Key Engineering Materials Vols. 622-623

Abstract: A sophisticated servo press with the digital control has been developed and attracted attention in recent years. By utilizing its high function in-process, servo presses have a potential to enhance the forming limit and to improve quality and accuracy of product not only in sheet stamping but also in tube hydroforming processes. On the other hand, in-process control and adaptive process control technologies in metal forming processes using intelligent technique and soft computing have been investigated and developed previously. Nowadays we are in a good environment to realize further advanced adaptive in-process control in metal forming process. To further advance this technology, sensing system is essential element and it should be applied to feedback control optimally in their forming operation. This paper describes the current situation on advanced intelligent process control technology for sheet stamping and tube hydroforming processes on the basis of the research results by the author.

Abstract: Ti6Al4V is one of the best known and studied titanium alloy for the optimization of the thermo-mechanical treatments. The Ti-forgings represent a valid opportunity for the aircraft manufacturers and designers because of high tensile and fatigue properties. Nevertheless the total-cost reduction of the manufacturing-chain requires both: the ability to manufacture nearer-shaped components by mean of forging-process-modification and less final machining (material scraps). Even if Ti6Al4V is a well known alloy, any process parameters modification introduced still represents a challenge for the metallurgists and manufacturers.The idea, at the base of the present work, has been the feasibility study of forging experiments in the Beta-field using Hot Isostatic Pressed (HIP) powders billets. The preliminary compression tests has been carried out in laboratory and the results have been validated in a industrial Forging-Workshop. The deformation behavior of Ti6Al4V HIPped powders during high temperature deformation tests is reported. Laboratory compression and tensile tests have been coupled with relaxation tests in order to achieve robust data about strain rate sensitivity m-coefficient and activation energy Q.The obtained results have been fitted for the assessment of generalized exponential deformation law. The final result is a “Dorn model” that takes into account and compares all the results from the three different deformation tests: compression, tensile and relaxation. The deformation tests have been carried out at temperatures ranging from 1173 K up to 1373 K and strain rate from 0,01 s^-1 up to about 1 s^-1, trying to describe the high temperature complex shape forging operations.Finally the recorded deformation curves has been used for modeling by means of FEM DeformTM code the deformation process and microstructure evolution by means of an Avrami type law.

Abstract: This paper building upon studies [1‐8] describes a subset of the High Pressure Water (HPW) descaling strategy developed at Tata Steel UK to optimise descaling set-ups for range of steel grades prone to adherent primary scale such as in high alloy steels (Si, Ni, Cr). Effective primary descaling, i.e. descaling post furnace discharge via washbox or alternative technologies is imperative to obtain good surface quality and conditioning of the surface state as well as the morphology, growth and behaviour of the secondary/tertiary scale. This paper primarily focuses on analytical descaling concepts for both mechanical and thermal outputs for flat jet nozzle and process factors. This approach has been linked to recent developments for oxide scale evolution during rolling and descaling [8].

Abstract: During the process of cold forming of aluminum, the high pressure which is introduced on the die can result in high adhesion between the aluminum and the die surface. Therefore, it is necessary for the aluminum billet to be coated with a lubricant prior to forming, to reduce adhesion and to ease the flow of material in the die. There are several popular types of lubricant systems used in cold forging of aluminum. For severe deformation, conversion coating in conjunction with soap lubricant are commonly used. The conversion coatings include soap phosphates (PO₄-soap), as well as soap aluminum fluoride (AlF-soap). Therefore, this work studied the performance of the AlF-soap system and compared it to the conventional PO₄-soap system as tested on AA6063 aluminum. Ring compression tests and ball on disc tests were conducted to explore friction conditions and the thinning of the lubricant under several forming conditions. It was found that the quantity of metal soap layer of AlF-soap used affected the friction coefficient and the lubricant thinning under forming operation. The suitable coating weight of metal soap layer of AlF-soap for this experiment was found to be 2 g/m². The friction coefficient of the PO₄-soap system was 16.26% lower than the AlF-soap system. However, the amount of thinning of the AlF-soap film after ring compression tests was lower than that of PO₄-soap film.

