The machinability of a cast aluminium alloy-graphite particle composite

The microstructure of a cast Al---Si alloy-graphite particle composite is examined using optical and analytical scanning electron microscopy. Specimens containing different percentages of graphite were machined by orthogonal planning with 25° and 45° rake angle tools at both 6.5 and 13.2 m min−1. The machining forces are reported and the chip-rake-face friction coefficients and shear flow stresses are calculated. It is shown that the reduction in machining forces with increasing graphite content is due mostly to a decrease in the shear flow stress rather than to lower chip-rake-face friction. Both the polished and the machined surfaces of the composite are rougher than those of the simple alloy, apparently owing to the greater porosity, the tearing out of graphite particles, or the opening of cracks at the graphite particles in the wake of the tool.

Unsteady three-dimensional boundary layer flow over a flat plate with attached cylinder

The unsteady laminar incompressible three-dimensional boundary layer flow and heat transfer on a flat plate with an attached cylinder have been studied when the free stream velocity components and wall temperature vary inversely as linear and quadratic functions of time, respectively. The governing semisimilar partial differential equations with three independent variables have been solved numerically using a quasilinear finite-difference scheme. The results indicate that the skin friction increases with parameter λ which characterizes the unsteadiness in the free stream velocity and the streamwise distance Image , but the heat transfer decreases. However, the skin friction and heat transfer are found to change little along Image . The effect of the Prandtl number on the heat transfer is found to be more pronounced when λ is small, whereas the effect of the dissipation parameter is more pronounced when λ is comparatively large.

A study on bullock carts. Part 1. Engineering analysis of the two-wheel bullock cart design

An engineering analysis of the design of two-wheel bullock carts has been carried out with the aid of a mathematical model. Non-dimensional expressions for the pull and the neck load have been developed. In the first instance, the cart is assumed to be cruising at constant velocity on a terrain with the effective coefficient of rolling friction varying over a wide range (0.001 to 0.5) and the gradient varying between +0.2 to −0.2. Subsequently, the effect of inertia force due to an acceleration parallel to the ground is studied. In the light of this analysis, two modifications to the design of the cart have been proposed and the relative merits of the current designs and the proposed designs are discussed.

A study on bullock carts. Part 2. Experimental study of forces in a bullock cart

A strain gauge load cell with separate bridges for measurement of the pull and the bending moment in the plane containing the net neck load and pull was developed and fixed in the longitudinal member of an experimental cart. A cart fitted first with pneumatic wheels and then with steel-rimmed wooden wheels was tested on three terrains—tar road, mud road and grassy terrain. Pull vs time and moment vs time records were obtained in each test and analysed. It is found that the bullocks pull the cart rather discontinuously at the low velocities at which these carts normally operate. On the tar road and the grassy terrain, the mean static coefficient of friction is significantly higher for the cart with steelrimmed wooden wheels. The dynamic frictional resistance of the terrain for the cart with steel-rimmed wooden wheels is lower than for the cart with pneumatic wheels so long as the wheels do not dig or sink into the terrain. The fluctuation in the neck load is lower in the cart fitted with pneumatic wheels. Also, the ground-induced low-amplitude high-frequency vibratory load content in the neck load is lower in the cart with pneumatic wheels.

Wear characteristics and bearing performance of aluminium-mica particulate composite material

Some tribological properties of a mica-dispersed Al-4%Cu-1.5%Mg alloy cast by a conventional foundry technique are reported. The effect of mica dispersion on the wear rate and journal bearing performance of the matrix alloy was studied under different pressures and under different interface friction conditions. The dispersion of mica was found (a) to increase the wear rate of the base alloy, (b) to decrease the temperature rise during wear and (c) to improve the ability of the alloy to resist seizure.

A Newton-Euler formulation for the inverse dynamics of the Stewart platform manipulator

This paper presents an inverse dynamic formulation by the Newton–Euler approach for the Stewart platform manipulator of the most general architecture and models all the dynamic and gravity effects as well as the viscous friction at the joints. It is shown that a proper elimination procedure results in a remarkably economical and fast algorithm for the solution of actuator forces, which makes the method quite suitable for on-line control purposes. In addition, the parallelism inherent in the manipulator and in the modelling makes the algorithm quite efficient in a parallel computing environment, where it can be made as fast as the corresponding formulation for the 6-dof serial manipulator. The formulation has been implemented in a program and has been used for a few trajectories planned for a test manipulator. Results of simulation presented in the paper reveal the nature of the variation of actuator forces in the Stewart platform and justify the dynamic modelling for control.

