Volume 29, Issue 1

The objective of this work lies in the three-dimensional study of the thermo mechanical behavior of a blade of a centrifugal compressor. Numerical modeling is performed on the computational code "ABAQUS" based on the finite element method. The aim is to study the impact of the change of types of blades, which are defined as a function of wheel output angle β 2 , on the stress fields and displacements coupled with the variation of the temperature. This coupling defines in a realistic way the thermo mechanical behavior of the blade where one can note the important concentrations of stresses and displacements in the different zones of its complex form as well as the effects at the edges. It will then be possible to prevent damage and cracks in the blades of the centrifugal compressor leading to its failure which can be caused by the thermal or mechanical fatigue of the material with which the wheel is manufactured.

Fractional derivatives have non-local character, although they are not mathematical derivatives, according to differential topology. New fractional derivatives satisfying the requirements of differential topology are proposed, that have non-local character. A new space, the Λ -space corresponding to the initial space is proposed, where the derivatives are local. Transferring the results to the initial space through Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives, the non-local character of the analysis is shown up. Since fractional derivatives have been established, having the mathematical properties of the derivatives, the linearly elastic fractional deformation of an elastic bar is presented. The fractional axial stress along the distributed body force is discussed. Fractional analysis with horizon is also introduced and the deformation of an elastic bar is also presented.

Magnetic field assisted electrical discharge machining (MFAEDM) is the modification of in conventional EDM process by use of magnetic field on EN-31. This article explain the application of response surface methodology to analyzes the effect of various process parameters such as Ton, Toff and Ip on performance measures such as material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and overcut (OC). Analysis of variance was used to check the adequacy of response surface model and significance of process parameters on performance measures. Multi-objective desirability function has been applied to obtain the optimal process parameter settings. Thereafter, machined surface of EN-31 characterized through SEM and EDX. The novelty of this paper is to improve the strategies for flushing the debris which remain clogged in standard EDM in-between machining gap that will interrupts the regular discharge conditions and reduces cutting rate as well as deteriorate the surface characteristics.

Cathode materials for Li-ion batteries exhibit volume expansions on the order of 10% upon maximum lithium insertion. As a result internal stresses are produced and after continuous electrochemical cycling damage accumulates, which contributes to their failure. Battery developers resort to using smaller particle sizes in order to limit damage and some models have been developed to capture the effect of particle size on damage. In this paper, we present a gradient elasticity framework,which couples the mechanical equilibrium equations with Li-ion diffusion and allows the Young’s modulus to be a function of Li-ion concentration. As the constitutive equation involves higher order gradient terms, the conventional finite element method is not suitable, while, the two-way coupling necessitates the need for higher order shape functions. In this study, we employ B-spline functions with the framework of the iso-geometric analysis for the spatial discretization. The effect of the internal characteristic length on the concentration evolution and the hydrostatic stresses is studied. It is observed that the stress amplitude is significantly affected by the internal length, however, using either a constant Young’s modulus or a concentration dependent one yields similar results.

Polymer concrete (PC) has acquired niche in construction industry due to superior mechanical properties, recyclability and adoption of variety of aggregates. This workpresents compressive behavior and properties of one such novel PC i.e . tin slag/polyester polymer concrete. Comparable siliceous content of tin slag was considered promising to provide better mechanical strength as in natural aggregates. Cylindrical short column specimens were fabricated to be tested under quasi-isostatic loading rate of 1 mm/min. Three different aggregate sizes in gap-graded configuration were tested to assess influence on mechanical properties. In addition, specimens were confined with GFRP and CFRP to determine and compare mechanical behavior with Portland Cement Concrete (PCC). Coarsest size (4+2 mm) aggregate offered the highest strength of 37.71 MPa for unconfined sample. This performance of coarsest size persisted in confined condition with compressive strength increment of 69.68 MPa (84.7%) and 98.36 MPa (160.8%) for one and two layers GFRP; 86 MPa (128.05%) and 125.07 MPa (231.66)% for one and two-layer CFRP, respectively. It was concluded that both increment in aggregate size and number of layers improved the compressive strength.

