Microstructure and mechanical properties of A356 aluminum alloy wheels prepared by thixo-forging combined with a low superheat casting process

The A356 aluminum alloy wheels were prepared by thixo-forging combined with a low superheat casting process. The as-cast microstructure, microstructure evolution during reheating and the mechanical properties of the thixo-forged A356 aluminum alloy wheels were investigated. The results show that the A356 aluminum alloy billet with fine, uniform and non-dendritic grains can be obtained when the melt is cast at 635 ℃. When the billet is reheated at 600 ℃ for 60 min, the non-dendritic grains are changed into spherical ones and the billet can be easily thixo-forged into wheels. The tensile strength and elongation of thixo-forged wheels with T6 heat treatment are 327.6 MPa and 7.8%, respectively, which are higher than those of a cast wheel. It is suggested that the thixo-forging combined with the low superheat casting process is an effective technique to produce aluminum alloy wheels with high mechanical properties.

砂带磨头设计与使用

本文介绍应用砂带进行多刀多刃切削加工的新型高效磨削的工艺特点、自制砂带磨头的结构、技术参数、技术要求和典型零部件的设计与计算,并讲述砂带磨削工艺参数的选择和大型轴颈砂带磨削实例,为在普通机床上对大轴颈、大孔径、大平面和大曲面工件的表面光整加工提供参考。

压气机薄壁叶片变形自适应数控砂带磨削试验研究

基于压气机薄壁叶片结构特点及其抛光工艺要求,为实现叶片型面自动化抛光,满足其型面尺寸精度和表面质量要求,对数控砂带磨削工艺装备技术进行研究,提出薄壁叶片变形自适应恒压磨削控制方法,并对变形自适应磨削控制系统进行设计。通过对叶片磨削加工刀具轨迹生成方法的研究和走刀路径的优化选择,最终实现了叶片变形自适应数控砂带磨削。磨削试验结果验证了叶片变形自适应恒压磨削控制方法的合理性,得到了较高的叶片表面质量及型面尺寸精度,且磨削效率显著提高。

Finite element analysis of contact fatigue and bending fatigue of a theoretical assembling straight bevel gear pair

The aim of this work is to propose a 3D FE model of a theoretical assembling straight bevel gear pair to analyze the contact fatigue on the tooth surface and the bending fatigue in the tooth root. Based on the cumulative fatigue criterion and the stress-life equation, the key meshing states of the gear pair were investigated for the contact fatigue and the bending fatigue. Then, the reliability of the proposed model was proved by comparing the calculation result with the simulation result. Further study was performed to analyze the variation of the contact fatigue stress and the bending fatigue stress under different loads. Furthermore, the roles of the driving pinion and the driven gear pair were evaluated in the fatigue life of the straight bevel gear pair and the main fatigue failure mode was determined for the significant gear. The results show that the fatigue failure of the driving pinion is the main fatigue failure for the straight bevel gear pair and the bending fatigue failure is the main fatigue failure for the driving pinion.

Mathematic model and tooth contact analysis of a new spiral non-circular bevel gear

A novel spiral non-circular bevel gear that could be applied to variable-speed driving in intersecting axes was proposed by combining the design principles of non-circular bevel gears and the manufacturing principles of face-milling spiral bevel gears.Unlike straight non-circular bevel gears,spiral non-circular bevel gears have numerous advantages,such as a high contact ratio,high intensity,good dynamic performance,and an adjustable contact region.In addition,while manufacturing straight non-circular bevel gears is difficult,spiral non-circular bevel gears can be efficiently and precisely fabricated with a 6-axis bevel gear cutting machine.First,the generating principles of spiral non-circular bevel gears were introduced.Next,a mathematical model,including a generating tooth profile,tooth spiral,pressure angle,and generated tooth profile for this gear type was established.Then the precision of the model was verified by a tooth contact analysis using FEA,and the contact patterns and stress distributions of the spiral non-circular bevel gears were investigated.

