An effective dispatching rule for bi-objective job scheduling in a wafer fabrication factory—considering the average cycle time and the maximum lateness

This paper presents an effective dispatching rule to improve the scheduling of jobs in a wafer fabrication factory. Modified from two traditional dispatching rules, the new dispatching rule is aimed at the simultaneous optimization of the average cycle time and the maximum lateness; in practice, this means a promise of delivery to the customer as soon as possible and strict commitment to that promise. This simultaneous optimization has rarely been discussed in the past. The proposed methodology has the following innovative features. First, a highly effective fuzzy–neural approach is applied to estimate the remaining cycle time of a job. Second, the fluctuation smoothing rule for mean cycle time (FSMCT) and the earliest due date (EDD) rule are fused in a nonlinear way to generate the new rule. We also show that there is a contradiction between FSMCT and EDD and establish a certain-rule-first procedure to resolve the contradiction. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, production simulation is also applied in this study. The experimental results show the proposed methodology is better than some existing approaches at simultaneously reducing the average cycle time and the maximum lateness.     

Hard and soft approaches to manufacturing: which is the most important?

This paper briefly reviews hard and soft approaches to manufacturing in the context of both industrial needs and the historical evolution of approaches to manufacturing problem solving including more recent fashions. The paper recognises that practice requires a mixture of hard and soft approaches to problems, but that it is vital to understand which and when each should be applied. This requires people who are comfortable with both approaches and that are capable of interacting with colleagues from general management backgrounds. This presents a significant challenge for academia and requires continued debate between industry and academia to ensure that their respective contributions remain valid for both sides. The paper also makes further contributions to the discussion of research and teaching methods in support of practice. This revised version was published online in October 2004 with a correction to the issue number.     

Effective modulus of Si electrodes considering Li concentration,volume expansion,pore, and Poisson’s ratio of Li-ion batteries

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - We propose a novel mathematical model for predicting the effective modulus of Si electrodes in Li-ion batteries by considering the large volume...     

Erratum to “Topological structure of Rubik’s cube mechanism and synthesis of the regular hexahedron Rubik’s cube mechanism”

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology -     

Modeling of fatigue crack growth closure considering the integrative effect of cyclic stress ratio, specimen thickness and Poisson’s ratio

Key components of large structures in aeronautics industry are required to be made light and have long enough fatigue lives.It is of vital importance to estimate the fatigue life of these structures accurately.Since the FCG process is affected by various factors,no universal model exists due to the complexity of the mechanisms.Most of the existing models are obtained by fitting the experimental data and could hardly describe the integrative effect of most existing factors simultaneously.In order to account for the integrative effect of specimen parameters,material property and loading conditions on FCG process,a new model named integrative influence factor model(IIF) is proposed based on the plasticity-induced crack closure theory.Accordingly to the predictions of crack opening ratio(γ) and effective stress intensity factor range ratio(U) with different material under various loading conditions,predictions of γ and U by the IIF model are completely identical to the theoretical results from the plane stress state to the plane strain state when Poisson’s ratio equals 1/3.When Poisson’s ratio equals 0.3,predictions of γ and U by the IIF model are larger than the predictions by the existing model,and more close to the theoretical results.In addition,it describes the influence of R ratios on γ and U effectively in the whole region from-1.0 to 1.0.Moreover,several sets of test data of FCG rates in 5 kinds of aluminum alloys with various specimen thicknesses under different loading conditions are used to validate the IIF model,most of the test data are situated on the predicted curves or between the two curves that represent the specimen with different thicknesses under the same stress ratio.Some of the test data slightly departure from the predictions by the IIF model due to the surface roughness and errors in measurement.Besides,based on the analysis of the physical rule of crack opening ratios,a relative thickness of specimen is defined to describe the influence of material property,specimen thickness and so forth on FCG characteristics conveniently.In conclusion,the relative thickness of specimen simplifies the expression of FCG characteristic and provides a general parameter to analyze the fatigue characteristics of different materials with various thicknesses under different loading conditions.The IIF model describes the integrative effect of existing influence factors explicitly and quantitatively,and provides a helpful tool for fatigue property estimation of practical component and experiment design.     

