Modelling of ionic polymer–metal composites by a multi-field finite element method

Ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMCs), a new type of smart material, offer the attractive features of high sensitivity and light weight for developing novel designs in the fields of dynamic sensors, robotic actuators and artificial muscles. The non-linear water molecule diffusion resistance force exists in the process of sodium ion migration, which may cause a significant effect on the dynamic electro-mechanical properties of this kind of material. In this paper, Tadokoro's model constructed by taking the electrostatic force, the viscous resistance force, the sodium ion diffusion force, and the water molecule diffusion resistance force into account was applied for simulation of electro-mechanical properties of IMPC. By coupling these forces and based on the principle of internal force equilibrium and the laws of motion, a multi-field finite element method (MFFEM) was derived using the dynamic electro-mechanical model, and a numerical solving scheme was proposed. Using the MFFEM, the electro-active behaviours of an IPMC beam have been simulated and discussed. The simulation results show that the water molecule diffusion resistance force has various effects on an IPMC beam, such as the water concentration, charge density of sodium ions and internal equilibrium forces. Furthermore, MFFEM has also been applied to study the migration speed of the hydrated sodium ions, electric-field intensity and bending displacement distribution across the thickness direction of the IPMC beam. Compared with the experimental findings reported by other investigators, it has been demonstrated that the proposed method provided a more realistic and scientific way to predict the electro-mechanical behaviours of IPMC by introduction of the non-linear force component in the model. Hence, the accuracy of prediction may also be improved and more information may be provided for developing new IPMC devices.     

Drilling of woven glass fiber-reinforced plastic—an experimental and finite element study

Drilling in woven fiber-reinforced plastics is a well-known practice in modern-day manufacturing. The high fracture toughness of woven fiber-based composites over unidirectional counterparts is increasing demand in aviation and electronics industries. Hence, failure of these materials at harsh environments is a matter of concern. Very few numerical studies on drilling of these composites have been carried out; hence, the present scope may be considered as a trial de novo. Delamination was studied in the present work at different feed–speed combinations. Drilling responses were estimated using finite element as a numerical simulation tool. An equivalent elastic macromechanical model was assumed for the woven composite workpiece. A 3D drill bit was modeled using commercial CAD package Pro-Engineer and Ansys Autodyn was used as the solver environment. The simulation and validation experiments were carried out at planned feed–speed combinations. The effect of process parameters on exit and entry delamination is also documented. The thrust determined by finite element techniques showed good prediction with the experimental results.     

Computer simulation of a 1.0 GPa piston–cylinder assembly using finite element analysis (FEA)

The paper reports a preliminary study of the behavior of a high performance controlled-clearance piston gauge (CCPG) in the pressure range up to 1 GPa through finite elemental analysis (FEA). The details of the experimental characterization of this CCPG has already been published (Yadav et al., 2007 [1]). We have already pointed out that the use of Heydemann–Welch (HW) model for the characterization of any CCPG, has some limitation due to the fact that the linear extrapolation of the cube root of the fall rate versus jacket pressure (v^1/3–p_j) curve is assumed to be independent of the rheological properties of the pressure transmitting fluids. The FEA technique addresses this problem through simulation and optimization with a standard ANSYS program where the material properties of the piston and cylinder, pressure dependent density and viscosity of the pressure transmitting fluid etc. are to be used as the input parameters. Thus it provides characterization of a pressure balance in terms of effective area and distortion coefficient of the piston and cylinder. The present paper describes the results obtained on systematic studies carried out on the effect of gap profile between piston and cylinder of this controlled-clearance piston gauge, under the influence of applied pressure (p) from 100 MPa to 1000 MPa, on the pressure distortion coefficient (λ) of the assembly. The gap profile is also studied at different applied jacket pressure (p_j) such that p_j/p varied from 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5.     

A practical control method for precision motion—Improvement of NCTF control method for continuous motion control

The present paper describes a practical control method for a precision motion system and the performance thereof. For practical use, high motion control performance and ease of design and controller adjustment are desired. A nominal characteristic trajectory following control (NCTF control) has been investigated to realize high performance and ease of application of point-to-point (PTP) positioning. The controller comprising a nominal characteristic trajectory (NCT) and a PI compensator is free from exact modeling and parameter identification. In the present paper, the NCTF control is modified in order to improve the control performance of continuous motions such as tracking and contouring motions. The NCTF controller for continuous motion (referred to as Continuous Motion NCTF controller) has a structure that is almost identical to the conventional NCTF controller and is designed using the same design procedure. The Continuous Motion NCTF controller is applied to ball screw mechanisms, and its motion control performance is evaluated from the experimental tracking, contouring, and positioning control results. The experimental results prove that the Continuous Motion NCTF controller achieves the same positioning performance as the conventional NCTF controller, and generally achieves better continuous motion control performances than PI-D or conventional NCTF controllers. In 0.25 Hz and 100-nm radius circular motion, the experimental tracking errors for Continuous Motion NCTF were smaller than 10 nm.     