Loaded multi-tooth contact analysis and calculation for contact stress of face-gear drive with spur involute pinion

The analytical method based on "Hertz theory on normal contact of elastic solids" and the numerical method based on finite element method (FEM) calculating the contact stress of face-gear drive with spur involute pinion were introduced, and their relative errors are below 10%, except edge contact, which turns out that these two methods can compute contact stress of face-gear drive correctly and effectively. An agreement of the localized bearing contact stress is gotten for these two methods, making sure that the calculation results of FEM are reliable. The loaded meshing simulations of multi-tooth FEM model were developed, and the determination of the transmission error and the maximal load distribution factor of face-gear drive under torques were given. A formula for the maximal load distribution factor was proposed. By introducing the maximal load distribution factor in multi-tooth contact zone, a method for calculating the maximal contact stress in multi-tooth contact can be given. Compared to FEM, the results of these formulae are proved to be reliable, and the relative errors are below 10%.

CALCULATION OF CONTACT STRESS OF PLASTIC GEARS

A calculation method of contact problem of plastic gears based on three parameter model of viscoelasticity material is presented. In this calculation method, the influence of temperature upon the property of plastics is considered and an iteration process of temperature-elasticity module-friction coefficient is proposed. From the rolling contact problem of two viscoelastic cylinders with parallel axis, a set of normal-tangential contact coupled integral equations is obtained. Through numerical treatment and normal-tangential iteration, the normal contact stress,tangential stress and contact width of plastic gears are acquired.

Mesh stiffness calculation of cycloid-pin gear pair with tooth profile modification and eccentricity error

Cycloid speed reducers are widely used in many industrial areas due to the advantages of compact size, high reduction ratio and high stiffness. However, currently, there are not many analytical models for the mesh stiffness calculation, which is a crucial parameter for the high-fidelity gear dynamic model. This is partially due to the difficulty of backlash determination and the complexity of multi-tooth contact deformation during the meshing process. In this paper, a new method to calculate the mesh stiffness is proposed including the effects of tooth profile modification and eccentricity error. The time-varying mesh parameters and load distribution of cycloid-pin gear pair are determined based on the unloaded tooth contact analysis （TCA） and the nonlinear Hertzian contact theory, allowing accurate calculations of the contact stiffness of single tooth pair and the torsional stiffness of multi-tooth pairs. A detailed parametric study is presented to demonstrate the influences of tooth profile modification, applied torque and eccentricity error on the torsional mesh stiffness, loaded transmission error, Hertzian contact stiffness and load sharing factor. This model can be applied to further study the lost motion and dynamic characteristics of cycloid speed reducer and assist the optimization of its precision, vibration and noise levels.

Dynamic performance of six-axle locomotive subjected to asymmetric brake shoe forces

To research the influence of asymmetric brake shoe forces(ABSF)induced by braking failure on the dynamic performance of six-axle locomotive,the static equilibrium model of three-axle bogie and dynamic model for locomotive are established.The coupling vibration equations of axle hung motor and wheelset are derived.For the air braking,the influence mechanism of ABSF on the wheel-rail asymmetric motion and force characteristics are discussed.It can be found that if the ABSF is applied in the front wheelset,all the wheelsets move laterally in the same direction.Once the ABSF occurs in the middle or rear one,other wheelsets may move laterally towards the opposite direction.The motion amplitude and direction of all wheelsets strictly depend on the resultant moment of suspension yawing moment and brake shoe asymmetric moment.For the asymmetric braking,the free lateral gap of axle-box could increase the wheelset motion amplitude,but could not change the moving direction.In both the straight line and curve,the ABSF may lead to wheelset misaligning motion,intensify the wheel-rail lateral dynamic interaction and deteriorate wheel-rail contact state.Especially for the steering wheelsets,the asymmetric braking increases the wheelset attack angle significantly,which forms the worst braking condition.

Contact pressure distribution and support angle optimization of kiln tyre

According to the shearing force character and the deformation coordination condition of shell at the station of supports, the mathematical models to calculate contact angle and contact pressure distribution between tyre and shell were set up, the formulae of bending moment and bending stress of tyre were obtained. Taking the maximum of tyre fatigue life as the optimal objective, the optimization model of tyre support angle was built. The computational results show that when tyre support angle is 30°, tyre life is far less than that when tyre support angle is optimal, which is 35.6°, and it is unsuitable to stipulate tyre support angle to be 30° in traditional design. The larger the load, the less the nominal stress amplitude increment of tyre, the more favorable the tyre fatigue life when tyre support angle is optimal.

