Papers by Author: Mohamad El Mehtedi

Abstract: Hot-dip galvanizing (HDG) is a widely adopted industrial process for enhancing the corrosion resistance and service life of steel products; however, it is also characterized by high energy and material consumption. In this study, a process-oriented Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is applied to compare the environmental performance of two industrial steel wire coating routes: conventional hot-dip zinc (Zn) coating and zinc–aluminum (Zn–Al) coating. The analysis is based on primary data collected from an industrial galvanizing line operated by Metallurgica Abruzzese S.p.A. (Italy) and focuses exclusively on the manufacturing stage, using a gate-to-gate approach. The system boundary includes surface preparation, thermo-metallurgical coating treatment—comprising induction annealing, hot-dip galvanizing and, for the Zn–Al route, an additional molten Zn–Al bath—followed by wire cooling and final handling operations. Results show that the Zn–Al coating route leads to a significantly higher environmental impact at the manufacturing stage, with an approximately 44% higher GWP100 compared to conventional Zn coating. Contribution analysis reveals that this increase is primarily driven by the additional thermo-metallurgical coating step, which entails higher material input and thermal energy consumption, rather than by aluminum content alone. The findings highlight the dominant role of material selection and thermal process management in determining the environmental performance of industrial galvanizing lines.

Abstract: With the increasing demand for lightweight materials, the combination of aluminum and magnesium sheets enables the development of advanced laminates with a balanced combination of strength and ductility, making them suitable for forming applications. This work investigates the effect of rolling temperature on the mechanical behavior and formability of AA1050/AZ31/AA1050 sheets produced by roll bonding in the temperature range of 250–450°C. Tensile tests showed that the yield stress is weakly affected by rolling temperature, whereas the ultimate tensile strength increases up to 350°C and then stabilizes. The elongation at fracture increases monotonically with temperature, indicating improved ductility at higher rolling temperatures. Microhardness measurements revealed softening of the aluminum sheets with increasing temperature, while limited variations were observed in the AZ31 sheet. Formability was evaluated by Erichsen Cupping test. The maximum load and extension at break remained nearly constant over the investigated temperature range; however, higher rolling temperatures led to reduced delamination and improved interfacial bonding integrity during deformation. The results indicate that roll bonding at elevated temperatures promotes better strain distribution and enhanced bonding quality. Overall, roll bonding at 450°C provides the most favorable combination of mechanical performance, formability, and interfacial stability, making the produced sheets suitable for lightweight forming applications.

Abstract: In this paper, the friction behaviour in a severe bending process of a thick plate was investigated, taking into account both dry and lubricated conditions. Early experimental tests were performed to obtain mechanical properties of the low carbon steel AISI 1006, to be used as input in FE solver. Besides a 3D thermo-mechanical model based on FEM was developed to predict stress and strain distributions and final component dimensions. The second experimental series was composed of a coining process and a forming operation to reach the size of the final part. The analysis and the control of the friction conditions has permitted to obtain a product of higher quality that permitted to avoid all the secondary machining operations previously required.

Abstract: The present investigation aims at studying the effect of the tool geometry and of rotational velocity of the tool, at different welding velocities, on the tensile shear strength of the friction stir welded joints realised with blanks of different thicknesses. The proposed trial and error methodology was based on experiments, numerical simulations and microstructure observations.It was observed that, at the lowest rotational velocity, the slender tool determines tensile shear strength values lower than those obtained with the thick tool in particular at the highest welding velocity investigated. The numerical simulation evidenced a wider stirred zone for the thick tool when compared with that realised with the slender tool at the lowest rotational velocity. Microstructure observations evidenced that the increase in the welding velocity determines reduced stirred zones and an homogenisation of material particularly relevant for the slender tool.

Abstract: The present investigation deals with the development of a methodology to predict the flow behaviour of the ZM21 magnesium alloy in given intervals of temperature and strain rate by FEM simulation of torsion testing. Equations based on the hyperbolic sine of flow stress and on the multiple linear regression were proposed and implemented into the finite element code. The flow curve shapes obtained by simulation were compared with experimental ones that were not used in the building phase of the equations. It was found that the simulation of torsion tests allows, under given conditions of temperature, strain rate and deformation levels, to obtain flow curve shapes very similar to those obtained by experiments under conditions not included in the building of the models.

Abstract: Tools for machining are made of hard steels and cemented carbide (WC-Co). For specialized applications, such as aluminium machining, diamond or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride are also used. The main problem with steel, isthat itexhibits a relatively low hardness (below 10 GPa) which strongly decreases upon annealing above about 600 K.Thus, the majority of modern tools are nowadays coated with hard coatings that increase the hardness, decrease the coefficient of friction and protect the tools against oxidation. A similar approach has been recently used to obtain a longer duration of the dies for aluminium die-casting.

Abstract: A new constitutive relationship based on the combination of the Garofalo and Hensel-Spittel equations has been developed and successfully used to model the plastic flow of a AA6082 aluminum alloy. Two regimes of temperature and strain rate were identified: the constitutive analysis suggested that in the low strain rate/high temperature regime, deformation was controlled by viscous glide of dislocations in atmospheres of Mg solute atoms, while in the high strain rate/ low temperature regime, deformation was controlled by climb.

Abstract: The final microstructure of extruded profiles is of great importance for final mechanical properties and, consequentially, the ability to control and predict it is of extreme interest for Academic and Industrial researchers. In the paper a combined model, able to discern recrystallized areas respect to fibrous structures within the same profile, is initially proposed then validated through FEM implementation on an experimental campaign performed by Parson [1]. The model was tested under different die geometries and process conditions and a qualitative comparison with final microstructure obtained in the extrusion of a simple aluminum rod was performed.

Abstract: The necessity to simulate extrusion processes requires the knowledge of the material in terms of the constitutive equations. The present investigation deals with the development of a methodology based on the multivariable regression analysis in order to predict the flow behaviour of a ZEK200 Mg alloy in the interval of temperature varying between 150 and 450°C. The proposed models relate the flow curve levels with temperature, strain rate and deformation with the variables selected using the statistical method. It has been found that the proposed methodology allows the modeling of the flow behaviour of the Mg alloy under investigation from the beginning of the plastic deformation down to the softening phase taking into account the peak value. In addition, it is comparable, in terms of the temperature intervals considered in the modeling, with the Sellars and Tegart-based models.

Abstract: Constitutive equations relate thermo-mechanical parameters, i.e. strain (ε), strain rate (έ) and temperature (T), with flow stress (σ). The most popular constitutive relationship, among those used in the study of hot deformation, is the phenomenological sinh Garofalo equation. In recent years several papers described the hot deformation of aluminum alloys by mean of hot torsion testing. However, sinh constitutive parameters are seldomly available in literature even for the commonest aluminum alloys used today by the extrusion industry. This paper presents the result of the torsion tests providing constitutive equations for AA6005A, AA6063 and AA7020 alloys. The relative extrudabilities of these alloys were estimated by means of FEM simulation carried out by the HyperXtrude® software.