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: In the present paper, we have studied the thin films formed on the commercial stainless steel sold under different brand names in Pakistan with the help of SEM, EDX and XRD and have further investigated that how such stainless steels lose their brightness and become dull. A sample of recycled stainless steel melted in induction furnace was taken for study. The analysis of the layer formed is as follows: wt. %, C = 6.55, O = 6.20, Na = 0.47, Mg = 0.31, Al = 2.28, Si = 1.23, Cr = 15.42, Mn = 1.06, Fe = 59.58, Ni = 6.91 Total = 100, Atomic %, C = 21.02 O = 14.93, Na = 0.79, Mg = 0.49, Al = 3.26, Si = 1.68, Cr = 11.43, Mn = 0.74, Fe = 41.12, Ni = 4.53. Stainless steel has austenite structure, is non magnetic and forms fine passive film of Cr (III) oxide, (Cr₂O₃) which prevents surface corrosion and avoids further corrosion from spreading in metal’s internal structure. Mn and Ni stabilize austenite structure. XRD spectra show presence of αFe₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃ and spinal oxides in the film formed on the sample taken for study. SEM images show how this thin film tears. In a sound stainless steel, the film formed is too thin to be visible and metal remains lustrous. The film quickly reforms when surface is scratched (passivation). Mostly stainless steel is recycled and average stainless steel objects manufactured and marketed are composed of above 60% recycled material. Oxide spinals of Mn, Ni, Cr with iron oxide are not very resistive to the corrosion. Recently Duplex stainless steel has been manufactured which contains 50:50 austenite and ferrite and have twice the strength compared to austenite stainless steel. Keywords Recycle stainless steel, composition of thin film with EDX, SEM images, investigation on αFe₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃ spinals. In the present paper, we have studied the thin films formed on the commercial stainless steel sold under different brand names in Pakistan* with the help of SEM, EDX and XRD and have further investigated that how such stainless steels lose their brightness and become dull. The sample is austenitic stainless steel.

Abstract: Mass production of heat radiation devices requires for fine stamping of micro-textured patterns in the order of micro-meters in dimension onto the sheet product. In this duplication of micro-textured patterns, an original mother micro-pattern in the convex type has to be transferred onto the metallic sheet in the concave type with sufficient accuracy. The authors have proposed a micro texturing of original micro patterns onto the DLC coated mother die-and mold-unit. Once this unit is inserted and fixed in the stiff cassette die-set, the CNC-controlled stamping system works well for progressive stamping process to duplicate the original micro-patterns onto aluminum sheet. In the present paper, two kinds of motion in the stamper were designed to investigate the effect of loading and unloading sequences on the geometric accuracy in micro-texturing. Both the macroscopic and microscopic plastic deformations were described by SEM observation. First, high density oxygen plasma etching method was introduced to explain how to fabricate the micro-textured DLC-die unit. The constant-load motion control was employed as a normal motion in CNC-stamping to describe the microscopic metal flow by piercing the DLC micro-punch into the aluminum sheet. Deep micro-cavities with 3.5x3.5x3 μm³ were successfully formed by application of high pressure in stamping. The pulse-wise motion control was further used to improve the geometric accuracy in the present duplication of original micro-texturing pattern onto the aluminum sheet. Owing to the incremental loading in this motion control, the micro-friction was significantly reduced to activate the microscopic metal flow in formation of micro-cavities.

Abstract: Experimental and numerical investigations of the ridging in ferritic stainless steels were presented in this paper. Two kinds of ferritic stainless steels exhibiting different levels of ridging were selected as model materials. The measured roughness of the uniaxially elongated specimens up to 15% in rolling direction (RD) was compared to the prediction using a rate-dependent crystal plasticity FEM (CPFEM). Initial textures of the two materials on 5 equi-spaced sequential RD planes were obtained by EBSD measurement. The initial textures were utilized as input data for the constitutive parameters of the crystal plasticity. Measured respective single planar textures were collected all together so that the 5-layer textures complete 3-dimensional structure and they were mapped onto the FE mesh. Ridging profiles predicted by the CPFEM using both every single layer texture and multilayer texture were compared to the experimental results. Predicted ridging profile of a material exhibiting weak ridging by using 5-layer EBSD mapping was in good agreement with the experimental result. On the other hand, prediction by using only single layer texture was efficient to estimate the ridging in a material exhibiting severe ridging due to the elongated cluster of analogous orientations along RD.

Abstract: Nowadays manufacturing companies have to face conflicting issues continuously. Solving this type of problem means finding solutions that ensure a fair compromise between different objectives. In this work, a porthole die extrusion is considered as a specific case study. Usually, the main objective of this process is to find the combination of input parameters that allow the product quality to be maximized. However, product quality is not the only variable that companies have to take into account. In fact, it is also necessary to design the process in an efficient and sustainable way in order to reduce process cost and environmental impact. To this purpose, in this study the conflicting aims of product quality maximization and energy assumption minimization are considered and optimized. To pursue this aim an experimental investigation was executed, in order to build a preliminary database. The decision variables are the profile thickness and the process velocity. During the tests, the punch was measured in order to quantify the absorbed power along with the environmental impact of the process for changing conditions. In the same way, the mechanical properties of the extruded profile were measured by means of a tensile test, in order to assess the product quality. To solve this kind of problem the use of multi-objective optimization techniques is required in order to find the set of Pareto optimal solutions from which a single configuration will be selected according to specific business needs.