Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 761

Abstract: Fibre reinforced polymer composites have been widely used in automotive industries due to its high tensile strength, lightweight and potential resistance towards environmental conditions. This paper presents a study on the fatigue life prediction of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) and the application of FRP composite in manufacturing engineering industries. Four designs of I-beam with different thickness and fillet were studied. The analyses of fatigue life of the designs were done using ANSYS software. Results from the analysis showed that the combination of glass/polyester and the design of I-beam with a fillet of 10mm and thickness of 20mm was the best combination in terms of its good fatigue life, factor of safety and stronger top surface.

Abstract: The aim of this paper was the effects of different fiber size on tensile and flexural properties. Preparation of thermoset unsaturated polyester reinforced with particle Bertam (Eugeissona tristis) was done by hand layout method. Bertam/polyester composites containing Bertam fiber of different sizes, i.e., 15, 120 and 284 μm were prepared. For each composite, eight specimens were tested to evaluate the mechanical properties. It was found that composite reinforced with Bertam having the shortest fiber length, i.e, 15 μm showed the highest tensile and flexural modulus, which were 204.14 MPa and 1826.78 MPa, respectively.

Abstract: In this paper a study of concurrent engineering in the development of product from natural fibre composites is presented. As far as the natural fibre composites are concerned, concurrent engineering is strongly linked to the design for sustainability because the design of natural fibre composite products fulfils the requirement of the design for sustainability, i.e. design for well-being of future generation. A study of the development of food packaging materials has been conducted. This study involved the development of sugar palm starch bio-polymer, selection of the most suitable bio-polymer, development of sugar palm fibre reinforced bio-polymer composites and design for food packaging of sugar palm fibre, specifically the sugar palm polymer composites.

Abstract: Spoilers are part of an automotive exterior bodywork system that acts to create additional down force for higher traction. In this paper, a new conceptual design of automotive spoiler component using kenaf polymer composites was developed using integrated TRIZ and morphology chart design method. The aim is to enable direct application of kenaf polymer composites to the spoiler design to achieve better environmental performance of the component while maintaining the required structural strength for safe and functional operation. The overall process involved two major stages, which are the idea generation and concept development. TRIZ method was applied in the idea generation stage where specific solution strategies for the design were created. In the concept development stage, the specific TRIZ solution strategies obtained were later refined into relevant alternative system elements using Morphology chart method. Finally, a new conceptual design of an automotive spoiler was developed using the combination of the identified system elements. The integrated TRIZ and morphology chart method were found to be new tools that can be used effectively in the concept design stage, especially in cases where direct material substitution is given the main focus for the new product development.

Abstract: Titanium alloys, especially TI6Al4V has been used in many industries such as aerospace applications, medical application and automotive applications. This is because it has beneficial properties such as low density, high strength to weight ratio, low modulus elasticity, excellent corrosion resistance and etc. However, titanium and its alloys have limited use in mechanical engineering applications involving sliding wear or abrasion due to poor wear resistance. Therefore, the duplex coating concept was introduced with the intention of the surface modification process as a pre-treatment of the substrate prior to the deposition of hardcoating process. In this study, plasma nitriding of the Ti6Al4V was performed using a microwave plasma technique at 600°C and 700°C for 1 hour, 3 hours and 5 hours, then followed by deposition of chromium nitrate (CrN) on plasma nitrided samples for duplex coating purposes. Microstructural analysis and mirohardness measurement revealed that formation of Ti₂N and TiN phase indicating the formation of the compound layer was observed for substrate nitrided at temperature as low as 600°C for 1 hour and a substantial increase on the case depth obtained on plasma nitrided Ti6Al4V was observed with an increase of process temperature and time. The duplex coating obtained in this study has superior surface hardness property and improved load carrying capacity of the coating – substrate system compared to CrN coatings deposited on as received Ti6Al4V which was observed in the penetration depth analysis.