Development of a MIAB welding module and experimental analysis of rotational behavior of arc—simulation of electromagnetic force distribution during MIAB welding of steel pipes using finite element analysis

Magnetically impelled arc butt (MIAB) welding is a unique forge welding process in which an arc is drawn in the gap between the two tubes to be welded in order to raise them to a high temperature to allow forging to form a solid-state weld. In this case, the arc is rotated with a high speed around the weld line by an electromagnetic force resulting from the interaction of the magnetic field and the arc current. This paper presents the details of the results and the conclusions of the experimental trials conducted on the MIAB module designed and developed based on the principle. Further, nonlinear electromagnetic analysis has been performed to determine the magnetic field and electromagnetic force distribution in MIAB process using finite element package ANSYS. Typical results of this analysis pertaining to magnetic field are compared with the experimental data for steel tubes (outer diameter 47 mm and thickness of 2 mm). It is observed that the results from finite element analysis and the experimental trials are in excellent agreement. The proposed three-dimensional finite element method model for electromagnetic force distribution facilitates comprehensive understanding of the arc rotation process in MIAB welding.     

Two-fluid non-Newtonian models for blood flow in catheterized arteries — A comparative study

Steady flow of blood through catheterized arteries is studied by assuming the blood as a two-fluid model with the suspension of all the erythrocytes in the core region as a non-Newtonian fluid and the plasma in the peripheral layer as a Newtonian fluid. The non-Newtonian fluid in the core region of the artery is modeled as (i) Casson fluid and (ii) Herschel-Bulkley fluid. The expressions for the shear stress, velocity, flow rate, wall shear stress and flow resistance, obtained by Sankar and Lee (2008a, 2008b) for the two-fluid Casson model and two-fluid Herschel-Bulkley model are used to get the data for comparison. It is noticed that the plug flow velocity, velocity distribution and flow rate for the two-fluid H-B model are considerably higher than that of the two-fluid Casson model for a given set of values of the parameters. Further, it is found that the resistance to flow is significantly lower for the two-fluid H-B model than that of the two-fluid Casson model. Thus, the two-fluid H-B model is more useful than the two-fluid Casson model to analyze the blood flow through catheterized arteries.     

Development of a combined tension–torsion experiment for calibration of ductile fracture models under conditions of low triaxiality

Developments in computational mechanics have given engineers tools to predict the evolution of damage in complex structures. Damage models have been developed that relate failure strain to stress triaxiality and Lode angle. Calibration of these models has traditionally relied on specimens that exhibit high triaxiality and limited Lode angle. This paper presents a specimen that can be tested in combined tension and torsion to achieve low triaxiality over a range of Lode angle. Numerical analysis of the specimen shows that it exhibits uniformity of stress–strain and stable values of triaxiality and Lode angle as plastic strain develops, both of which are desirable characteristics for calibration of ductile failure models. The design of a new displacement and rotation gage is presented that allows non-contact measurement at the gage section. Experimental results are used to develop the failure surface for 5083 aluminum.     

A separate-edge force coefficients’ calibration method using specific condition for cutters with variable helix and pitch angles combining the runout effect

Classical ways of computing cutting force coefficients cannot be used by the cutters with non-uniform helix and pitch angles. So, this paper presents a novel separate-edge-forecast method to compute cutting force coefficients for any kind of flank-end cutter, especially for cutters with non-uniform helix and pitch angles. Using this method, the cutter runout can be combined into the cutting force coefficients without computing the cutter runout parameters. Simultaneously, the method predicts the cutting force coefficients for every cutter edge. Firstly, a series of three-axis machining experiments, which must satisfy the specific condition that only one cutter edge is removing materials at any time, is conducted. Then, the cutting force-curves are divided into N force lobes. Each lobe is assigned to the corresponding cutter edge using an algorithm. Subsequently, the cutter edge and the corresponding cutting force lobe are used to determine the cutting force coefficients. This means N cutter edges have N groups of cutting force coefficients, correspondingly. Finally, in order to verify the validity and correctness of the proposed method, a cutter with non-uniform helix and pitch angle is utilized to predict cutting force coefficients based on which the cutting forces are also computed. The results demonstrate that the cutting forces predicted agree well with the data measured. Simultaneously, it can be observed that the method can predict the coefficients considering the cutter runout effect.     

Experimental studies on optimization of process parameters and finite element analysis of temperature and stress distribution on joining of Al�CAl and Al�CAl2O3 using ultrasonic welding

This study is carried out to optimize the process parameters like weld time, weld pressure, and amplitude of vibration to maximize the weld strength in Al?CAl welding using Taguchi??s design of experiments methodology. Experiments are conducted using 0.3-mm thick pieces of aluminum, and the temperature generated at the weld interface and the weld strength for all the specimens are measured. Also, a finite element model is developed that is capable of predicting the interface temperature and stress distribution during welding. Further, a preliminary study on the joining of alumina to aluminum is also carried out, and the finite element models of temperature and stress distribution during welding are simulated. Results of experimental work and FEM studies are compared and found to be in good agreement.     

