, (2) the resistance of friction is directly proportional to applied load, and (3) friction has a consistent value of µ = 0.25. In this work, we have attempted to construct a nearly faithful recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s apparatus for measuring friction based on his notebook illustrations and investigate the conditions under which Leonardo da Vinci’s experiments produced his findings. Our experiments, performed roughly 500 years later, reproduced Leonardo da Vinci’s findings of friction coefficients with wood of µ = 0.25, but only under conditions of roughly cut and brusquely squared samples of dry wood that were handled and sullied by hand in a fashion typical of wood working but inconsistent with the modern laboratory practice. Thus, our interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s findings is that these first tribological studies were actually performed on roughly cut and unpolished samples that had been handled extensively prior to and during testing; Such a procedure of sample preparation is entirely reasonable for the time period and suggests an active, dusty, and dynamic laboratory environment.     

A chamber composed of precision Mylar drift tubes

The design of a drift chamber composed of three layers of thin-walled (0.125 mm) precision Mylar tubes is described. Twenty six chambers of this type with areas from 1 × 1 to 2.5 × 2 m² comprising 4392 drift tubes have been produced for experiments at the 70-GeV accelerator at the Institute for High Energy Physics. The chamber design, the assembling procedure, and test results are presented.     

An experimental study on grinding parameters for manufacturing PCD micro-milling tool

Micromachining has become a necessary manufacturing process. Micro-milling tool and its evolution play a vital role in the development of micromachining. This study optimizes the grinding process of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) compact for manufacturing PCD micro-tool. The optimization is conducted by using four parameters, i.e., grain size of PCD compact, grain size of abrasive wheel, grinding speed, and feed rate designed by the Taguchi orthogonal array. The study then evaluates two grinding characteristics, i.e., grinding forces and cutting edge radius of the PCD compact. The results of ANOVA show that the most influential parameter on grinding PCD compact is the grain size of the PCD compact, followed by the grain size of the abrasive wheel, feed rate, and grinding speed. As an example, a quadrilateral PCD micro-milling tool with a cutting edge diameter of 80 μm is fabricated by using the optimized parameters.     

Use of Au Nanoparticle-Filled PTFE Films to Produce Low-Friction and Low-Wear Surface Coatings

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) possesses exceptional lubricating properties; however, its uses are limited due to its high susceptibility to wear. In an effort to overcome this shortcoming, a great deal of focus is placed on creating PTFE composites that exploit the strengths of PTFE and also reduce or eliminate its weaknesses. This investigation explores the use of Au nanoparticle-filled PTFE films to produce low-friction and low-wear surface coatings. PTFE + Au nanoparticle composite films were produced by dip coating stainless steel substrates into a mixture of colloidal PTFE and Au nanoparticles. Tribological tests showed that the composite film has a wear life that is twice that of pure PTFE and possesses an average coefficient of friction that is up to 50 % lower. PTFE suffers delamination as a result of poor adhesion of the film to the substrate and tearing resulting from a dominant adhesive wear mode. PTFE + Au, on the other hand, shows no sign of delamination or adhesive wear. This change in wear mode caused by the addition of Au nanoparticles significantly increases the wear resistance and durability of PTFE.     

A study on optimal design of process parameters in single point incremental forming of sheet metal by combining Box–Behnken design of experiments,response surface methods and genetic algorithms

