Experimental study on mix proportion and fresh properties of fly ash based geopolymer for 3D concrete printing

This paper presents the material design and fresh properties of geopolymer mortar developed for 3D concrete printing application. Unlike traditional casting, in 3D printing, extruded materials are deposited layer-by-layer to build complex architectural and structural components without the need of any formwork and human intervention. Extrudability, shape retention, buildability and thixotropic open time (TOT) are identified as critical early-age properties to characterize the 3D printable geopolymer material. Five different mix designs of geopolymer are tested in a systematic experimental approach to obtain a best printable mix and later it is used to print a 60-centimeter-tall freeform structure using a concrete gantry printer to validate the formulation.     

Relation of change in geometrical parameters in the thermal performance of solar chimney

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The article deals with the effects of change in dimensions of solar chimney upon the thermodynamic characteristics of the air flowing inside it. The...     

A combined experimental‐numerical framework for residual energy determination in spent lithium‐ion battery packs

The present research proposes a combined framework that evaluates remaining capacity, material behavior, ions concentration of remaining metals, and current rate of chemical reactions of spent Li‐ion batteries accurately. Voltage, temperature, internal resistance, and capacity were studied during charging and discharging cycles. Genetic programming was applied on the obtained data to develop a model to predict remaining capacity. The results of experimental work and those estimated from model were found to be correlated, confirming the validation of model. Materials structure and electrochemical behavior of electrodes during cycles were studied by cyclic voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersion spectrum.     

Time gap effect on bond strength of 3D-printed concrete

An advancing technology that combines the concrete extrusion with a motion control to create structures with complex geometrical shapes without the need for formwork is known as 3D concrete printing. Since this technique prints layer by layer, the time taken to reach the same position in the subsequent layer is important as it will create an anisotropic property that has a weaker tensile strength at the bond interface of the two printed filaments. Through rheological measurement, which reveals the material deformation and flow behaviour, it is possible to examine the material structural build-up due to time-gap effect by measuring at different time delay. This paper focuses on investigating the time-gap effect on the printed filament with rheological and observation at macroscopic-scale to understand the material behaviour of the initial and subsequent printed layer during its fresh phase. Rheological experiment findings reveal that the tensile strength of the printed specimen is correlated to the material modulus at the initial layer.     

Numerical study on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of fluid flow in an inserted coiled tube type three fluid heat exchanger

The paper presents numerical investigations of a three fluid heat exchanger (TFHE), which is an improvement on the double pipe heat exchanger, where a helical tube is inserted in the annular space between two straight pipes. The helical tube side fluid, that is, hot water continuously transfers heat to the outer annulus side fluid and innermost tube side fluid. The heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the TFHE are assessed for different flow rates and inlet temperatures. With an increment in the volumetric flow rate of the helical tube side fluid and outer annulus side fluid, the overall heat transfer coefficient increases, and the effectiveness decreases for heat transfer from the helical tube side fluid to outer annulus side fluid in both parallel flow and counter flow configurations. It is also observed that with increment in the helical tube side fluid inlet temperature, the overall heat transfer coefficient and effectiveness increases for heat transfer from the helical tube side fluid to outer annulus side fluid in both flow configurations. The parameter, JF factor, has been proposed to evaluate the thermohydraulic behavior of the TFHE, where it is obtained that the behavior of the TFHE is better at a lower helical tube side fluid velocity and higher outer annulus side fluid velocity.     

Review of materials used in laser-aided additive manufacturing processes to produce metallic products

Rapid prototyping (RP) or layered manufacturing (LM) technologies have been extensively used to manufacture prototypes composed mainly of plastics, polymers, paper, and wax due to the short product development time and low costs of these technologies. However, such technologies, with the exception of selective laser melting and sintering, are not used to fabricate metallic products because of the resulting poor life, short cycle, poor surface finish, and low structural integrity of the fabricated parts. The properties endowed by these parts do not match those of functional parts. Therefore, extensive research has been conducted to develop new additive manufacturing (AM) technologies by extending existing RP technologies. Several AM technologies have been developed for the fabrication of metallic objects. These technologies utilize materials, such as Ni-, Al-, and Ti-based alloys and stainless steel powders, to fabricate high-quality functional components. The present work reviews the type of materials used in laser-based AM processes for the manufacture of metallic products. The advantages and disadvantages of processes and different materials are summarized, and future research directions are discussed in the final section. This review can help experts select the ideal type of process or technology for the manufacturing of elements composed of a given alloy or material (Ni, Ti, Al, Pb, and stainless steel).     

