Interconnected microstructure and flexural behavior of Ti_(2)C-Ti composites with superior Young’s modulus

To enhance the Young’s modulus(E)and strength of titanium alloys,we designed titanium matrix composites with intercon-nected microstructure based on the Hashin-Shtrikman theory.According to the results,the in-situ reaction yielded an interconnected microstructure composed of Ti_(2)C particles when the Ti_(2)C content reached 50vol%.With widths of 10 and 230 nm,the intraparticle Ti lamellae in the prepared composite exhibited a bimodal size distribution due to precipitation and the unreacted Ti phase within the grown Ti_(2)C particles.The composites with interconnected microstructure attained superior properties,including E of 174.3 GPa and ultimate flexural strength of 1014 GPa.Compared with that of pure Ti,the E of the composite was increased by 55% due to the high Ti_(2)C content and interconnected microstructure.The outstanding strength resulted from the strong interfacial bonding,load-bearing capacity of interconnected Ti_(2)C particles,and bimodal intraparticle Ti lamellae,which minimized the average crack driving force.Interrupted flexural tests revealed preferential crack initiation along the{001}cleavage plane and grain boundary of Ti_(2)C in the region with the highest tensile stress.In addition,the propagation can be efficiently inhibited by interparticle Ti grains,which prevented the brittle fracture of the composites.

Seismic performance evaluation of hybrid coupled shear wall system with shear and flexural fuse-type steel coupling beams

Replaceable flexural and shear fuse-type coupling beams are used in hybrid coupled shear wall(HCSW)systems,enabling concrete buildings to be promptly recovered after severe earthquakes.This study aimed to analytically evaluate the seismic behavior of flexural and shear fuse beams situated in short-,medium-and high-rise RC buildings that have HCSWs.Three building groups hypothetically located in a high seismic hazard zone were studied.A series of 2D nonlinear time history analyses was accomplished in OpenSees,using the ground motion records scaled at the design basis earthquake level.It was found that the effectiveness of fuses in HCSWs depends on various factors such as size and scale of the building,allowable rotation value,inter-story drift ratio,residual drift quantity,energy dissipation value of the fuses,etc.The results show that shear fuses better meet the requirements of rotations and drifts.In contrast,flexural fuses dissipate more energy,but their sectional stiffness should increase to meet other requirements.It was concluded that adoption of proper fuses depends on the overall scale of the building and on how associated factors are considered.

AHermitian C^(2) Differential Reproducing Kernel Interpolation Meshless Method for the 3D Microstructure-Dependent Static Flexural Analysis of Simply Supported and Functionally Graded Microplates

This work develops a Hermitian C^(2) differential reproducing kernel interpolation meshless(DRKIM)method within the consistent couple stress theory(CCST)framework to study the three-dimensional(3D)microstructuredependent static flexural behavior of a functionally graded(FG)microplate subjected to mechanical loads and placed under full simple supports.In the formulation,we select the transverse stress and displacement components and their first-and second-order derivatives as primary variables.Then,we set up the differential reproducing conditions(DRCs)to obtain the shape functions of the Hermitian C^(2) differential reproducing kernel(DRK)interpolant’s derivatives without using direct differentiation.The interpolant’s shape function is combined with a primitive function that possesses Kronecker delta properties and an enrichment function that constituents DRCs.As a result,the primary variables and their first-and second-order derivatives satisfy the nodal interpolation properties.Subsequently,incorporating ourHermitianC^(2)DRKinterpolant intothe strong formof the3DCCST,we develop a DRKIM method to analyze the FG microplate’s 3D microstructure-dependent static flexural behavior.The Hermitian C^(2) DRKIM method is confirmed to be accurate and fast in its convergence rate by comparing the solutions it produces with the relevant 3D solutions available in the literature.Finally,the impact of essential factors on the transverse stresses,in-plane stresses,displacements,and couple stresses that are induced in the loaded microplate is examined.These factors include the length-to-thickness ratio,the material length-scale parameter,and the inhomogeneity index,which appear to be significant.

Theory of Flexural Shear, Bending and Torsion for a Thin-Walled Beam of Open Section

Aspects of the general Vlasov theory are examined separately as applied to a thin-walled channel section cantilever beam under free-end end loading. In particular, the flexural bending and shear that arise under transverse shear and axial torsional loading are each considered theoretically. These analyses involve the location of the shear centre at which transverse shear forces when applied do not produce torsion. This centre, when taken to be coincident with the centre of twist implies an equivalent reciprocal behaviour. That is, an axial torsion applied concentric with the shear centre will twist but not bend the beam. The respective bending and shear stress conversions are derived for each action applied to three aluminium alloy extruded channel sections mounted as cantilevers with a horizontal principal axis of symmetry. Bending and shear are considered more generally for other thin-walled sections when the transverse loading axes at the shear centre are not parallel to the section = s centroidal axes of principal second moments of area. The fixing at one end of the cantilever modifies the St Venant free angular twist and the free warping displacement. It is shown from the Wagner-Kappus torsion theory how the end constrained warping generates an axial stress distribution that varies with the length and across the cross-section for an axial torsion applied to the shear centre. It should be mentioned here for wider applications and validation of the Vlasov theory that attendant papers are to consider in detail bending and torsional loadings applied to other axes through each of the centroid and the web centre. Therein, both bending and twisting arise from transverse shear and axial torsion applied to each position being displaced from the shear centre. Here, the influence of the axis position upon the net axial and shear stress distributions is to be established. That is, the net axial stress from axial torsional loading is identified with the sum of axial stress due to bending and axial stress arising from constrained warping displacements at the fixing. The net shear stress distribution overlays the distributions from axial torsion and that from flexural shear under transverse loading. Both arise when transverse forces are displaced from the shear centre.

