Prediction of anisotropic material behavior based on multiresolution continuum mechanics in consideration of a characteristic length scale

New advanced materials have received more attention from many scientists and engineers because of their outstanding chemical, electrical, thermal, optical, and mechanical properties. Since the design of advanced material by experiments requires high cost and time, numerical approaches have always been of great interest. In this paper, finite element analysis of anisotropic material behavior has been carried out based on a multiresolution continuum theory. Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) damage model has been applied as a constitutive model at macroscale. Effects of plastic anisotropy on deformation behavior are assessed using Hill??s 48 yield function for anisotropic material and von Mises yield function for isotropic material, respectively. The material parameters for both isotropic and anisotropic damage models have systematically been determined from microstructure through unit cell modeling. The newly proposed linear approximation of local velocity gradient resolved the underdetermined problem of the previous homogenization process. Anisotropic material behaviors of a tensile specimen have been investigated by the proposed multiresolution continuum theory.     

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.     

Effects of moisture ingression on polymeric laminate composites and its prevention via highly robust barrier films

Three different fiber-reinforced composite test laminates were laid up using carbon-, glass-, and Kevlar-reinforced epoxy prepregs, and then four different hydrophobic barrier films were placed as the out-of-most ply (last ply) on top of the test laminates. The prepared samples were co-cured through an autoclave per recommended cure cycles. These hydrophobic barrier films included polyether ether ketone or PEEK (12.7- and 25.4-μm thicknesses), polytetrafluoroethylene or Teflon (25.4 μm), and polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) or Tedlar (25.4 μm). Tedlar films have been the only source used for moisture prevention in Aerospace composites, so the purpose of the present study was to determine other alternatives and their moisture ingression prevention characteristics. The tape adhesion tests conducted on the barrier films of the composite panels indicated that PEEK and Tedlar films were well bonded on the composite surfaces, while Teflon films failed the tape adhesion tests. The laminate composites that were co-bonded with barrier films were immersed in water up to 29 days, and then 3-point bend tests were conducted on each sample before and after immersion. Test results show that 25.4-μm thick PEEK and Tedlar films on the carbon, glass, and Kevlar laminate composites provided similar mechanical properties. Also, the laminates incorporated with barrier films exhibited significantly higher mechanical properties when compared to the same laminates without any barrier films. This study indicated that these barrier films considerably reduced moisture ingression into the laminate composite structures, which may be useful for applications in composite aircraft and wind turbines.     

Finite element analysis of ball burnishing process: comparisons between numerical results and experiments

Ball burnishing is a surface enhancement process where a residual compressive stress is created in the surface layers of the workpiece. Several studies have been conducted on this process, but they are more concerned with the experimental aspect. So, there is still a real need for reliable numerical models that enable us to understand the mechanical behaviour of the workpiece during the process. These models also serve to optimise the studied process. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element (FE) ball burnishing modelling is presented in this paper, where an elastic–plastic material model is assumed in the framework of the FE analysis. The pertinence of these models to predict residual stresses created by the process is discussed by drawing comparisons between simulation results and experimental data. The obtained results show that the three-dimensional FE model predicts the residual stresses and provides useful information on the effect of the process parameters.     

A constitutive model for transversely isotropic foams, and its application to the indentation of balsa wood

An elastic-plastic constitutive model for transversely isotropic compressible solids (foams) has been developed. A quadratic yield surface with four parameters and one hardening function is proposed. Associated plastic flow is assumed and the yield surface evolves in a self-similar manner calibrated by the uniaxial compressive (or tensile) response of the cellular solid in the axial direction. All material constants in the model (elastic and plastic) can be determined from a combination of a total of four uniaxial and shear tests. The model is used to predict the indentation response of balsa wood to a conical indenter. For the three cone angles considered in this study, very good agreement is found between the experimental measurements and the finite element (FE) predictions of the transversely isotropic cellular solid model. On the other hand, an isotropic foam model is shown to be inadequate to capture the indentation response.     