True stress measurement of nuclear fuel rod cladding material subjected to DSA regime

Austenitic stainless steel (ASS) grade 304 is being extensively used in various high-temperature applications, which makes it important to study their properties at elevated temperatures, especially the flow stress behavior. The literature reveals flow stress of the material depends on influence of various input parameters, the important ones being the strain, strain rate and temperature. It is often noticed that these process parameters are determined by trial-and-error approach, which results in increased material failure and power losses. Constitutive models have also been developed to find the relationships between them, but these models have computational limitations and cannot capture the true stress behavior at elevated temperatures. Therefore, there is a need for formulation of a generalized explicit model/expression that can predict accurately the behavior ASS 304 at elevated temperatures. Therefore, this work proposed a new variant of genetic programming, gene expression programming (GEP), to formulate a model for true stress of ASS 304. True stress model formulated based on M-MGGP methodology has outperformed the GEP approach. Further investigation is carried out by sensitivity and parametric analyses to determine the relationships between process parameters, and it was found that the temperature has highest impact on the true stress of ASS 304 steel.

     

MHD Double‐diffusive thermosolutal Marangoni convection non‐Newtonian Casson fluid flow over a permeable stretchable sheet

In the present paper, we have discussed the thermosolutal Marangoni force acting on the electrically conducting Casson fluid flow over a permeable horizontal stretching surface. It is presumed that the condition at the interfaces is influenced by the surface tension, which is proportional to the temperature and concentration profiles. At the interface, both concentration and temperature are heated in such a way that they are quadratic functions in $x.$ Furthermore, we have introduced the magnetic field in the transverse direction of the fluid flow along with heat generation/absorption, thermal radiation, viscous dissipation, and first‐order chemical effect with heat and mass flux into the present system. Similarity transformations have been used to convert the system of the nonlinear partial differential equations into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The reduced ODEs are then solved using the MATLAB program bvp4c, which is based on the fourth‐order Runge‐Kutta and shooting method. The impact of various pertinent flow parameters on the flow field, temperature, and species concentration has been studied through graphs. To know the characteristics of shear stress, heat and mass rate near the boundary, numerical values of them are also calculated and given in the tabular form. The results show that the momentum boundary layer's thickness is getting thicker with an increase in solutal surface tension ratio, while its opposite trends have been observed in the thermal boundary layer region, this is due to the Marangoni effect. This Marangoni effect is very much important in the field of melting metals, crystal growth, welding, and electron beam.     

Characterization of the tensile properties of friction stir welded aluminum alloy joints based on axial force,traverse speed,and rotational speed

Friction stir welding (FSW) process has gained attention in recent years because of its advantages over the conventional fusion welding process. These advantages include the absence of heat formation in the affected zone and the absence of large distortion, porosity, oxidation, and cracking. Experimental investigations are necessary to understand the physical behavior that causes the high tensile strength of welded joints of different metals and alloys. Existing literature indicates that tensile properties exhibit strong dependence on the rotational speed, traverse speed, and axial force of the tool that was used. Therefore, this study introduces the experimental procedure for measuring tensile properties, namely, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and tensile elongation of the welded AA 7020 Al alloy. Experimental findings suggest that a welded part with high UTS can be achieved at a lower heat input compared with the high heat input condition. A numerical approach based on genetic programming is employed to produce the functional relationships between tensile properties and the three inputs (rotational speed, traverse speed, and axial force) of the FSW process. The formulated models were validated based on the experimental data, using the statistical metrics. The effect of the three inputs on the tensile properties was investigated using 2D and 3D analyses. A high UTS was achieved, including a rotational speed of 1050 r/min and traverse speed of 95 mm/min. The results also indicate that 8 kN axial force should be set prior to the FSW process.