An optical profilometer for characterizing complex surfaces under high vacuum conditions

The requirements for high precision metrology devices have increased rapidly in recent years. Furthermore, the applications are spreading to many new branches of science and technology. Hence new demands are appearing which are related not only to classical parameters such as precision and speed but also to other factors including the environment in which the measurements must be performed. In this paper we present a new device for measuring complex surface profiles of samples held under high vacuum conditions. The surface profile is obtained by scanning an optical sensor, held in air, across a standard view-port. The sensor has a lateral resolution of 25 m and a perpendicular distance resolution of 0.12 m over a range of 3 mm. The maximum scanning area is a circle, 30 mm in diameter. The device was developed to characterize silicon wafers for use as mirrors for atom optical applications. The mirrors are formed by bending the silicon under an applied electric field, which requires high vacuum conditions to prevent arc discharge. In the last part of the paper we discuss how simulations can be used to determine the required sampling grid spacing for obtaining the surface profile shape with a given accuracy.     

Reverse flow in a circular duct with an obstruction at the entry

In this paper the reverse flow in a duct (diameter D) with an obstruction at the front (which is a disc), is investigated using PIV. The gap g between the obstruction and the entry to the duct is systematically varied and it is found that maximum reverse flow occurs at a g/D value of 0.5. The flow is stagnant around g/D of 1.25 and forward flow occurs for g/D values of 1.5 and above. The vortex formation length behind the disc is smaller than that of the plate and the variation of the magnitude of reverse flow with the gap g between the axisymmetrical circular duct and two-dimensional channel differs considerably. The reverse flow phenomena in the circular duct with an obstruction at the entry can be explained by the vortex formation length and low pressure behind the obstruction.     

Acoustical properties of a long rectangular cavity of constant cross-section immersed in a thick boundary layer

An experimental investigation was undertaken to examine the effect of cavity length on flow oscillations produced by an open cavity placed within a subsonic turbulent boundary layer. A narrow rectangular cavity with a constant width to depth ratio, W/D, of 1 was placed within a thick fully developed turbulent boundary layer with a corresponding Re_θ=10.5×10³. Pressure time histories were acquired for six separate cavity lengths (or L/D values) using microphone type pressure transducers. The spectral character of these signals was analyzed in terms of their magnitude and frequency content. This study indicates that large changes in the fluctuating pressure level can occur as L/D is varied from 1.47 to 8.73. A state of acoustic resonance was only observed at L/D=1.47, while fluid-acoustic resonance occurred at L/D between 1.47 and 8.73. Relative SPL calculations indicate that energy within the cavity was increased by approximately 60% over this L/D range. It is also suggested that this increase was a result of vortical structure shedding and growth. In addition, the location of maximum unsteadiness was estimated to coincide with the location of vortical structure saturation.     

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.     

Fracture limits of sheet metals under stretch bending

Fracture limits in sheet stretch bending were theoretically obtained on the assumption that the fracture occurs when the stretching force reaches its maximum value. From the calculated results, a fracture criterion has been presented where limit wall stretch, L_max/L₀ (L_max: limit wall length of a sheet, L₀: initial wall length), is explicitly given as a function of the non-dimensional bending curvature, t₀/R (t₀: sheet thickness, R: bending radius) and the material's work hardening exponent (n-value). To verify this criterion, three-point stretch bending tests with various punch-radii were performed on three types of aluminum sheets (A5182-O, JIS6061-T4 and JIS6N01-T5). The predicted limit wall stretch, as well as limit forming height, were in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Thermally induced vibration of a thermal sleeve with the GDQ method

The generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method is used to obtain the numerical results of two-layer cross-ply laminated tubes under thermal vibration. Piping components in the electric power industry should be understood and designed to resist the thermal fatigue cracking. In the analyses of the thermally induced vibration of a thermal sleeve under linear temperature load ΔT, the computational GDQ method provides a method for calculating the natural frequency, displacement and thermal stress.     