Predictions of friction and flash temperature in marine gears based on a 3D line contact mixed lubrication model considering measured surface roughness

Wear and scuffing failures often occur in marine transmission gears due to high friction and flash temperature at the interface between the meshing-teeth.In this paper,a numerical solution procedure was developed for the predictions of transient friction and flash temperature in the marine timing gears during one meshing circle based on the 3D line contact mixed lubrication simulation,which had been verified by comparing the flash temperature with those from Blok’s theory.The effect of machined surface roughness on the mixed lubrication characteristics is studied.The obtained results for several typical gear pairs indicate that gear pair 4-6 exhibits the largest friction and the highest interfacial temperature increase due to severe rough surface asperity contacts,while the polished gear surfaces yield the smallest friction and the lowest interfacial temperature.In addition,the influences of the operating conditions and the gear design parameters on the friction-temperature behaviors are discussed.It is observed that the conditions of heavy load and low rotational velocity usually lead to significantly increased friction and temperature.In the meantime,by optimizing the gear design parameters,such as the modulus and the pressure angle,the performance of interfacial friction and temperature can be significantly improved.

Study on Coaxiality Measurement System of Compound Gear Shaft Based on Non⁃contact Optic

Aiming at the shortcomings of traditional contact measurement methods such as low measurement efficiency,high cost and low accuracy,a non-contact optical measurement method based on the laser displacement sensor is proposed.According to the relevant regulations of the coaxiality error evaluation standard and the structural characteristics of the compound gear shaft,we have designed and built a set of supporting software system as well as a hardware test platform.In this paper,the distance difference threshold and scale threshold methods are used to eliminate outlier data.The least squares circle is selected to calculate the center of the circle and the minimum containment cylinder axis method is used as the reference axis of the composite gear shaft.Compensated by the standard step shaft calibration,the coaxiality error of the composite gear shaft can be measured to be within 0.01 mm in less than two minutes.The range value of the multi-section measurement test is 0.065 mm.The average coaxiality error is∅0.476 mm.

Tooth surface geometry optimization of spiral bevel and hypoid gears generated by duplex helical method with circular profile blade

In order to effectively improve meshing performance of spiral bevel and hypoid gears generated by the duplex helical method, the effects of straight lined and circular cutting edges profile on meshing and contact of spiral bevel and hypoid gears were investigated analytically. Firstly, a mathematical model of spiral bevel and hypoid gears with circular blade profile was established according to the cutting characteristics of the duplex helical method. Based on a hypoid gear drive, the tooth bearings and the functions of transmission errors of four design cases were analyzed respectively by the use of the tooth contact analysis(TCA), and the contact stresses of the four design cases were analyzed and compared using simulation software. Finally, the curvature radius of the circular profile blade was optimized. The results show that the contact stresses are availably reduced, and the areas of edge contact and severe contact stresses can be avoided by selecting appropriate circular blade profile. In addition, the convex and concave sides are separately modified by the use of different curvature radii of inside and outside blades, which can increase the flexibility of the duplex helical method.

Research on dynamical derailment system for CRH

Based on an improved three-dimensional wheel-rail contact trace algorithm and a new model of wheel-rail contact force, wheel-rail derailment dynamical model is established on China Railways High-speed（CRH） vehicle and developed in MATLAB software, which is called dynamical derailment system for CRH （DDSCRH）. Analyzed on dynamical derailment process of high speed vehicle by DDSCRH, the critical position on chmb wheel and influence factors on lateral force for derailment are obtained. Finally, high-speed vehicle dynamical simulation is verified on DDSCRH by comparing with the existing results of the line test.

Contact surface fatigue life for roller rack pinion system

A roller rack pinion(RRP)system,which consists of a rack-bar and a cam pinion,transforms a rotation motion into linear motion.The rack-bar has a series of roller train and meshes with the cam pinion.First,the exact tooth profile of the cam pinion and the non-undercut condition to satisfy the required performance have been proposed with the introduction of the profile shift coefficient.Then,the load stress factors are investigated under the variation of the shape design parameters to predict the gear surface fatigue limit which is strongly related to the gear noise and vibration at the contact patch.The results show that the pitting life can be extended significantly with the increase of the profile shift coefficient.

