FE modeling of warm flanging process of large T-pipe from thick-wall cylinder

The large T-branch pipe made from the thick-wall cylinder is an important part in power, petroleum, and chemical equipment. The warm flanging process is used to manufacture the high-performance large T-branch pipe from thick-wall cylinder. The warm flanging process has a bulk-forming characteristic with heterogeneous temperature field and represents very different from the sheet flanging process. The finite element method is adopted to study the warm flanging process of large T-branch pipe due to complex local heating and local deformation. A viscoplastic FE model was built to simulate the whole process in the same process, including heating, forming, cooling, and relevant elastic springback. Only one set of mesh was used to ensure the connection of heating and forming, which was never proposed in the warm flanging process before. The experiment was conducted to verify the proposed model by comparing the geometry and defects. Accordingly, two kinds of typical defects, buckling and wrinkling, were found in both of the simulation and experiment results. And, the reasons of defects were investigated with the stress and metal flow analysis. The short lower die leads to the buckling. Due to the ellipse outer edge, the uneven rebound makes wrinkling at the ends of the process. Three relevant improved methods, lengthening the lower die, increasing the fillet of the upper die, and increasing the radius of the upper die, were proposed and studied to decline the defects.     

Removal of oil from oil/water emulsions using electroflotation process

Dispersed oil was separated from oil–water emulsions in an electroflotation cell equipped with insoluble electrodes: titanium coated with ruthenium oxide as anode and stainless steel screen as cathode. The effect of operating parameters such as current density, oil concentration, flotation time and coagulant concentration, on the performance of the electroflotation cell was examined. Oil removal reached 70% at optimum conditions; 75% in the presence of NaCl (3.5% by wt); and 99.5% in the presence of both NaCl and an optimum concentration of coagulant. Electrical energy consumption varied from 0.4 to 1.6 kWh m⁻³ according to experimental conditions. The performance of the oil removal process was also represented by a first order kinetic rate model. The constants obtained fit the experimental data well. Good correlation was found for the change in percentage oil removal within a wide range of operating parameters.     

Physical and mechanical properties of pultruded composites containing fillers and low profile additives

This article deals with the effect of fillers and additives content on the physical and mechanical properties of unidirectional pultruded glass/polyester composites. The physical characterization consisted of determining the void volume fraction (Vv), density, shrinkage ratio, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and dynamic mechanical properties. The mechanical tests consisted of three‐point‐bending tests under static, impact, and fatigue loading. The low profile additive (LPA) has been found to compensate the cure shrinkage by microvoid formation. Dynamic mechanical analysis measurements show that the LPA slightly lowers the glass transition temperature Tg and increases the internal damping Tan δ. The transverse coefficient of thermal expansion was found to be sensitive to the LPA content. Three‐point bending tests show that the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) is slightly sensitive to the fillers and LPA content, but the flexural strength is not affected. Impact test results on short beam shear and flexural specimens show the same behavior as in the static tests except that the LPA content has a detrimental effect on the flexural impact properties. The fatigue tests performed show that the effect of fillers is not significant, while the LPA effect is mixed. It seems that there is an LPA content for which the fatigue resistance is maximized. Finally, the wide range of behaviors and span‐to‐depth ratios investigated suggest that the ILSS as measured according to the ASTM 2344 recommendations can be largely misleading because of the unavoidable compressive yielding under the loading nose. For the materials investigated, higher span‐to‐depth ratio are more representative of the ILSS. POLYM. COMPOS., 27:71–81, 2006. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers     

CFD and experimental investigation of the gas–liquid flow in the distributor of a compact heat exchanger

High performance of compact heat exchangers is conditioned by correct fluid distribution. This is especially true for gas–liquid heat exchangers where a uniform distribution is particularly delicate to obtain and where maldistribution entails significant performance deterioration. Several phenomena can lead to phase distribution problems: the fins may be subject to manufacturing defects or fouling, leading to shortcuts or dead zones. But the first source of maldistribution may be a poor distribution at the outlet of the entrance distributor. This distributor aims at mixing the phases and distributing them across the channels.     

TB10钛合金筒体反挤压成形的有限元模拟

通过热模拟实验得到TB10钛合金的流动应力-应变曲线,应用DEFORM-3D软件建立材料模型.基于刚塑性有限元法,对TB10钛合金筒体反挤压过程进行数值模拟.分析了挤压过程的载荷-行程曲线,以及坯料内部的温度、速度、应力、应变等的分布,并对模拟过程中的误差来源做了分析.研究表明,在摩擦因子较小(m=0.1)的情况下,挤压载荷较为稳定,筒壁处金属流动速度均匀,但局部变形不均和应力集中可能在表面形成裂纹.     

The Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Multifunctionalised Derivatives of Noscapine as Cytotoxic Agents

Noscapine, a phthalideisoquinoline alkaloid derived from Papaver somniferum, is a well‐known antitussive drug that has a relatively safe in vitro toxicity profile. Noscapine is also known to possess weak anticancer efficacy, and since its discovery, efforts have been made to design derivatives with improved potency. Herein, the synthesis of a series of noscapine analogues, which have been modified in the 6′, 9′, 1 and 7‐positions, is described. In a previous study, replacement of the naturally occurring N‐methyl group in the 6′‐position with an N‐ethylaminocarbonyl was shown to promote cell‐cycle arrest and cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines. Here, this modification has been combined with other structural changes that have previously been shown to improve anticancer activity, namely halo substitution in the 9′‐position, regioselective O‐demethylation to reveal a free phenol in the 7‐position, and reduction of the lactone to the corresponding cyclic ether in the 1‐position. The incorporation of new aryl substituents in the 9′‐position was also investigated. The study identified interesting new compounds able to induce G2/M cell‐cycle arrest and that possess cytotoxic activity against the human prostate carcinoma cell line PC3, the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF‐7, and the human pancreatic epithelioid carcinoma cell line PANC‐1. In particular, the ethyl urea cyclic ether noscapinoids and a compound containing a 6′‐ethylaminocarbonyl along with 9′‐chloro, 7‐hydroxy and lactone moieties exhibited the most promising biological activities, with EC₅₀ values in the low micromolar range against all three cancer cell lines, and these derivatives warrant further investigation.     

Producing thin strips by twin-roll casting—part I: Process aspects and quality issues

This two-part paper discusses recent advances in research and development for the direct production of coilable thin strips by twin-roll casting in both the aluminum and steel industries. While the former is empowering the casters to approach the theoretical productivity limit, the latter is striving to put pilot casters into commercial operation. These intensive R&D efforts are derived from the advantages, both economic and metallurgical, offered by the process. As twin-roll casting combines solidification and hot rolling into a single operation, the process requires low capital investment and low operational cost. Also, because of the high solidification rate attained in the process, the thin strips produced have a refined metallurgical structure, characterized by columnar and equiaxed zones with fine intermetallic particles. The enthusiasm about twin-roll casting is now being spread worldwide. This paper focuses on the process aspects and quality control of twin-roll casting. Part II, which will appear in the August issue, will review process modeling and pilot-plant development activities.     

Practical considerations for high spatial and temporal resolution dynamic transmission electron microscopy

Although recent years have seen significant advances in the spatial resolution possible in the transmission electron microscope (TEM), the temporal resolution of most microscopes is limited to video rate at best. This lack of temporal resolution means that our understanding of dynamic processes in materials is extremely limited. High temporal resolution in the TEM can be achieved, however, by replacing the normal thermionic or field emission source with a photoemission source. In this case the temporal resolution is limited only by the ability to create a short pulse of photoexcited electrons in the source, and this can be as short as a few femtoseconds. The operation of the photo-emission source and the control of the subsequent pulse of electrons (containing as many as 5 x 10(7) electrons) create significant challenges for a standard microscope column that is designed to operate with a single electron in the column at any one time. In this paper, the generation and control of electron pulses in the TEM to obtain a temporal resolution <10(-6)s will be described and the effect of the pulse duration and current density on the spatial resolution of the instrument will be examined. The potential of these levels of temporal and spatial resolution for the study of dynamic materials processes will also be discussed.     

T形支管凸缘旋拉成形工艺

介绍了采用旋拉新工艺成形加工管道的T形支管凸缘，给出简化的加工工艺尺寸参数计算公式，分析了旋拉设备主轴转速要求和进给量，以及采用温拉时加热温度的确定，最后分析了旋拉成形后T形支管凸缘处的金属性能。     

Material characterization of blanked parts in the vicinity of the cut edge using nanoindentation technique and inverse analysis

Sheet metal blanking is widely used in various industrial applications such as automotive and electrical rotating machines. When this process is used, the designer can be faced with several problems introduced by the change of the material state in the vicinity of the cut edge. In general, blanking operations severely affect mechanical and physical properties of blanked parts. To take into account these modifications during the part design, it is important to assess the influence of the process parameters on the resulting material properties. Previous experimental and numerical investigations of blanking process have been carried out, leading to the development and the validation of a finite element model that predicts the shape of the cut edge and state of the material. The study presented in this paper makes use of nanoindentation technique to improve the validation of the previously cited model. To this end, nanoindentation tests were combined with inverse identification technique to approach some of the characteristics of material state like work hardening near its cut edges. Indentation tests were carried out in the vicinity of several parts of cut edges. Based on the corresponding load versus penetration curves, the evolution of the yielding stress resulting from the material work hardening was estimated and compared to the predictions obtained from the numerical simulation of blanking process. These comparisons show good agreement between the measurements and the predictions from finite element model.