Incremental forming is a sheet metal forming process characterized by high flexibility; for this reason, it is suggested for rapid prototyping and customized products. On the other hand, this process is slower than traditional ones and requires in-depth studies to know the influence and the optimization of certain process parameters. In this paper, a complete optimization procedure starting from modeling and leading to the search of robust optimal process parameters is proposed. A numerical model of single point incremental forming of aluminum truncated cone geometries is developed by means of Finite Element simulation code ABAQUS and validated experimentally. One of the problems to be solved in the metal forming processes of thin sheets is the taking into account of the effects of technological process parameters so that the part takes the desired mechanical and geometrical characteristics. The control parameters for the study included wall inclination angle (α), tool size (D), material thickness (Th_ini), and vertical step size (In). A total of 27 numerical tests were conducted based on a 4-factor, 3-level Box–Behnken Design of Experiments approach along with FEA. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was carried out to obtain the relative importance of each single factor in terms of their main effects on the response variable. The main and interaction effects of the process parameters on sheet thinning rate and the punch forces were studied in more detail and presented in graphical form that helps in selecting quickly the process parameters to achieve the desired results. The main objective of this work is to examine and minimize the sheet thinning rate and the punch loads generated in this forming process. A first optimization procedure is based on the use of graphical response surfaces methodology (RSM). Quadratic mathematical models of the process were formulated correlating for the important controllable process parameters with the considered responses. The adequacies of the models were checked using analysis of variance technique. These analytical formulations allow the identification of the influential parameters of an optimization problem and the reduction of the number of evaluations of the objective functions. Taking the models as objective functions further optimization has been carried out using a genetic algorithm (GA) developed in order to compute the optimum solutions defined by the minimum values of sheet thinning and the punch loads and their corresponding combinations of optimum process parameters. For validation of its accuracy and generalization, the genetic algorithm was tested by using two analytical test functions as benchmarks of which global and local minima are known. It was demonstrated that the developed method can solve high nonlinear problems successfully. Finally, it is observed that the numerical results showed the suitability of the proposed approaches, and some comparative studies of the optimum solutions obtained by these algorithms developed in this work are shown here.     

A Model of the Calibration Blocks of the Magnetic Susceptibility of Disperse Materials for Devices Intended for Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements: II. Experimental Estimates for the Parameters of Calibration Blocks

A method for production of calibration blocks on the basis of a homogeneous disperse weakly magnetic mixture of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic materials, as well as the methods for assessing their parameters, are developed. A set of calibration blocks with a magnetic susceptibility ranging from 5 × 10^?3 to 2.5 × 10^?2 SI units has been made. This set enables efficient calibration of the devices for measuring magnetic susceptibility. The efficiency of calculation methods is confirmed for the assessment of a calibration block's magnetic susceptibility. The calculated result coincides with the experimental value χ _c ^e = 1.98 SI units with an error of 1%.     

Study on rock reaction force depending on PDC cutter placement

The article focuses on the problem of polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) cutters' overlapping influence on rock reaction force. This study proposed a static force balance model, based on the model of Wojtanowicz and Kuru (1993 Wojtanowicz, A.K.; Kuru, E. (1993) Mathematical modeling of PDC bit drilling process based on a single-cutter mechanics. Journal of Energy Resources Technology-Transactions of the ASME, 115(4): 247–256.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The innovation of this model is considering two types of friction forces, acting on the contact frontal surface and the lateral surface of a PDC cutter, respectively. Additionally, the proposed model assumes a rock reaction force direction not orthogonal to the contact surface of a cutter but parallel to the crack propagation direction and similar to the rock heterogeneity direction.

Numerical study was provided for a new and a worn PDC cutter to define a rock reaction force depending on options of adjacent cutters' placement (cutters' shape, cutter sizes, bake rake angle, side rake angle, etc.). Two main tendencies were observed: increasing of lateral plot of a cutter decreases rock reaction force, and deviation between directions of cutting force and crack propagation is an extremely significant factor and affects rock reaction force magnitude.     

EPECUR setup for the search for narrow baryon resonances in pion-proton scattering

The EPECUR experimental setup has been designed to search for narrow resonant states by precisely measuring differential and total reaction cross sections for pion-nucleon interactions with 1-MeV pion energy steps. Over the 5 years that passed from the submission of the idea of the experiment to the start of data taking in April 2009, a non-magnetic spectrometer with a liquid hydrogen target based on the large-aperture multiwire drift chambers with a hexagonal structure has been built at the universal beamline 322 of the U-10 proton synchrotron at the Alikhanov Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics. Owing to the unique properties of the beamline, the beam particle momentum can be measured with an accuracy of 0.1% or better using 1-mm-pitch proportional chambers located at the first focus of the beamline. The design of numerous subsystems of the setup is based on modern electronic components including microprocessors and field programmable gate arrays. All the subsystems have been tuned and tested both individually and as parts of the whole setup. The distributed data acquisition system is based on the widely spread USB and Ethernet protocols, which help achieve high performance characteristics and take full advantage of the industrial solutions.     