Analysis of the particle stability in a new designed ultrasonic levitation device

The use of acoustic levitation in the fields of analytical chemistry and in the containerless processing of materials requires a good stability of the levitated particle. However, spontaneous oscillations and rotation of the levitated particle have been reported in literature, which can reduce the applicability of the acoustic levitation technique. Aiming to reduce the particle oscillations, this paper presents the analysis of the particle stability in a new acoustic levitator device. The new acoustic levitator consists of a piezoelectric transducer with a concave radiating surface and a concave reflector. The analysis is conducted by determining numerically the axial and lateral forces that act on the levitated object and by measuring the oscillations of a sphere particle by a laser Doppler vibrometer. It is shown that the new levitator design allows to increase the lateral forces and reduce significantly the lateral oscillations of the levitated object.     

Free transverse vibration of elliptical plates of variable thickness with half of the boundary clamped and the rest free

First four frequencies have been computed for an elliptical plate half of whose boundary (y0) is clamped and the other half is free. The thickness of the plate is taken varying linearly with space coordinates. The Rayleigh–Ritz method has been used to obtain successive approximations utill convergence is achieved up to at least four significant figures. Results are tabulated for various values of the taper parameters. Three-dimensional mode shapes and the associated contour lines have been plotted in some selected cases. A table showing the rate of convergence with increasing order of approximation is given. Comparison has been made with known results in special cases. For the sake of completeness, results for the cases when the entire boundary is clamped or completely free are also reported.     

The near-field acoustic levitation for spheres by transducer with concave spherical radiating surface

To levitate ICF target spheres in the near-field acoustic levitation, a transducer with concave spherical radiating surface and a nearfield acoustic levitation system is established. The concave spherical radiating surface of the transducer is designed by the finite element parametric method. Then the levitation height and levitation perturbation of spheres with different mass and diameters in the near-field acoustic levitation system are tested and discussed in the driving voltage at 400V, 500V and 600V, respectively, when the levitation system is under the resonant frequency. Finally, based on the experimental results, the height formula of the near-field acoustic levitation for spheres is deduced by introducing a coupling coefficient.     

声悬浮无容器处理的实验研究及有限元分析

利用自行研制的单轴式超声悬浮装置,实现密度为7.9g/cm3钢球的稳定悬浮。通过实验研究不同反射面对声场悬浮性能的影响,分析实验过程中小球沿凹球面壁运动的现象。采用有限元方法对声场进行数值计算和模拟。结果表明,数值分析能很好地解释声悬浮中常见的物理现象,对进一步研究声悬浮的稳定性和先进材料的无容器处理技术有一定的借鉴意义。     

气悬浮技术在无接触输运领域的研究进展

在半导体、食品和医药等行业的生产制造过程中需要输运清洁和易损的产品。传统的接触式输运方式容易造成产品表面出现刮痕、裂纹,同时还存在静电和金属污染等诸多问题,已无法适应技术发展的需求。无摩擦非接触的方式在满足精度、洁净度和可靠性等要求方面具有极大优势。综述了国内外无接触悬浮技术的研究现状,概括对比了不同技术的特点、应用对象和场合、环境限制及复杂性。气悬浮具有清洁无污染、不发热、不生磁且构建简单等优势,是当前无接触输运领域的主流技术。气悬浮从实现方式上可分为负压吸浮和正压悬浮,着重阐述了两种方式的实现原理、研究现状及应用进展。在此基础上,深入分析了完全无接触气浮输运的实现方式、研究现状及存在的问题,并进一步指出无接触气浮输运技术的发展趋势,以期推动我国在相关领域的产业升级。     

The effect of displacement control input parameters on tibiofemoral prosthetic knee wear

