Papers by Author: Y.H. Lee

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the long-term performance of geo-textile (GT) composites in terms of creep deformation and frictional properties. Composites of PVA GT and HDPE GM were made to investigate the advanced properties of long-term performance related to waste landfill applications. The same experiments were also performed for typical polypropylene and polyester GT and compared to PVA GT/HDPE GM composites. The main purpose of this study is to develop high performance GT composites with GM by using PVA GT which is capable of improving frictional property and thus enhances long-term performance of GT composites. In the present experiments, GT composites of PVA GT/HDPE GM, PVA GT of 600, 1000, 1500, 2000g/m2 and HDPE GM were prepared in thermal bonding process. Polyester and polypropylene GT were also made in needle punching process. The creep deformation of GT composites was measured and evaluated in accordance with ASTM D5262. Frictional characteristics of GT composites tested in this study were conducted with compact direct shear apparatus in accordance with ASTM D5321. It was concluded from the present experimental study that friction coefficient of GT composites is relatively large compared with those of polyester and polypropylene non-woven GT as long as the friction media has similar size to the particles of domestic standard earth. In the event that 20% of the maximum tensile strength was added to polypropylene and polyester non-woven geo-textiles, creep deformation reached to 10% or higher, making it even impossible to find reduction factor.

Abstract: Fibers made of elements such as carbon, aramid and glass have higher mechanical properties than other conventional textile fibers and they enable the production of light weight composites as end products. Furthermore, commingling hybrid yarns generally have a characteristic feature so that their components are distributed homogeneously enough over the yarn cross section. A normal air texturerising machine was modified to produce commingling hybrid yarns for test samples. Different process parameters were applied to produce the hybridized yarn samples. However, these process parameters turned out to have little effect on the filament distribution over the hybrid yarn cross section in terms of homogeneity. The analysis in this paper is focused on the pattern of mixing of filaments over a cross section of hybrid yarns according to different combinations of reinforcement and matrix filament yarns through microscopic view. The volume content of filament in hybrid yarn cross section was maintained at 50% for both reinforced and matrix, and the hybrid yarns count at 600 tex throughout experiments. It was concluded from the experiments that the diameters of reinforcement and matrix filaments have strong effects on the pattern of mixing of filaments over a cross section of hybrid yarns such that the hybrid yarns with more or less equal diameters of reinforcement and matrix filaments showed considerably even distributions over the hybrid yarn cross section.

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the performance of geo-textile (GT) against chemical condition. GT is generally adopted for the upper part of geo-membrane (GM) for waste landfills and thus it is very important to consider the performance of GT against certain chemical environments until landfill is completed. In this study, PVA geo-textile/HDPE geo-membrane was prepared to investigate the waste landfill related properties in terms of long-term performance against chemical conditions imposed. GT composites of PVA GT/HDPE GM, PVA GT and HDPE GM were produced in thermal bonding process. Polyester and polypropylene GT were also manufactured in needle punching process. The experiments have been conducted under a modified version of EPA 9090 test method which is very similar to the method of evaluating chemical resistance of flexible membrane liner by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In this testing method, samples immersed in chemical of different solutions up to 150 days at 30 day interval were obtained to find tensile strength holding rate and chemical resistance. The analysis in this paper is focused to evaluate the effect of different pH conditions and temperature environments on geo-synthetics weights strength retention. It was concluded from the experiments that tensile strength of GT composites against leachate were reduced by 10 to 20% in both polypropylene and polyester non-woven GT. The reduction was more significant at temperatures of 50 °C than that at 25 °C. The experiments conducted in this study demonstrated that PVA GT is excellent in terms of chemical resistance.

Abstract: Geo-composites are generally made by hybridizing of some components among geo-textile, geo-grid, geo-membrane, geo-net, and other materials. Due to practical applicability of geotechnical structures, the demand of geo-composites, especially for drainage application, has gradually increased. In the present study, the geo-composites bonded with geo-grid in chemical process were investigated experimentally in terms of strain evaluation and creep response values. Geo-grid plays an important role as a reinforcing material. Three kinds of geo-grid were prepared as strong yarn polyester and they were woven type, non-woven type, and wrap knitted type. The sample geo-grids were then coated with PVC. The rib tensile strength tests were conducted to evaluate geo-grid products in terms of tensile strength with regard to single rib. The test was performed according to GRI-GGI. The test results revealed that the tensile strains at the maximum tensile strength showed very good tensile deformation characteristics in the range of 10.0-13.0% in terms of mono-rib performance. Any significant trends have not found between warp knitted and woven type geo-grid in terms of the tensile strength ratios. Further experimental analysis has been conducted to investigate the wide-width strip tensile strength, contact point strength and creep features of the geo-grid samples used in this study. It was concluded again from the experiments that the tensile and creep strains of the geo-grid showed so stable values that the geo-grid prepared in this study could protect geo-textile partially in practical structure.

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the analysis of the forming load characteristics of a forward-backward can extrusion in both combined and sequence operation. A commercially available finite element program, which is coded in the rigid-plastic finite element method, has been employed to investigate the forming load characteristics. AA 2024 aluminum alloy is selected as a model material. The analysis in the present study is extended to the selection of press frame capacity for producing efficiently final product at low cost. The possible extrusion processes to shape a forward-backward can component with different outer diameters are categorized to estimate quantitatively the force requirement for forming forward-backward can part, forming energy, and maximum pressure exerted on the die-material interfaces, respectively. The categorized processes are composed of combined and/or some basic extrusion processes such as sequence operation. Based on the simulation results about forming load characteristics, the frame capacity of a mechanical press of crank-drive type suitable for a selected process could be determined along with securing the load capacity and with considering productivity. In addition, it is suggested that different load capacities be selected for different dimensions of a part such as wall thickness in forward direction and etc. It is concluded quantitatively from the simulation results that the combined operation is superior to sequence operation in terms of relatively low forming load and thus it leads to low cost for forming equipments. However, it is also known from the simulation results that the precise control of dimensional accuracy is not so easy in combined operation. The results in this paper could be a good reference for analysis of forming process for complex parts and selection of proper frame capacity of a mechanical press to achieve low production cost and thus high productivity.

Abstract: In the present study, the finite element analysis has been conducted to investigate the deformation characteristics of forward and backward can extrusion process using AA 1100 aluminum alloy tubes in terms of maximum forming load and extruded length ratio in a combined material flow. A commercially available code is used to conduct rigid-plastic FEM simulation. Hollow tubes are selected as initial billets and the punch geometries follow the recommendation of ICFG. Selected design parametrs involved in simulation includes punch nose radius, die corner radius, frictional condition, and punch face angle. The investigation is foucused on the analysis of deformation pattern and its characteristics in a forward tube extrusion combined simultaneously with backward tube extrusion process main in terms of force requirements for this operation according to various punch nose radii and backward tube thickness. The simulation results are summarized in terms of load-stroke relationships for different process parameters such as backward tube thickness, die corner radii, and punch face angle, respectively, and pressure distributions exerted on die, and comparison of die pressure and forming load between combined extrusion and two stage extrusion process in sequencial operation. Extensive analyses are also made to investigate the relationships between process parameters and extruded lengths in both forward and backward directions. It has been concluded from simulation results that a) the combined operation is superior to multi-stage extrusion process in sequential operation in terms of maximum forming load and maximum pressure exerted on die, b) the length of forward extruded tube increases and that of backward extruded tube decreases as the thickness ratio decreases, and c) the forming load is influenced much by the thickness ratio and the other design factors such as die corner radius and punch face angle does not affect much on the force requirement for the combined extrusion process.