In the present study, aluminium metal matrix composites (AMMC’s) reinforced with boron carbide (B 4 C) and graphite (Gr) particles were prepared by stir casting method. Dry sliding wear behavior of developed composites was conducted on pin on disc apparatus with variation in sliding distance, applied load and sliding speed. Taguchi method was employed to optimize the data in a controlled way. Analysis of variance was employed to examine the wear behavior of base alloy (Al2219), mono (Al/B 4 C) and hybrid (Al/B 4 C/Gr) metal matrix composites. The correlations were established by linear regression models and validated using confirmation tests. The obtained results indicated that B 4 C content, sliding distance is highly affected by the dry sliding wear followed by sliding speed and applied load. The incorporation of B 4 C and Gr particles in aluminium improves the tribological characteristics. The SEM images of mono composite shows the deep grooves on worn surface. It demonstrates the signs of abrasive wear of mono composite. The hybrid composite exhibits excellent wear resistance when compared to mono composite and base alloy. The main reason of that is the Gr particles act as a solid lubricating material in the hybrid composite (Al/B 4 C/Gr).

In this study, an endeavour have been made to depositing the electrode materials over the surface of the magnesium alloy using electrical discharge machining (EDM) with WC-Cu powder compacted sintered electrode. Various process parameters such as compaction load, discharge current and pulse on time are selected to carry out the experiment in order to attain the maximum material migration rate (MMR) or deposition rate and microhardness (MH). It was concluded that the MMR and MH increased with increase in discharge current and pulse on time at low compacted electrode but it is decreased at lower discharge current and pulse on time. Highest MMR and MH were attained successfully at partial sintered low compaction load electrode. Microstructure evaluation has been carried out on deposited surface using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and presence of electrode element in the deposited surface was confirmed by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Defects mechanism such as globules and craters are formed during EDC with high current and pulse on time respectively, which diminishes the surface roughness. It was observed that the compaction load is the influence parameter on the MMR and MH.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) acts as the most promising nanofiller due to its high aspect ratio and exceptional nanoscale-level properties. However, the dispersibility of CNTs in the conventional polymer matrices is a very critical issue in developing the high-strength and light-weight polymer-based nanocomposites. In this study, an attempt was made to develop cluster-free and uniform dispersion of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in the epoxy matrix using an innovative ultrasonic dual mixing technique. The effect of dispersion of MWCNTs on the mechanical and viscoelastic properties of MWCNT-epoxy nanocomposites was comprehensively studied. Our results reveal that the tensile strength and toughness of epoxy nanocomposites with 0.50 wt.% of MWCNTs improved by 21% and 46%, respectively, as compared to neat epoxy. The nanocomposite samples with the same CNT loading show maximum enhancements of 22% and 26% in the lap shear strength and storage modulus, respectively. The tensile fracture surface examination of MWCNT-epoxy nanocomposites using field emission scanning electron microscopy indicated the cluster-free and uniform dispersion of MWC-NTs in the epoxy matrix.

This study experimentally evaluated the effect of accelerated wet/dry cycles on the dimensional stability and some selected mechanical properties of polymer modified vegetable fibre cement composites. The bamboo fibres were pre-treated with 10% conc. of sodium hydroxide and varied from 0 – 2.0% while acrylic polymer admixture of 10% w/w of cement was added to improve the properties. The modified fibre-cement composites were subjected to 50 cycles of wet/dry processes to simulate natural weathering process of the environment. The samples were subjected to water absorption, thickness swelling, modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) after 28 days of curing and aging cycles respectively using 5 replicates. One way ANOVA at p<0.05 was used to analyse the results. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transformer Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses were conducted on the samples. The results showed improvement of 33.3, 64, 71 and 57% in MOR and 135, 85, 101 and 188% in MOE for samples with 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% fibre inclusion after ageing tests. Significantly improved dimensional stability values were observed in this study in comparison with data from similar ageing tests conducted on unmodified vegetable fibre-cement matrix. SEM micrographs showed marginal increase in the size of the pores before and after ageing tests. FTIR analysis indicated increase in intensities during the ageing tests especially for spectra bands located at 3384 – 3520cm −1 which are denoted for OH vibration stretching as well as 1676, 1726 and 1794 cm −1 which depict the presence of carbonyl groups because of absorption of polymers to the fibre surface during the ageing cycles. The study has shown thatwet/dry ageing cycles showed less harmful effect on vegetable fibre cement composites provided the cement matrix is modified with polymer admixtures.