Influence of viscosity modifiers on the rheological properties of synthetic oils

The study of the effect that the molecular weight and concentration of the polymer gelling additive PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) introduced into the synthetic base oil PAO6 has on viscosity. The empirical dependence of the viscosity of the thickened oil on the content of additives has been established and the coefficients of the thickening efficiency of additive have been determined. An experimental study of the viscosity of synthetic oils on the shear rate has been carried out at different contents of viscosity modifier PMMA with different molecular weights in a base of PAO6. The ranges of velocities have been determined at which the oil exhibits properties of non-Newtonian fluid. It has been shown that, with an increase in the molecular weight of PMMA of additive at the same concentration in its base, the non-Newtonian behavior of oil begins to emerge at lower shear rates. It has been found that the use of an acoustic arsenal of the operational control of the viscosity of lubricating oils based both on the piezoelectric and the magnetoelastic interaction is promising for the operational control of the viscosity of lubricating oils.     

The Role of Functional End Groups of Perfluoropolyether (Z-dol and Z-03) Lubricants in Augmenting the Tribology of SU-8 Composites

In an earlier work, we demonstrated the development of SU-8 composites using perfluoropolyether (PFPE) as lubricant filler which reduced friction coefficient by ~7 times and enhanced wear life of SU-8 by more than four orders of magnitude. In this work, we have investigated the role of chemical bonding between SU-8 and PFPE molecules using two types of PFPE lubricants (i.e., Fomblin^® Z-dol and Z-03) in improving the tribological properties of the composite. Z-dol has polar (–OH) end groups whereas Z-03 has non-polar (CF₃) end groups. SU-8 with Z-dol (SU-8 + Z-dol) films yielded ~8 times greater wear life than SU-8 with Z-03 (SU-8 + Z-03) films and more by four orders of magnitude than pure SU-8. The nature of the films was analyzed in detail by chemical and physical characterization techniques like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, water contact angle and thermo-gravimetric analysis. The results validated the role of polar end functional group of Z-dol in covalent binding with SU-8 upon UV plasma treatment that resulted in improved tribological properties.     

Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Ekonol Blends as Frictional Materials of Ultrasonic Motors

While high friction coefficients and good wear resistance are antagonistic properties of most materials, these properties are expected to promote excellent torque-speed characteristics and extend the life span of ultrasonic motors. Blending is an accepted technique for modifying tribological applications. p-Hydroxybenzoic acid polymer (Ekonol) blends with different compositions, and proportions were prepared through mechanical blending. Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE), poly(etheretherketone), and poly(phylenesulfide) (PPS) were selected as dispersed phases. The mechanical properties of the blends were investigated, and their tribological performance was tested using a block-on-ring wear meter. The worn surfaces of Ekonol blends were observed using a scanning electron microscope to elucidate the relevant wear mechanisms. Results showed that the dispersed phases have distinct effects on the impact strength and hardness, as well as friction coefficient and wear rate, of the blends. Curves of hardness and friction coefficient versus the dispersed phase content showed apparent similarities, which indicates that hardness influences the friction of polymer blends in contact with carbon steel. Worn tracks on the surfaces of different polymer materials showed that the dominant wear mechanism transforms from fatigue and abrasion into adhesion with the addition of a dispersed phase; delamination was observed in the transfer films, especially those formed by the Ekonol/PTFE and Ekonol/PPS blends.     

Numerical investigation for erratic behavior of Kriging surrogate model

Kriging model is one of popular spatial/temporal interpolation models in engineering field since it could reduce the time resources for the expensive analysis. But generation of the Kriging model is hardly a sinecure because internal semi-variogram structure of the Kriging often reveals numerically unstable or erratic behaviors. In present study, the issues in the maximum likelihood estimation which are the vital-parts of the construction of the Kriging model, is investigated. These issues are divided into two aspects; Issue I is for the erratic response of likelihood function itself, and Issue II is for numerically unstable behaviors in the correlation matrix. For both issues, studies for specific circumstances which might raise the issue, and the reason of that are conducted. Some practical ways further are suggested to cope with them. Furthermore, the issue is studied for practical problem; aerodynamic performance coefficients of two-dimensional airfoil predicted by CFD analysis. Result shows that such erratic behavior of Kriging surrogate model can be effectively resolved by proposed solution. In conclusion, it is expected this paper could be helpful to prevent such an erratic and unstable behavior.     

