Case Study of an Aerosol Explosion and a Method to Determine Explosion Temperatures

A failure analysis case study is presented for a two-piece aerosol containing tetrafluoroethane, commonly referred to as Refrigerant 134a. A gentleman was preparing to recharge the air conditioning system of an automobile when the bottom exploded off the aerosol container, propelling the body of the aerosol container like a rocket, which hit the man in the eye and blinded him in that eye. The aerosol was never connected to the air conditioner, therefore backpressure from the air conditioner (AC) compressor was ruled out as a cause for the explosion. The objective of the study was to determine why the aerosol exploded. Several recently developed test methods were used, including two types of heat-to-burst tests and a puncture chamber to measure the pressure-versus-temperature behavior of aerosols. More common test methods were also used, such as water bath pressure tests, hydro pressure burst tests, pneumatic pressure burst tests, hardness measurements, weight measurements, metallography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and an accident scenario recreation. A semi-empirical correlation between the hardness and weights of the container bottoms was used to determine the explosion temperature and/or pressure. This semi-empirical correlation agrees in principle with an analysis of the explosion pressures using finite-element analysis (FEA). The root cause for the explosion was determined to be a lack of strength of the bottom of the two-piece aerosol coupled with heating the aerosol to temperatures significantly above room temperature.     

Adaptive generation of surfaces in volume data

A widespread approach to generating polygonal approximations of iso-surfaces or contour surfaces in volume data is the socalled marching-cubes algorithm. This algorithm, however, has the disadvantage that the number of polygonal chains generated is considerable. The splitting-box algorithm presented here reduces the number of polygonal chains by adapting their size to the shape of the surface. The resulting polygonal chains offer a wide spectrum for representing the contour surface. An exact representation is achieved by a new type of generic patches calculated from the polygonal chains. Approximations of different quality may be obtained by combining the algorithm generating the patches with simple triangulations.     

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Turbulent flow in an intake-manifold

Three-dimensional, turbulent fluid flow analysis with computational methods has emerged as a viable tool in the design process of engine components for passenger cars. If applied in the early stages of the component development such analysis can help reduce the product development time drastically, and may support the design engineer to evaluate several competing design aspects before product completion. However the grid generation for complex geometries still poses a difficult and time consuming taks which strongly influences the accuracy of the numerical solution. The present paper studies the numerical solution of the flow in an inlet-manifold of a five-cylinder engine with two intake-ports for each cylinder. A fast and reliable grid generation technique is discussed in detail. The finite volume based Navier-Stokes solver with schemes of first and second order accuracy for the convective terms is used. Numerical results at several mass flow rates and different boundary conditions at the intake ports are compared with measurements. Finally, the computational results are discussed with respect to their applicability to support the design process of an inlet-manifold.     

Improved accuracy and convergence of discretized population balance for aggregation: The cell average technique

A new discretization method for aggregation equations is developed. It is compared to the fixed pivot technique proposed by Kumar and Ramkrishna (1996a. On the solution of population balance equations by discretization—I. A fixed pivot technique. Chemical Engineering Science 51, 1311-1332). The numerical results for aggregation problems by discretized population balances are consistently overpredicting and diverge before the gelling point in the case of a gelling kernel. The present work establishes a new technique which assigns the particles within the cells more precisely. This is achieved by taking first the average of the newborn particles within the cell and then assigning them to the neighboring nodes such that pre-chosen properties are exactly preserved. The new technique preserves all the advantages of the conventional discretized methods and provides a significant improvement in predicting the particle size distribution (PSD). In addition, it is found that the technique is a powerful tool for the computation of gelling problems. The effectiveness of the technique is illustrated by application to several aggregation problems for suitably selected aggregation kernels including physically relevant kernels.     

Direct Laser Sintering of Al2O3–SiO2 Dental Ceramic Components by Layer-Wise Slurry Deposition

This publication presents a solid freeform fabrication technique for ceramics in the alumina–silica system by layering binder-free, high-loaded ceramic slurries, followed by selective laser sintering. The low melting silica phase and the reaction sintering between silica and alumina favor the rapid prototyping of pure ceramic parts. On the basis of electroacoustic and viscosity measurements, stable slurries from Al₂O₃/SiO₂ powder mixtures and water with a high fluidity have been prepared for the layer deposition with a doctor blade like in tape casting. Layers with a thickness of about 100 μm were processed. It was found in laser parameter studies that ceramic parts can only be obtained using special alumina contents and laser parameters. But the biphasic approach may allow greater flexibility in the processing regime than is afforded by the use of just one material. The microstructure of these parts depends mainly on the temperature gradient induced by the laser absorption and thermal conduction. The wet shaping facilitates laser-sintered parts with a relatively high density, which could be increased by a thermal post-treatment.     

Modern Teaching and Training in Metallurgical Engineering

This contribution deals with advanced educational technologies needed to equip customers from higher education institutions, research and industry with efficient tools supporting their work and operating new skills‐training methods. The challenges are reducing the training costs, improving quality and increasing the number of graduates in engineering departments. The concept of a Virtual Lab based on the combination of various teaching methods and tools is presented. Principles of mathematisation in metallurgical education and training are discussed. An example of online course designed in the form of Virtual Lab is demonstrated.