The mechanisms of UHMWPE wear at the tibiofemoral articulation of a total knee replacement are potentially highly dependent on the cyclic direction of motion, the relative amounts of rolling versus sliding, and the loading of the contacting surfaces as previously described for hip components [3]. The simulated wear rate, for a standard test protocol utilizing the Insall-Burstein^®1 II Modular Knee System (IB-II) knee prosthesis, for normal walking gait was found to be 17.0 mg/10⁶ cycles on a Boston AMTI knee simulator. When the anterior/posterior (A/P) translation input was reduced by 50%, the wear rate was reduced approximately 37% to 10.6 mg/10⁶ cycles. Eliminating either the A/P translation or tibial rotation reduced the wear rate to 1.7 mg/10⁶ cycles and 0.69 mg/10⁶ cycles, respectively. These results cannot be explained by sliding distance effects alone and suggest that the UHMWPE wear rate is sensitive to other parameters, such as the magnitude of multidirectional shear motion and the ratio of rolling/sliding contact kinematics in combination with the applied load.     

静电球轴承的力模型及起支仿真研究

针对工作于双边支承模式下的有源静电球轴承系统,导出了描述静电力非线性与耦合特性的幂次模型与近 似模型,并根据静电力的数值解对两种模型的误差特性进行了比较与分析。分析表明,幂次模型与近似模型分别 适于描述静电悬浮系统在支承与起支状态下的静电力特性。对实现静电轴承任意姿态起支的条件进行了分析,并 根据导出的静电力近似模型,给出了不同姿态下的起支仿真结果。     

An Acoustic Transceiver for Monitoring Dynamic Processes in the Ocean

An acoustic transceiver for the monitoring of dynamic processes in the ocean by acoustic tomography methods is described, and the results of its tests are presented. At an acoustic pressure of 2–6 kPa/m produced by the transceiver in the emission mode at frequencies of 250 Hz and an rms error in determining time intervals no larger than 2 ms, the flow velocity component can be measured to an accuracy of 10 cm/s by using the countersounding scheme.     

MACHINING OF CORTICAL BONE: SURFACE TEXTURE, SURFACE INTEGRITY AND CUTTING FORCES

Cutting, drilling and reaming of human bone are conducted in total joint replacement procedures and the placement of dental implants. In the current study orthogonal machining of cortical bone was performed and the cutting and thrust forces, as well as the machined surface quality, were evaluated over a range of osteon orientations and cutting conditions. Results showed that cutting perpendicular to the osteons resulted in the highest machining forces, largest surface roughness and extensive sub-surface damage for some parametric conditions. The average surface roughness of the machined bone ranged from 1 μm to over 70 μm, was largest for positive rake angle tools and increased with the depth of cut. There was no correlation between the cutting forces and machined surface quality. While negative rake angle tools resulted in the largest cutting forces, they provided the lowest surface roughness and highest apparent surface quality. Overall, the results show that orthogonal cutting of bone can result in near-surface damage that reduces the degree of contact between bone and implanted devices and is potentially detrimental to the post-surgical recovery rate.     

磁悬浮轴承磁路结构分析与数学模型建立方法

介绍了磁悬浮轴承系统构成和工作原理,从控制电流的性质、受控自由度数、悬浮力产生方式、作用力方式、磁极布置形式等方面对磁悬浮轴承进行了比较与分析,给出了基于等效磁路法的磁悬浮轴承悬浮力数学模型建立方法和步骤,为该类轴承磁路结构设计和建立数学模型提供了参考。     

Ceramic Response to High Speed Grinding

Material response was investigated with respect to normal grinding forces, surface roughness, and removal mechanisms in grinding of alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and zircona with a resin-bond 160 μm grit diamond wheel at the grinding speeds of upto 160 m/s. The results reveal that the normal grinding forces decreased significantly with an increase in grinding speed; they also increased substantially with an increase in a complex relation of the ceramic hardness and toughness. High speed grinding produced a reduction in surface roughness for silicon carbide and alumina but gave no improvement for zirconia and silicon nitride. Also the surface roughness in high speed grinding was found to be material-dependent that the ground silicon nitride exhibited much smoother than the other ground ceramics. The influence of grinding speed on material removal mechanisms was analyzed in terms of grinding geometry and ceramic material properties.     