Wear resistance of composites based on ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene filled with graphite and molybdenum disulfide microparticles

Tribological characteristics of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)-based compositions with graphite and molybdenum disulfide are studied under conditions of dry friction, boundary lubrication, and abrasive wear. It is shown that, under dry sliding friction, the wear rate of UHMWPE-graphite and UHMWPE-MoS2 polymer compositions is halved as compared to that of pure UHMWP, while their mechanical characteristics change only slightly. Under the conditions of abrasive wear, the wear resistance of these composites increases by 1.3–1.5 times. Concentrations of the fillers, which are optimum for improving the wear resistance, are determined. The supramolecular structure and the topography of worn surfaces of the UHMWPE compositions with various concentrations of the fillers are examined. A comparative analysis of the wear resistance of the composites under conditions of dry friction and lubrication is carried out. Mechanisms of the wear of the UHMWPE-graphite and UHMWPE-MoS₂ polymer compositions under conditions of dry sliding friction and abrasive wear are discussed.     

A complete real-time Ethernet solution for numerical control systems

This paper proposes a complete real-time Ethernet (RTE) solution including master and slave controllers for numerical control (NC) systems. To meet the development tendency of NC systems moving toward multi-axis coordination, high speed and high precision, one type of RTE architecture is built up with a dual ring topology. The function blocks of master/slave nodes are designed to realize the real-time communication capabilities using embedded CPU and field programmable gate array (FPGA) technologies. To reduce the minimum achievable cycle time, a cut-through transmission mechanism is employed to decrease the process latency at slave nodes, and the synchronization frame is optimized to shorten the frame duration. In order to synchronize the nodes of RTE-based NC systems accurately, a time synchronization strategy is scheduled and a proportion-integration (PI)-based phase-locked loop (PLL) is designed to keep the master clock and the slave clocks in step stably. The theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed RTE solution can achieve good real-time performance with low process latency and high time-synchronization accuracy, which satisfies the real-time communication requirements of RTE-based NC systems in an economical way.     

Optimization of cryogenic cooled EDM process parameters using grey relational analysis

This paper presents an experimental investigation on cryogenic cooling of liquid nitrogen (LN₂) copper electrode in the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. The optimization of the EDM process parameters, such as the electrode environment (conventional electrode and cryogenically cooled electrode in EDM), discharge current, pulse on time, gap voltage on material removal rate, electrode wear, and surface roughness on machining of AlSiCp metal matrix composite using multiple performance characteristics on grey relational analysis was investigated. The L₁₈ orthogonal array was utilized to examine the process parameters, and the optimal levels of the process parameters were identified through grey relational analysis. Experimental data were analyzed through analysis of variance. Scanning electron microscopy analysis was conducted to study the characteristics of the machined surface.     

Statistical aspects of fatigue crack growth life of base metal,weld metal and heat affected zone in FSWed 7075-T651 aluminum alloy

The statistical aspects of fatigue crack growth life of base metal (BM), weld metal (WM) and heat affected zone (HAZ) in friction stir welded (FSWed) 7075-T651 aluminum alloy has been studied by Weibull statistical analysis. The fatigue crack growth tests were performed at room temperature on ASTM standard CT specimens under three different constant stress intensity factor range controls. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of statistical aspects of fatigue crack growth life on stress intensity factor ranges and material properties, namely BM, WM and HAZ specimens. In this work, the Weibull distribution was employed to estimate the statistical aspects of fatigue crack growth life. The shape parameter of Weibull distribution for fatigue crack growth life was significantly affected by material properties and the stress intensity factor range. The scale parameter of WM specimen exhibited the lowest value at all stress intensity factor ranges.