Compressible 2nd-order boundary-layers for 3-dimensional stagnation point flows with mass-transfer

All the second-order boundary-layer effects have been studied for the steady laminar compressible 3-dimensional stagnation-point flows with variable properties and mass transfer for both saddle and nodal point regions. The governing equations have been solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme. Results for the heat transfer and skin friction have been obtained for several values of the mass-transfer rate, wall temperature, and also for several values of parameters characterizing the nature of stagnation point and variable gas properties. The second-order effects on the heat transfer and skin friction at the wall are found to be significant and at large injection rates, they dominate over the results of the first-order boundary layer, but the effect of large suction is just the opposite. In general, the second-order effects are more pronounced in the saddle-point region than in the nodal-point region. The overall heat-transfer rate for the 3-dimensional flows is found to be more than that of the 2-dimensional flows.

Influence of heat-treatment on the strength and fracture-behavior of fe-12cr-6al ferritic stainless-steel

The changes in the tensile properties and fracture mode brought about by heat treatment of Fe-12Cr-6Al ferritic stainless steel have been studied. A favourable combination of high strength and good ductility is obtained by heating the material at 1370 K for 2 h followed by a water quench. The high-temperature treatment results in carbide dissolution as well as an increase in the grain size. The mechanism of strengthening has been evaluated from the apparent activation energy (28 kJ mol–1) and is identified to be the unpinning of dislocations from the atmosphere of carbon atoms. As the heat-treatment temperature is increased, the fracture behaviour changes from ductile to brittle mode and this is related to the changes in grain size and friction stress.

Unsteady Self-similar Stagnation Point Boundary Layers for Micropolar Fluids

The self-similar solution of the unsteady laminar incompressible two-dimensional and axisymmetric stagnation point boundary layers for micropolar fluids governing the flow and heat transfer problem has been obtained when the free stream velocity and the square of the mass transfer vary inversely as a linear function of time. The nonlinear ordinary differential equations governing the flow have been solved numerically using a quasilinear finite-Difference scheme. The results indicate that the coupling parameter, mass transfer and unsteadiness in the free stream velocity strongly affect the skin friction, microrotation gradient and heat transfer whereas the effect of microrotation parameter is strong only on the microrotation gradient. The heat transfer is strongly dependent on the prandtl number whereas the skin friction gradient are unaffected by it.

Preparation of cast aluminium alloy-mica particle composites

The optimum conditions for producing cast aluminium alloy-mica particle composites, by stirring mica particles (40 to 120 mgrm) in molten aluminium alloys (above their liquidus temperatures), followed by casting in permanent moulds, are described. Addition of magnesium either as pieces along with mica particles on the surface of the melts or as a previously added alloying element was found to be necessary to disperse appreciable quantities (1.5 to 2 wt.%) of mica particles in the melts and retain them as uniform dispersions in castings under the conditions of present investigation. These castings can be remelted and degassed with nitrogen at least once with the retention of about 80% mica particles in the castings. Electron probe micro-analysis of these cast composites showed that magnesium added to the surface of the melt along with mica has a tendency to segregate around the mica particles, apparently improving the dispersability for mica particles in liquid aluminium alloys. The mechanical properties of the aluminium alloy-mica particle composite decrease with an increase in mica content, however, even at 2.2% the composite has a tensile strength of 14.22 kg mm–2 with 1.1% elongation, a compression strength of 42.61 kg mm–2, and an impact strength of 0.30 kgm cm–2. The properties are adequate for certain bearing applications, and the aluminium-mica composite bearings were found to run under boundary lubrication, semi-dry and dry friction conditions whereas the matrix alloy (without mica) bearings seized or showed stick slip under the same conditions.

Stability of Slopes by Method of Characteristics

The method of characteristics with some simplifying assumptions is made applicable for analyzing a given straight slope. By assuming that the mobilized shear strength varies with depth, and treating the whole soil mass as a series of layers, factors of safety of a given slope at different heights and a series of lines with different mobilized shear strength are obtained. The results show that the factors of safety obtained by the present method are lower than those obtained by friction circle method.