A contactless methodology of picking up micro-particles from rigid surfaces by acoustic radiation force

Controlled movement and pick up of small object from a rigid surface is a primary challenge in many applications. In this paper, a contactless methodology of picking up micro-particles within deionized water from rigid surfaces by acoustic radiation force is presented. In order to achieve this, an acoustic radiation force was generated by 1.75 MHz transducers. A custom built setup facilitates the optimization of the sound field by varying the parameters such as sound source size and source position. The three-dimensional pressure distributions are measured and its relative sound field is also characterized accordingly. The standing wave field has been formed and it is mainly composed of two obliquely incident plane waves and their reflectors. We demonstrated the gripping and positioning of silica beads, SiO(2), and aluminum micro-particles of 100 μm to 500 μm in size with this method using acoustic radiation force. The acoustic radiation force generated is well controlled, contactless, and in the tens of nano-Newton range which allowed us to manipulate relative big micro objects such as MEMS components as well as moving objects such as living cells. The proposed method provided an alternative form of contactless operating environment with scalable dimensions suitable for the manipulating of small objects. This permits high-throughput processing and reduction in time required for MEMS assembling, cell biomechanics, and biotechnology applications.     

Computer Simulation of Orthogonal Cutting using a Tool with Multiple Coatings

The development and evaluation of an orthogonal cutting simulation model for carbide tools with multiple coating layers (1 µm-TiN/3 µm-Al₂O₃/6 µm-TiC) is presented. The chip geometry, cutting forces, tool temperatures and stresses were predicted using the Finite Element Method (FEM). The results were analyzed with a focus on the understanding of the thermal influence of coating upon tool temperatures at the tool-chip interface and in the substrate. In the simulation model used, the thermal effect of tool coating was considered by using two different models: (a) use of individual coating layers defined with intrinsic thermal properties and (b) use of a composite coating layer defined with equivalent thermal properties. The proposed models were evaluated by comparing the predictions with the experimental data available in the literature under the same cutting conditions. The steady state tool temperature solution was obtained by adopting a three-step simulation scheme. It consisted of an initial Lagrangian-type simulation until a stable chip shape was formed and a subsequent Eulerian-type calculation with update of the free surface and plastic strain field of the workpiece. The predicted results indicated that for the coated tool considered the thin-film surface coatings with an Al₂O₃ intermediate layer did not significantly alter the steady state temperature gradients between the chip and the tool substrate and provided little thermal insulation effect to the tool substrate. However, the modified thermal response of the coated tool surface caused lower cutting temperatures at the tool-chip interface as compared to that for an uncoated tool under the same conditions. Although these results are consistent with similar experimental observations in the literature, further validation work needs to be conducted.     

Effect of Surface Grooves on the Characteristics of Noncontact Transportation Using Near-Field Acoustic Levitation

ABSTRACT

Near-field acoustic levitation is a novel noncontact handling method. However, low load-carrying capacity and low transportation speed limit its application. This study proposes a novel method in which bar-type grooves are machined on the plate surface to increase load-carrying capacity and transportation speed. An experimental rig with a flexural rail vibrated by piezoelectric transducers is developed to transport the rigid plate and measure the levitation height and transportation speed. The flexural vibration mode of the rail and the dynamic position of the rigid plate are coupled with groove characteristics to determine the gas film thickness between the rail and plate. The Reynolds equation is linearized by using Green's formula and then solved by using an eight-node discrete grid finite difference method. The effects of groove direction, depth, number, width, and length on the load-carrying capacity and transportation speed are also discussed. Numerical results are consistent with the experiment results. The load-carrying capacity and transportation capability can be significantly improved with groove length direction vertical to the rail wave transportation direction. Predicted results show that optimum groove depth, number, width, and length can be used to increase load-carrying capacity and transportation capability.