Deposition welding of hot forging dies using nanoparticle reinforced weld metal

In the application field of forging, the form-giving tool components are subject to process-related severe environmental conditions, such as high mechanical loads acting simultaneously with high tribological and thermal charges. Due to high machine hour rates as well as increasing environmental requirements in terms of energy consumption, wear protection methods and suitable repair measures for forging tools become more and more important. Laser deposition welding represents an established process for the repair of complex shaped surfaces. A new approach is the addition of nano-sized ceramic particles to improve the mechanical properties. The main idea is to reduce the grain size of the cladded layers by adding nano-sized nuclei. A fine grained microstructure will improve strength as well as ductility and fatigue resistance. Furthermore small hard particles can improve the wear resistance without affecting the friction of the surface. After the cladding process the surface has to be finished usually by turning, milling and grinding operations. Within the presented paper the potential of nanoparticle-reinforced deposition welding with regard to increasing the wear resistance of forging dies will be examined. First, the process of nanoparticle-reinforced deposition welding will be presented. Afterwards it will be shown that yttrium oxide, titanium carbide and tungsten carbide nanoparticles in an AISI H10 matrix material will influence the friction coefficient between forging tool and material as well as the wear properties.     

CAx Process Chain for Automated Laser Drilling of Tool Molds

Rotation sintering, also known as slush molding, is used to manufacture molded skins, such as dashboards or door interior panels for cars. At present, approximately 80% of such molded skins are manufactured using electroforms to achieve the complex free-form surfaces, and surface structures, such as leather graining that the industry demands. The manufacture of these electroforms is, however, time-consuming and expensive. This project aims to replace conventional electroforms with laser-drilled molds. Holes in tool molds should be drilled by using laser radiation as part of an automated process. The system consists of a robot with a fiber-laser beam source. A CAx （computer-aided x） process chain has been developed for this purpose in which the CAD （computer-aided design） data of the tool molds are processed, drill hole fields generated, and a machine-specific RC （robot control） program created. Process-specific fundamentals, such as suitable process windows and process control, have been devised to manufacture holes using fiber laser radiation The advantages of the new laser-drilled tool molds may result in substituting them for conventional electroforms, allowing old markets to be re-entered or additional markets to be created and targeted through new molds or lower costs.     

Nano-scale sliding contact deformation behaviour of enamel under wet and dry conditions

The abrasion response of cross sectional areas of enamel was studied by sliding a rounded diamond conical nano-indenter tip across the surface. The nano-indenter tip (radius ~1,200 nm) was scanned over a specific squared area with a load of 400 μN. Two different environments were chosen: Hank’s balanced salt solution (HBSS) and atmospheric laboratory condition. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) were used to characterize the final abraded areas. In addition, single scratches with linear incremented load were performed. The normal load and displacement data were utilized in a complementary manner to support the proposed deformation mechanisms. Greater orientation dependence for the case of the single scratches in relation to the abrasion tests was found. The latter results are discussed in terms of plastic deformation effects. The abrasion mechanisms were found to be the same for both wet and dry measurements and similar to that described in a previous study (Guidoni et al., Wear 266:60–68, 2009; Guidoni, Nano-scale mechanical and tribological properties of mineralized tissues. PhD. Montan University Leoben, Leoben, Austria, 2008). However, scratch deformation under fluid measurements shows greater recovery effects and abrasion resistance.     

Photodegradation of methyl orange under visible light by micro-nano hierarchical Cu2O structure fabricated by hybrid laser processing and chemical dealloying

Micro-nano hierarchical structure on the substrate was fabricated by a hybrid approach including laser deposition, laser ablation and chemical dealloying. The structure consists of micro bumps with a width of 50 μm and a height of 100 μm, and nanoporous structures with a size of 70-150 nm on the micro bumps. XRD and XPS results confirm that these hierarchical structures were made of Cu(2)O. For use in comparison, three additional structures with feature size in milliscale, microscale, and nanoscale were also prepared respectively by the proposed methods. Under visible light, the micro-nano structure exhibited the best performance of photodegradation. It is the result of the large specific surface and the catalytic reaction driven by the cuprous oxides.