3D FE modelling of high-speed ball nose end milling

The paper details research and development of a Lagrangian-based, 3D finite element (FE) model to simulate the high-speed ball nose end milling of Inconel 718 nickel-based superalloy using the commercial FE package ABAQUS Explicit. The workpiece material was modelled as elastic plastic with isotropic hardening and the flow stress defined as a function of strain, strain rate and temperature. Workpiece material data were obtained from uniaxial compression tests at elevated strain rates and temperatures (up to 100/s and 850°C, respectively) on a Gleeble 3500 thermo-mechanical simulator. The data were fitted to an overstress power law constitutive relationship in order to characterise flow behaviour of the material at the level of strain rates found in machining processes (typically up to 10⁵/s). Evolution of the chip was initially seen to progress smoothly, with the predicted machined workpiece contour showing good correlation with an actual chip profile/shape. Cutting force predictions from the FE model were validated against corresponding experimental values measured using a piezoelectric dynamometer, while modelled shear zone/chip temperatures were compared with previously determined experimental data. The model was successful in predicting the forces in the feed and step-over direction to within 10% of corresponding experimental values but showed a very large discrepancy with the thrust force component (～90%). Modelled shear-plane temperatures calculated at the point of maximum cutting force were found to demonstrate very good agreement with measured values, giving a discrepancy of ～5%. The simulation required a computational time of approximately 167 h to complete one full revolution of the ball end mill at 90 m/min cutting speed.     

Kinematic shakedown analysis under a general yield condition with non-associated plastic flow

A nonlinear, purely kinematic approach with the finite element implementation is developed to perform shakedown analysis for materials obeying a general yield condition with non-associated plastic flow. The adopted material model can be used for both isotropic materials (e.g. von Mises's, Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager criteria) and anisotropic materials (e.g. Hill's and Tsai-Wu criteria) with both associated and non-associated plastic flow. Nonlinear yield criterion is directly introduced into the kinematic shakedown theorem without linearization and instead a nonlinear, purely kinematic formulation is obtained. By means of mathematical programming techniques, the finite element model of shakedown analysis is formulated as a nonlinear programming problem subject to only a small number of equality constraints. The objective function corresponds to plastic dissipation power which is to be minimized and an upper bound to the shakedown load of a structure can then be obtained by solving the minimum optimization problem. A direct, iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the resulting nonlinear programming problem, where a penalty factor based on the calculation of the plastic dissipation power is used to overcome the numerical difficulty caused by the non-differentiability of the objective function in elastic areas. The calculation is entirely based on a purely kinematical velocity field without calculation of stresses. Meanwhile, only a small number of equality constraints are introduced into the nonlinear programming problem. So the computational effort is very modest. Numerical applications prove that the developed algorithm has a very good numerical stability and computational efficiency. The proposed approach can capture different plastic behaviours of materials and therefore has a very wide applicability.     

Experimental validation of a finite element model of a composite tibia

Composite bones are synthetic models made to simulate the mechanical behaviour of human bones. Finite element (FE) models of composite bone can be used to evaluate new and modified designs of joint prostheses and fixation devices. The aim of the current study was to create an FE model of a composite tibia and to validate it against results obtained from a comprehensive set of experiments. For this, 17 strain rosettes were attached to a composite tibia (model 3101, Pacific Research Laboratories, Vashon, Washington, USA). Surface strains and displacements were measured under 13 loading conditions. Two FE models were created on the basis of computed tomography scans. The models differed from each other in the mesh and material properties assigned. The experiments were simulated on them and the results compared with experimental results. The more accurate model was selected on the basis of regression analysis. In general, experimental strain measurements were highly repeatable and compared well with published results. The more accurate model, in which the inner elements representing the foam were assigned isotropic material properties and the elements representing the epoxy layer were assigned transversely isotropic material properties, was able to simulate the mechanical behaviour of the tibia with acceptable accuracy. The regression line for all axial loads combined had a slope of 0.999, an intercept of -6.24 microstrain, and an R2 value of 0.962. The root mean square error as a percentage was 5 per cent.     

Simulation research on the anisotropic cutting mechanism of KDP crystal using a new constitutive model

Potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) exhibits anisotropic and hydrostatic pressure-dependent mechanical characteristics during processing. However, none of the existed material models is capable of describing the mechanical properties of the crystal. Thus, a new constitutive model, which combines the anisotropic elastic and pressure-dependent plastic model has been proposed in this paper. In addition, the tensile stress failure criterion is adopted as the fracture criterion of KDP crystal. Subroutine of the new material model is programmed and integrated into the commercial finite element software LS-DYNA. On the basis of that, the unknown material parameters of KDP are successfully identified with the aid of the nanoindentation/scratch technique and finite-element simulation. Finally, 2-D and 3-D cutting simulations applying the new model are performed to investigate the influence of cutting parameters on the brittle ductile transition depth and cutting force. The simulation results show good agreement with the KDP cutting experiment results, which confirm the validity and capability of the proposed constitutive model.     