An integrated solution—KAGFM for mass customization in customer-oriented product design under cloud manufacturing environment

In hot strip rolling process, rolling schedule is a key technology which directly influences strip product quality. Rolling schedule optimization is actually a problem of load distribution. To make a better rule of the load distribution of aluminum hot tandem rolling, multi-objective optimization algorithm is used to optimize rolling schedule. Preventing slipping, power margin and minimum energy consumption are selected as the optimization objectives. To make a precision calculation of rolling schedule, an adaptive neural network which is based on classification system is applied to improve the prediction ability for the rolling force, and its on-line training system reduces the prediction errors caused by different rolling conditions. The improved differential evolution algorithm is used to search the Pareto front, and it obtains a good approximation of the Pareto-front and decreases computation time. Load distribution strategies focused on different objectives are generated from the Pareto front to meet the requirements of industrial spots. The experiment result shows the algorithm covers the front quickly and distributes well. Comparing with the original schedule, the proposed method reduces the probability of slippage and energy consumption.     

Development of a system for monitoring tool condition using acousto-optic emission signal in face turning—an experimental approach

In automated manufacturing systems, one of the most important issues is accurate detection of the tool conditions under given cutting conditions so that worn tools can be identified and replaced in time. In metal cutting as a result of the cutting motion, the surface of workpiece will be influenced by cutting parameters, cutting force, and vibrations, etc. But the effects of vibrations have been paid less attention. In the present paper, an investigation is presented of a tool condition monitoring system, which consists of a fast Fourier transform preprocessor for generating features from an online acousto-optic emission (AOE) signals to develop a database for appropriate decisions. A fast Fourier transform (FFT) can decompose AOE signals into different frequency bands in the time domain. Present work uses a laser Doppler vibrometer for online data acquisition and a high-speed FFT analyser used to process the AOE signals. The generation of the AOE signals directly in the cutting zone makes them very sensitive to changes in the cutting process due to vibrations. AOE techniques is a relatively recent entry into the field of tool condition monitoring. This method has also been widely used in the field of metal cutting to detect process changes like displacement due to vibration and tool wear, etc. In this research work the results obtained from the analysis of acousto-optic emission sensor employs to predict flank wear in turning of AISI 1040 steel of 150 BHN hardness using Carbide insert and HSS tools. The correlation between the tool wear and AOE parameters is analyzed using the experimental study conducted in 16 H.P. all geared lathe. The encouraging results of the work pave the way for the development of a real-time, low-cost, and reliable tool condition monitoring system. A high degree of correlation is established between the results of the AOE signal and experimental results in identification of tool wear state.     

Tube hydroforming compression test for friction estimation—numerical inverse method, application, and analysis

Friction plays an important role in forming processes, in fact it influences the material flow and therefore it affects the process and part characteristics. In particular, friction is a very influencing factor in tube hydroforming (THF), where high die–part contact pressure and area make the material sliding very difficult. As a consequence, the material hardly flows to the expansion zones and the part formability can be compromised. To obtain sound parts, FEM models allow the study of the process and optimize its parameters, but they require the right definition of the friction at tube–die interface. For these reasons, friction represents a key-point in THF processes and its knowledge and prediction are very important even if, nowadays, a comprehensive friction test for THF is not available in literature. With this paper, the authors want to propose and evaluate a method to estimate friction for THF processes. In particular, a numerical inverse method allowing the estimation of the Coulombian friction coefficient combining experimental test and FE simulation results will be described. The method is based on the effects of friction on the tube final thickness distribution when it is pressurized and compressed by two punches under different lubrication conditions without expansion. In particular, how the use of few and fast FE simulations allows to estimate an analytical function that takes into account the process conditions and that can be used in combination with experimental results in order to estimate the friction coefficient in THF processes will be shown.     

A feasibility study using simulation-based optimization and Taguchi experimental design method for material handling—transfer system in the automobile industry

Nowadays, so as to adapt to the global market, where competition is getting tougher, firms producing through the modern production approach need to bring not the only performance of the system designed both during the research and development phase and the production phase but also the performance of the product to be developed as well as the process to be improved to the highest level. The Taguchi method is an experimental design technique seeking to minimize the effect of uncontrollable factors, using orthogonal arrays. It can also be designed as a set of plans showing the way data are collected through experiments. Experiments are carried out using factors defined at different levels and a solution model generated in ARENA 3.0 program using SIMAN, which is a simulation language. Many experimental investigations reveal that the speed and capacity of automated-guided vehicle, the capacities of local depots, and the mean time between shipping from the main depot are the major influential parameters that affect the performance criteria of the storage system. For the evaluation of experiment results and effects of related factors, variance analysis and signal/noise ratio are used and the experiments are carried out in MINITAB15 according to Taguchi L16 scheme. The purpose of this study is to prove that experimental design is an utilizable method not only for product development and process improvement but it can also be used effectively in the design of material handling–transfer systems and performance optimization of automation technologies, which are to be integrated to the firms.