Friction-Induced Vibration by Stribeck’s Law: Application to Wiper Blade Squeal Noise

This paper is concerned with the squeal noise of a wiper/windscreen contact. It is shown that squeal noise stems from friction-induced self-excited vibrations in the context of Stribeck’s law for friction coefficient. The study is specifically focussed on the instability range of velocities and not on the amplitude of limit cycles. The studied dynamic system consists of a single degree-of-freedom mass-spring-damper oscillator submitted to a velocity-dependent frictional force which follows the Stribeck law. The local stability is analyzed by the first Lyapunov method and results in a stability criterion. Experiments have been performed on a glass/elastomer contact lubricated with water. The tribometer ‘LUG’ provides measurements of the vibrational velocity and friction force versus sliding speed. It is found that the instability appears during the transition between boundary and elastohydrodynamic regimes where the negative gradient of the friction versus velocity curve is steep. The apparition and vanishing of instability are correctly predicted by the steady-state stability criterion.     

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.     

Effect of micro-scale Young’s modulus and surface roughness on adhesion property to plasma-treated rubber surface

Adhesion between rubbers and metals is often the main cause of machine trouble. Therefore, efficient utilization of rubber in dynamic and static applications requires the modification of the adhesion property of the rubber surface without affecting the bulk characteristics. In this work, we have studied the mechanism of the reduction in adhesion force between medical rubber, chloride-isobutene-isoprene rubber (CIIR), and stainless steel by using surface wave-excited plasma treatment of the rubber surface with oxygen and argon gases. Experimental results showed that surface roughness derivations increased by about 10 times across the treatment, at maximum, corresponding to the increase in time. In addition, the micro-scale Young’s modulus of treated CIIR sheet increased by about 6.3 times at maximum from that of the untreated CIIR sheet. These changes in Young’s modulus and roughness at the surface of CIIR sheet are considered to be the main reasons for the plasma-assisted reduction of adhesion force between stainless steel ball (SUS 440C, JIS) and CIIR sheet.     

Coupling system dynamics and contact behaviour: Modelling bearings subjected to environmental induced vibrations and ‘false brinelling’ degradation

During the last decades the increase in power of mechanical systems and the demand for increasing service life leads mechanical components of a system to work in extreme conditions. Moreover, actual mechanical systems include surfaces in sliding contact that are subjected to wear if exposed to high vibration. In fact, the vibration of components in contact results in large oscillations of the local contact stresses, due to the local deformation of the components at the contact interfaces. To approach correctly tribological problems, the coupling between the scale of the mechanism (system dynamics) and the scale of the contact needs to be accounted for.This paper presents an analysis concerning the influence of the vibrations induced by aircraft engines on the contact stresses of rolling bearings of the bleed system valves. To study the wear, resulting from false brinelling at the contact surfaces between balls and races of the bearings, it is then necessary to determine the forces due to the system vibrations and acting at the bearing connections with the structure. In order to perform a numerical transient analysis of the system dynamics a nonlinear simplified model of the valve (mechanism scale) is developed. The model is validated by comparing the numerical results with experimental tests. The time behaviour of the global forces on the bearings, and the respective displacements between the contact surfaces, are then used as inputs for a finite element model of the bearings (contact scale). The model is used to calculate and analyze the behaviour in time of the local contact constraints between race and balls. This analysis, developed in the framework of a European project, is an example of the proposed general approach to contact problems, by coupling the analysis of the mechanism and contact scales.     