Isolated contact model of an idealized asphalt mix

The isolated contact modelling approach, first developed for analysis of powder compaction, is applied to model the deformation behaviour of an idealized asphalt mix. The deformation characteristics of thin films of nonlinear viscous bitumen (established elsewhere) are employed as the microscopic contact model. An isolated contact model is derived to describe the deformation of an idealized mix subject to axisymmetric loadings. Results are presented for mixes having isotropic and anisotropic microstructures. The evolution of anisotropy in initially isotropic mixes is also discussed.     

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.     

Effect of bend angle on plastic loads of pipe bends under internal pressure and in-plane bending

This paper quantifies the effect of a bend angle of a pipe bend on plastic loads, via small strain and large strain finite element (FE) limit analyses using elastic–perfectly plastic materials. To consider the effect of the attached straight pipe, two limiting cases are considered. One case corresponds to the pipe bend without the attached straight pipe, and the other to that with a sufficiently long attached straight pipe. For the former case, the FE results suggest that the limit load is not affected by the bend angle for both in-plane bending and internal pressure. For the latter case, however, the bend angle affects plastic loads. An interesting finding is that the plastic load smoothly changes from the limit load of the straight pipe when the bend angle approaches zero to the plastic load of the 90 pipe bend when the bend angle approaches 90. Based on such observations, closed-form plastic load solutions are proposed for the pipe bend with an arbitrary bend angle under in-plane bending and internal pressure.     

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.     

An integrated parameter optimization system for MIMO plastic injection molding using soft computing

This study proposes an integrated optimization system to find out the optimal parameter settings of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) plastic injection molding (PIM) process. The system is divided into two stages. In the first stage, the Taguchi method and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to perform the experimental work, calculate the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, and determine the initial process parameters. The back-propagation neural network (BPNN) is employed to construct an S/N ratio predictor and a quality predictor. The S/N ratio predictor and genetic algorithms (GA) are integrated to search for the first optimal parameter combination. The purpose of this stage is to reduce the process variance. In the second stage, the quality predictor is combined with particle swarm optimization (PSO) to find the final optimal parameters. The quality characteristics, product length and warpage, are dedicated to finding the optimal process parameters. After the numerical analysis, the optimal parameters can meet the lowest variance and the product quality requirements simultaneously. Experimental results show that the proposed optimization system can not only satisfy the quality specification but also improve stability of the PIM process.     

Effect of elastic-plastic behavior of coating layer on drawability and frictional characteristic of galvannealed steel sheets

During a galvannealed sheet metal forming, the failures of coating layers (powdering, flaking and cracking) frequently affect the strain state of sheets and deteriorate the frictional characteristic between sheets and tools. Two FE-models in this study were suggested to investigate the effects of the mechanical behavior of coating layers on the formability and friction of the coated steel sheets in FE analysis; the first is one-layer model to express the coated sheet as one stress-strain curve and the second is a multiple-layer model which is composed of substrates and coating layers, separately. First, the frictional properties and the formability of the coated sheets were experimentally investigated using a cup deep-drawing trial. After, the drawing process was simulated by FE analysis of the two models. In the multiplelayer model, the mechanical behavior of the coating is defined as a stress-strain curve which was determined using the nanoindentation test of the coating, its FE analysis and artificial neural network method. The result showed that the multiple-layer model provides more accuracy predictions of drawing loads than the one-layer model in the FE analysis, compared to the actual cup drawing test.

     

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.     

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.     

Development of an anisotropic constitutive model for single-crystal superalloy for combined fatigue and creep loading

A unified anisotropic viscoplastic constitutive model for single-crystal superalloys is developed based on a modification of a phenomenological isotropic model. Orientation-dependent viscoplastic behaviour was observed in experiments. The model is used to simulate the orientation and cyclic mechanical response of single-crystal SRR99 under combined fatigue and creep conditions at 950°C. The results from the simulations are then used to estimate the fatigue-creep lives of the single-crystal nickel-base superalloy SRR99 using a new life prediction methodology. The predicted fatigue-creep lives are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Study on effect of mean stress on fatigue life prediction of thin film structure

This paper describes the effect of mean stress on fatigue life prediction of structure made with thin film. It is well known that the mean stress influences fatigue life prediction of mechanical structure. We investigated a reasonable method for considering mean stress when fatigue strength assessment of micro structure of thin film should be performed. Fatigue tests of smooth specimen of beryllium-copper (BeCu) thin film were performed in ambient air at R = 0.1 with 5 Hz. A micro probe was designed and made with BeCu thin film by the precision press process. Fatigue tests of micro structure were performed with 5 Hz frequency, in ambient air to verify the fatigue life predicted by computer simulation through FE analysis. The fatigue life predicted by the S _a -N curve modified by Goodman method with principal stress through FE analysis shows a more reasonable result than other methods.