Abstract: In the business world today, organizations must be able to respond promptly and efficiently to the changing market needs. Therefore, the flaw in the conventional approach such as inefficiency and time consumption can contribute to product failure in the marketplace. This hinders organizations to provide the performance required and should be improved to respond to the current situation. Concurrent engineering should be adopted to overcome the problems associated with the conventional approach. This paper focuses on minimizing the conventional method by implementing concurrent engineering tools and techniques. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to reduce the wastage of time and costs, as well as labor during packaging process, by identifying the failure of the existing process and choosing a new concept for the packaging process using the integration of FMECA and AHP approach. Failures in the current procedure of packaging process were identified by using FMECA analysis, and 4 new concepts were proposed to improve the packaging process. To select the best concept, AHP was used due to the variety aspects to be considered, such as performance, maintenance, time of development, cost of development and potential cause of failure, in the selection of new concepts. The result shows that the proposed new concept for the packaging process can reduce the time, costs, and labor, in addition to the various aspects considered in the selection of a new concept. This paper presents the importance of considering the concurrent engineering tools in the manufacturing industry.

Abstract: Dissimilar metal joint (DMJ) is one of many joining methods for welding processes which is common in the power plant, chemical and petrochemical industries. Stainless steel pipe and carbon steel pipe are the most widely used in this technique. In order to perform DMJ to these metals, it is important to understand the mechanical properties of both base materials. In this study, the characterizations of stainless steel (SS) 304L and carbon steel (CS) BS1387 were made. The SS 304L and CS BS1387 were cut out from pipes according to ASTM E 8M-04, before their tensile and microhardness properties were measured and evaluated. The results show that the SS 304L has better mechanical properties compared to the CS BS1387 pipe in terms of tensile strength and hardness. Due to the higher mechanical properties, SS 304L was selected to conduct higher temperature water, while CS BS1387 was selected to conduct room temperature water.

Abstract: Concurrent Engineering (CE) has been discussed as a tool to reduce time to market in one company. In other words, CE was only discussed from the viewpoint of production time. But if we introduce the same idea of sharing knowledge not only across different processes in one company, but also to across different industries, i.e., if we develop cross-industry CE, we can not only reduce time and cost, but we can also make our production system more flexible. This paper describes the basic idea of cross-industry CE and its usefulness.

Abstract: Open-switch and short-switch in a three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) have a possibility to fault due to problems of switching devices.Any failure of the system in these applications may incur a cost and risk human live. Therefore, knowledgeon the fault mode behaviour of an inverter is extremely important from the standpoint of system design improvement, protection and fault detection. This paper presents detailed simulation results on condition monitoring and fault behaviour of VSI. The results obtained from the developed monitoring system allows user to identify the fault current. The developed system showed the capability in detecting the performance of VSI as well as identifying the characteristics of type of faults. This system provides a precaution and early detection of fault, thus reduces high maintenance cost and prevent critical fault from happening.

Abstract: Dimensional accuracy plays important criteria in producing high quality machined parts. This is a big challenge to manufacturers of precision components to produce good quality parts with minimum manufacturing error. The focus of this paper is to study the influence of the machine tool rigidity and cutting parameters on dimensional accuracy in turning operation. A method was prepared for identifying the factors effecting dimensional accuracy in a turning process. Experimental setup involved computerized numerical control (CNC) lathe machine, with VBMT 160404 carbide insert and mild steel, as cutting tool and workpiece respectively. The statistical analysis was used for analyzing and determining the accuracy of experimental data through Minitab statistical software. The regressions model was developed. The developed regression model could be used to predict the dimensional precision of the parts based on machine tool vibration and machining parameters during turning process. This is the aspect to be seriously considered and be applied in attaining sustainable machine tool development during design and development stage and its usage. This finding provides useful guidelines for manufacturers to produce high quality machined parts at minimum manufacturing cost. It was found that the cutting speed, feed rate, final part length, vibration x and vibration z have significant effects on dimensional accuracy of the machined parts.