To determine performance of rigid pavement, pavement engineers should not only conduct stress, curling, and deflection analysis, but also understand weather conditions and subgrade quality effects on rigid pavement performance well. This study aims to analyze and visualize the mechanical behaviors of rigid pavement in terms of stress, curling, and deflection using the KENPAVE Program under different curling temperature and subgrade quality. Besides, this study also evaluated temperature differential and k-value effects on the stress, curling, and deflection behavior of concrete pavement. The findings revealed that there is a linear correlation between stress and both k-value and curling temperature, with the latter having more significant impact in controlling stress than the former. However, even though curling is not affected by subgrade quality, it significantly depends on the temperature differential since a higher curling temperature produces higher curling behavior. Lastly, a higher temperature differential produces greater deflection, but a higher k-value produces smaller deflection. Nevertheless, deflection behavior has a more significant curve and the position of the highest deflection shifted towards the center of the slab as the curling temperature and subgrade quality increase.

The use of sodium carbonate as an alkali activator for slag to produce alkali-activated slag is promising due to its sustainable, economic and user-friendly properties. However, the lower early age performance of composites made with such binder has limited its use especially in applications where higher early age is required. Hence, in order to propel the application of this sustainable binder, it is imperative to find ways in which the early age performance can be enhanced without having a detrimental effect on later age performance. One of the effective and sustainable ways to enhance the early age strength of sodium carbonate activated slag is by incorporation of various additives as partial replacement of sodium carbonate on/and slag. In order to propel more application of sodium carbonate slag for various applications, this current study was undertaken. In this paper, an overview of the types of various additives that can be used to enhance the early age compressive strength of sodium carbonate activated slag composites was discussed. The mechanism and dosage of each of the additives were briefly discussed alongside the limitation and advantages of the additives. Findings from this overview showed that the early age compressive strength of sodium carbonate activated slag can be enhanced with the use of additives such as calcium oxide, calcium hydroxide, Portland cement, sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate.

Geopolymer has been presented as new evolution in the concrete technology world, where cementitious materials such as ceramic powder and Slag have been replaced by high percentages of cement used in construction. Thus, the activation of such materials was performed by highly alkaline solutions in order to be acted as a binder in the mix. Therefore, the selection of suitable ingredients proportion of geopolymer mortar to achieve desired strength at required workability has been intended in this study. The experimental Program has been implemented for the preparation of geopolymer mortar mixes. The concentration of sodium hydroxide solution was kept constant in the order of 12 M throughout the experiment. The ratio of Water to geopolymer binder ratio was 0.35, alkaline solution-to- cementitiuos materials ratio was 0.30 and sodium silicate-to-sodium hydroxide ratio was 1.85 by mass. Workability of geopolymer mortar was measured by flow table apparatus and cubes of 50 mm side were cast and tested for compressive strength after 28 days of normal water curing. The study concludes that the combination of ceramic powder and Slag up to 40% (by weight), in the total binder material, can be used for developing the geopolymer mortar. Continuously, the use of 1% steel fibers or 1% steel fiber with 0.5% sisal fibers promotes the level of cement replacement by such cementitous materials (slag and ceramic powder) up to 60%.

An exact linear elastic solution is derived for a pair of opposing point loads, which act in the middle of a straight slot having rounded ends. This problem is analogous to the mode III crack problem where two concentrated forces act in opposite directions to open the surfaces of a finite-length crack. The corresponding path independent J integral for this slot problem is also determined.

In this paper, a generalized solution for 1-D steady-state mechanical and thermal deformation and stresses in rotating hollow functionally graded spherical body is presented. Spherical shells are treated under mechanical and thermal loads in the form of rotational body force with heat generation. Temperature distribution is assumed to vary along the radial direction due to variable heat generation. General uniform mechanical boundary condition at inner and outer surfaces along with prescribed temperatures at both the ends are assumed as boundary conditions. In the present study, material properties are taken as power function of radius with grading parameter ranging between −2 to 3. Governing differential equation with variable coefficient is developed and solved to find deformation and stresses. The obtained results are verified with benchmark results and are found to be in good agreement. Results show that deformation and stresses decrease with an increase in the value of grading parameter and are less as compared to the homogeneous body.