Unsteady nonsimilar compressible laminar two-dimensional and axisymmetric boundary-layer flows

Unsteady nonsimilar laminar compressibletwo-dimensional and axisymmetric boundarylayer flows have been studied when external velocity varies arbitrarily with time and the flow is nonhomentropic. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations with three independent variables have been solved using an implicit finite difference scheme with quasilinearization technique from the origin to the point of zero skin-friction. The results have been obtained for (i) an accelerating stream and (ii) a fluctuating stream. The skin friction responds to the fluctuations in the free stream more compared to the heat transfer. It is observed that Mach number and hot wall cause the point of zero skin friction to occur earlier whereas cold wall delays it.

Mechanism of improvement in oil spreadability of aluminium alloy-graphite particle composites

The spreadability of SAE-30 oil on Al-12 Si base (LM-13) alloy containing dispersed graphite particles about 50 μm average size in its matrix is found to be greater than on either LM-13 with no graphite or brass. It is also found that the spreadability on LM-13 base alloys increase with increasing volume of graphite dispersion in the matrix of these alloys. Further increases in the spreadability of oil on machined LM-13-graphite particle composite test surfaces occur if these are rubbed initially against control discs of either LM-13 or grey cast iron. The formation of a triboinduced graphite-rich layer, confirmed by esca, appears to be responsible for the improved oil spreadability on the rubbed test surfaces of LM-13 base alloys as compared to the as-machined test surfaces prior to rubbing. The triboinduced layer of graphite is apparently responsible for the observed reduction in the friction, wear and seizing tendency of triboelements made from aluminium alloy-graphite particle composites.

Photoelastic studies on progress of separation in interference fits

Interference fits are used extensively in aircraft structural joints because of their improved fatigue performance. Recent advances in analysis of these joints have increased understanding of the nonlinear load-contact and load-interfacial slip variations in these joints. Experimental work in these problems is lacking due to difficulties in determining partial contact and partial slip along the pin-hole interface. In this paper, an experimental procedure is enumerated for determining load-contact relations in interference/clearance fits, using photoelastic models and applying a technique for detecting progress of separation/contact up to predetermined locations. The study incorporates a detailed procedure for model making, controlling interference, locating break of contact up to known locations around the interface, estimating optically the degree of interference, determining interfacial friction and evaluating stresses in the sheet. Experiments, simulating joints in large sheets, were carried out under both pin and plate loads. The present studies provide load-separation behavior in interference joint with finite interfacial friction.

Relaminarization in highly accelerated turbulent boundary layers

The mean flow development in an initially turbulent boundary layer subjected to a large favourable pressure gradient beginning at a point x0 is examined through analyses expected a priori to be valid on either side of relaminarization. The ‘quasi-laminar’ flow in the later stages of reversion, where the Reynolds stresses have by definition no significant effect on the mean flow, is described by an asymptotic theory constructed for large values of a pressure-gradient parameter Λ, scaled on a characteristic Reynolds stress gradient. The limiting flow consists of an inner laminar boundary layer and a matching inviscid (but rotational) outer layer. There is consequently no entrainment to lowest order in Λ−1, and the boundary layer thins down to conserve outer vorticity. In fact, the predictions of the theory for the common measures of boundary-layer thickness are in excellent agreement with experimental results, almost all the way from x0. On the other hand the development of wall parameters like the skin friction suggests the presence of a short bubble-shaped reverse-transitional region on the wall, where neither turbulent nor quasi-laminar calculations are valid. The random velocity fluctuations inherited from the original turbulence decay with distance, in the inner layer, according to inverse-power laws characteristic of quasi-steady perturbations on a laminar flow. In the outer layer, there is evidence that the dominant physical mechanism is a rapid distortion of the turbulence, with viscous and inertia forces playing a secondary role. All the observations available suggest that final retransition to turbulence quickly follows the onset of instability in the inner layer.It is concluded that reversion in highly accelerated flows is essentially due to domination of pressure forces over the slowly responding Reynolds stresses in an originally turbulent flow, accompanied by the generation of a new laminar boundary layer stabilized by the favourable pressure gradient.