Elastic Contact Mechanics of Randomly Rough Surfaces: An Assessment of Advanced Asperity Models and Persson’s Theory

In this work, we discuss important improvements of asperity models. Specifically, we assess the predictive capabilities of a recently developed multiasperity model, which differs from the original Greenwood and Williamson model by (i) including the coupling between the elastic fields generated by each contact spot, and (ii) taking into account the coalescence among the contact areas, occurring during the loading process. Interaction of the elastic field is captured by summing the contributions, which are analytically known, of the elastic displacements in a given point of the surface due to each Hertzian-like contact spot. The coalescence is instead considered by defining an equivalent contact spot in such a way to guarantee conservation of contact area during coalescence. To evaluate the accuracy of the model, a comparison with fully numerical ‘exact’ calculations and Persson’s contact mechanics theory of elastic rough surfaces is proposed. Results in terms of contact area versus load and separation versus load show that the three approaches give almost the same predictions, while traditional asperity models neglecting coalescence and elastic coupling between contact regions are unable to correctly capture the contact behavior. Finally, very good results are also obtained when dealing with the probability distribution of interfacial stresses and gaps.     

A Hyper-redundant Elephant’s Trunk Robot with an Open Structure: Design,Kinematics, Control and Prototype

This article reviews the status of thermomechanical analysis of the friction stir welding(FSW) process for establishing guidelines for further investigation, filling the available research gaps, and expanding FSW applications. Firstly, the advantages and applications of FSW process are introduced, and the significance and key issues for thermomechanical analysis in FSW are pointed out. Then, solid mechanic and fluid dynamic methods in modeling FSW process are described, and the key issues in modeling FSW are discussed. Di erent available mesh modeling techniques including the applications, benefits and shortcomings are explained. After that, at different subsections, the thermomechanical analysis in FSW of aluminum alloys and steels are examined and summarized in depth. Finally, the conclusions and summary are presented in order to investigate the lack of knowledge and the possibilities for future study of each method and each material.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Composition design and mechanical properties of BCC Ti solid solution alloys with low Young’s modulus

(Ti-Zr)-Mo-Nb alloys were studied to find some stabilized BCC solid solution with low Young’s Modulus. We propose a cluster-plusglue-atom model to solve the composition design of multi-component complex alloys from the structure viewpoint. The alloy composition is expressed with [cluster](glue atom)x according to the model, x denoting the number of glue atoms matching one cluster. Alloy structures were identified with XRD and optical microscopy (OM), and mechanical tests were finally carried on to the BCC alloys. The experimental results indicated that a series of β-Ti solid solution alloys with low Young’s modulus and good synthesized mechanical properties can be obtained with the cluster model, where the [CN14 cluster](glue)1 alloys given by of 1:1 cluster model have the optimum properties.     

Corrosion inhibition of mild steel using Novel Bis Schiff’s Bases as corrosion inhibitors: Electrochemical and Surface measurement

Purpose: The aim of the present investigation is to evaluate the corrosion inhibiting properties of four novel synthesize compounds namely N¹,N^1′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(N⁴-(4-nitrobenzylidene)benzene-1,4-diamine) SB-I, N¹,N^1′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(N⁴-benzylidenebenzene-1,4-diamine) SB-II, N¹,N^1′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(N⁴-(4-methylbenzylidene)benzene-1,4-diamine) SB-III, N¹,N^1′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(N⁴-(4-methoxybenzylidene)benzene-1,4-diamine) SB-IV for mild steel in 1 M HCl. Corrosion inhibitors find wide application in industries during pickling of steel, descaling and oil well acidization. Inhibitors have attracted great attention due to cost effectiveness and simplicity of the methods. Method: Different experimental techniques such as weight loss, open circuit potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization were used to evaluate the corrosion inhibition performance of SBs for mild steel in acid solution. After the corrosion experiments, the surface morphology of metal surface in the absence and presence of SBs were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM). Findings: The corrosion inhibition efficiency of SBs for mild steel are 71.42% (SB-I), 89.52 (SB-II), 92.85 (SB-III), 96.19 (SB-IV). Tafel polarization revealed that all the SBs behaved as mixed-type inhibitor but predominantly of cathodic type. The inhibition actions of these Schiff base molecules blocked the electrode surface by means of adsorption of the inhibitor molecule on metal surface, obeying the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. SEM/AFM studies of the metal surfaces confirm the protection of metal surface in presence of inhibitor as compared to the damaged surface in blank acid solution.