In the last decade due to ever growing environmental concerns, use of natural fibres as fibre materials has gained momentum and acceptance. Natural fibres provide advantage of being economical and environment friendly at the same time. Rice husk, an agricultural waste is being utilized as a natural fibre for development of bio-composites. Present paper attempts to understand the applicability of rice husk as a fibre with various polymers based on the recent research works. It also throws light on various modification techniques that can further enhance the associated mechanical properties by altering the chemical and physical properties of husk. The paper may assist in understanding the phenomenon associated in manufacture of rice husk based bio-composite and provide a critical insight to the future applications of rice husk.

In this present study, the effectiveness of expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste used as 20, 40 and 60% fine sand replacement in development of lightweight cement composite was evaluated. The cement mortar was strengthened by 10% low cost latex paint emulsion as an alternative to the more expensive polymer admixtures. Six different mix designs were produced and tested for compressive and split tensile strength according to BS EN standards. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was also conducted to analysis the micrograph of the samples. It was observed that as the EPS content, latex paint polymer admixture and curing days were increased, marginal increment in compressive strength was obtained. However, EPS fines were most effective in improving the split strength while latex paint admixture had comparatively less part to play in the strength development. The micrograph images showed that the EPS fines were uniformly distributed within the microstructure and the latex paint developed polymer films. These mechanisms coupled with the cement hydrate products were responsible for the enhanced strength observed in the samples.

Super-hard coatings are of increasing scientific interest as they allow synthesizing materials with unique physical and chemical properties for further application in the industry at high-speed processing or tooling. This study is aimed to investigate tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films, as well as the dependence of the pulsation parameters on the irradiation parameters and the potential of such pulsations to be further applied in practice. The article shows that ta-C films are completely amorphous and have up to 85% of sp3 bonds. Deposited films are characterized by high compression stresses ranging within 8-10 GPa. The possibilities of reducing these stresses by thermal and pulsed laser annealing have been examined. The formation of ripples in super-hard ta-C films were studied by applying femtosecond laser pulses with a wavelength of 775 nm, an average wavelength of 387 nm, and the pulse duration of 150 fs. Obtained results demonstrated that the orientation of the pulsations on smooth surfaces is perpendicular to the vector of the electric field of the linearly polarized laser beam. Besides, the period of pulsation reduces with decreasing the laser wavelength and/or increasing the angle of laser beam incidence on the substrate.

Present work studies the effect of particle reinforcement on fracture toughness of bio-composites. The filler used has been taken as rice husk. Epoxy resin has been taken as matrix material. Composites with varying filler loading of 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt.% were fabricated. The fracture toughness was seen to be increasing with increase in filler loading. However beyond 20% there was a decrease in fracture toughness with increase in filler loading. The effect of fibre treatment on toughness was also observed. Rice husk fibres pre-treated with NaOH were used. It was observed that fracture toughness further improved due to treatment. The increase in fracture toughness was significant. Fracture toughness increased from 1.072 to 2.7465 MPa√mm for 20% reinforcement and after treatment it increased to 2.876 MPa√mm. It was observed that concentration of treatment media also affects the fracture toughness. Further the effect of hybridization was observed by addition of rice husk ash as a secondary reinforcement. The fracture toughness of the resulting composites was remarkably higher than that of pure epoxy.

Nowadays, ultra-high hard armor (UHA) steels are employed in armor tracked vehicle (ATV) construction because of their high hardness, high strength to weight ratio, and excellent toughness. UHA steels are usually welded using austenitic stainless steel (ASS) welding consumables, to avoid hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC). The use of ASS consumables to weld the above steel was the only available remedy because of higher solubility of hydrogen in the austenitic phase. In this investigation, an attempt was made to investigate the effect of ASS consumables (with different Cr eq /Ni eq ratio) on solidification mode, impact toughness and microstructural characteristics of shielded metal arc (SMA) welded UHA steel joints. The welded joints were characterised based on impact toughness properties, hardness, and microstructural features. As the ferrite number increases with an increase in Cr eq /Ni eq ratio result in different solidification mode (A, FA, F). It is also found that ferrite number of weld metal has appreciable influence on impact toughness and has inversely proportional relationship with impact toughness of the welded joints.

This paper presents simulation calculations and experimental measurements to determine the dynamic load factor (DLF) of train on the urban railway in Vietnam. Simulation calculations are performed by SIMPACK software. Dynamic measurement experiments were conducted on Cat Linh – Ha Dong line. The simulation and experimental results provide the DLF values with the largest difference of 2.46% when the train speed varies from 0 km/h to 80 km/h