Non-contact Acoustic Contour Imaging Method Using Phase Difference in Extremely Shallow Underground

Buried object which exists at extremely shallow underground can be detected by using an acoustic vibration and a SLDV （scanning laser Doppler vibrometer）. Non-contact acoustic exploration can be realized by using air coupled sound. It was confirmed that discovery and the identification of a buried thing were possible using the OFR method （optimum frequency range method）. However, in this method, only the amplitude of the vibration speed spectrum is used and did not use the phase information. Therefore a new imaging method is proposed that used the phase information of the vibration speed spectrum. From the experimental results, the possibility of the outline extraction by using the phase difference between each scan point is confirmed. As a future task, the phase difference image will become clearer by changing the scan point density and long duration time of emitted wave.

Numerical simulation of wheel wear evolution for heavy haul railway

The prediction of the wheel wear is a fundamental problem in heavy haul railway. A numerical methodology is introduced to simulate the wheel wear evolution of heavy haul freight car. The methodology includes the spatial coupling dynamics of vehicle and track, the three-dimensional rolling contact analysis of wheel-rail, the Specht's material wear model, and the strategy for reproducing the actual operation conditions of railway. The freight vehicle is treated as a full 3D rigid multi-body model. Every component is built detailedly and various contact interactions between parts are accurately simulated, taking into account the real clearances. The wheel-rail rolling contact calculation is carried out based on Hertz's theory and Kalker's FASTSIM algorithm. The track model is built based on field measurements. The material loss due to wear is evaluated according to the Specht's model in which the wear coefficient varies with the wear intensity. In order to exactly reproduce the actual operating conditions of railway,dynamic simulations are performed separately for all possible track conditions and running velocities in each iterative step.Dimensionless weight coefficients are introduced that determine the ratios of different cases and are obtained through site survey. For the wheel profile updating, an adaptive step strategy based on the wear depth is introduced, which can effectively improve the reliability and stability of numerical calculation. At last, the wear evolution laws are studied by the numerical model for different wheels of heavy haul freight vehicle running in curves. The results show that the wear of the front wheelset is more serious than that of the rear wheelset for one bogie, and the difference is more obvious for the outer wheels. The wear of the outer wheels is severer than that of the inner wheels. The wear of outer wheels mainly distributes near the flange and the root; while the wear of inner wheels mainly distributes around the nominal rolling circle. For the outer wheel of front wheelset of each bogie, the development of wear is gradually concentrated on the flange and the developing speed increases continually with the increase of traveled distance.

Modeling mechanistic responses in asphalt pavements under three-dimensional tire-pavement contact pressure

A three dimensional finite element program incorporating actually measured vertical tire-pavement contact pressure(TPCP) was utilized for modeling the mechanistic responses in asphalt concrete(AC) layers by simulating various vehicle motions:stationary and non-stationary(i.e.in acceleration or deceleration mode).Analysis of the results indicated the following items.1) It is critical to use the vertical TPCP as the design control criteria for the tensile strains at the bottom of the AC layer when the base layer modulus is lower in magnitude(e.g.≤400 MPa);however,when the base layer modulus is higher in magnitude(e.g.≥7 000 MPa),the horizontal TPCP and the tensile strains in the X-direction at the surface of the AC layer should also be considered as part of the design response criteria.2) The definition of "overload" needs to be revised to include tire pressure over-inflation,i.e.,a vehicle should be considered to be overloaded if the wheel load exceeds the specification and/or the tire inflation pressure is higher than the specification.3) Light trucks have more structural impact on the strain responses and pavement design when the thickness of the surfacing AC layer is thinner(e.g.≤50 mm).4) The acceleration of a vehicle does not significantly impact the AC surface distresses such as rutting at the top of the upgrade slopes or intersections;however,vehicle deceleration can dramatically induce horizontal shear strains and consequently,aggravate shoving and rutting problems at the highway intersections.Evidently,these factors should be taken into account during mechanistic stress-strain modeling and structural design of asphalt pavements.

Life prediction for rolling contact fatigue crack initiation of kiln wheels

This paper investigates the rolling contact fatigue of kiln wheels with respect to the axis line deflection, which is linear with the applied supporting loads on wheels. Fatigue crack initiation criteria for elastic shakedown, plastic shakedown and ratcheting material responses are applied to assess wheels responses with two sets of axial line deflection. The finite element simulations are performed by using the bilinear material mode for nonlinear and kinematic hardening in ANSYS 11.0. By comparing the results from different critera, it is showed that the low-cycle fatigue is the predominated failure. Results from different axial line deflections indicate that the optimum adjustment can greatly enhance the whole life of the supporting structure.