新型硬盘磁头折片组合Flexure设计

针对大容量、高速硬盘的需要,提出了一种低特性阻抗,低功耗,高带宽的新型硬盘磁头折片组合Flexure的设计,重点说明了该Flexure的结构、工作原理及其主要技术特性。并结合流行电磁仿真软件ADS对其电磁性能进行了设计,仿真及验证。

Topological and Shape Optimization of Flexure Hinges for Designing Compliant Mechanisms Using the Level Set Method

A flexure hinge is a major component in designing compliant mechanisms that o ers unique possibilities in a wide range of application fields in which high positioning accuracy is required. Although various flexure hinges with di erent configurations have been successively proposed, they are often designed based on designers' experiences and inspirations. This study presents a systematic method for topological optimization of flexure hinges by using the level set method. Optimization formulations are developed by considering the functional requirements and geometrical constraints of flexure hinges. The functional requirements are first constructed by maximizing the compliance in the desired direction while minimizing the compliances in the other directions. The weighting sum method is used to construct an objective function in which a self-adjust method is used to set the weighting factors. A constraint on the symmetry of the obtained configuration is developed. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. The obtained results reveal that the design of a flexure hinge starting from the topology level can yield more choices for compliant mechanism design and obtain better designs that achieve higher performance.

Stiffness Analysis of Corrugated Flexure Beam Used in Compliant Mechanisms

Conventional flexible joints generally have limited range of motion and high stress concentration. To overcome these shortcomings, corrugated flexure beam（CF beam） is designed because of its large flexibility obtained from longer overall length on the same span. The successful design of compliant mechanisms using CF beam requires manipulation of the stiffnesses as the design variables. Empirical equations of the CF beam stiffness components, except of the torsional stiffness, are obtained by curve-fitting method. The application ranges of all the parameters in each empirical equation are also discussed. The ratio of off-axis to axial stiffness is considered as a key characteristic of an effective compliant joint. And parameter study shows that the radius of semi-circular segment and the length of straight segment contribute most to the ratio. At last, CF beam is used to design translational and rotational flexible joints, which also verifies the validity of the empirical equations. CF beam with large flexibility is presented, and empirical equations of its stiffness are proposed to facilitate the design of flexible joint with large range of motion.

Novel Annulus-shaped Flexure Pivot in Rotation Application and Dimensionless Design

Large-deflection flexure pivot is widely used in high precision rotation application, but there are less flexure configurations and simple and convenient design methods, This paper presents a novel large-deflection curved-compliant annulus-shaped flexure pivot composed of six curved beam flexure elements. It can offer more than lO^angular stroke theoretically. Firstly, main-motion pseudo-rigid-body method is introduced to establish the flexure pivot model. Although pseudo-rigid-body method can be used to analyze the large-deformation flexure pivot performance, the method is definitely a laborious and difficult task for designing this novel flexure pivot. In order to simply the designing process, dimension-design graphs based on the parametric models and finite element analysis is presented. Using the dimension-design method as a tool, the designers can determine the optimal geometry rapidly, based on the stiffness and rotation demands of an annulus-shaped flexure pivot. Finally, dimension-design graph examples are given whose primary design aims to achieve a rotation stroke of annulus-shaped flexure pivot. The finite element analysis results show that the relative designing error between anticipative rotation stroke and graph design result is less than 4%. The dimensionless method used in designing annulus-shaped flexure pivot can reduce design process in both time and complexity. The novel annulus-shaped flexure pivot and dimension-design method are helpful supplement to configuration and design method of large-deflection flexure pivot.

Design and Dynamic Modeling of a 2-DOF Decoupled Flexure-Based Mechanism

Flexure mechanisms with decoupled characteristics have been widely utilized in precision positioning applications.However,these mechanisms suffer from either slow response or low load capability.Furthermore,asymmetric design always leads to thermal error.In order to solve these issues,a novel 2-DOF decoupled mechanism is developed by monolithically manufacturing sets of statically indeterminate symmetric（SIS） flexure structures in parallel.Symmetric design helps to eliminate the thermal error and Finite Element Analysis（FEA） results show that the maximum coupling ratio between X and Y axes is below 0.25% when a maximum pretension force of 200 N is applied.By ignoring the mass effect,all the SIS flexure structures are simplified to ＂spring-damper＂ components,from which the static and dynamics model are derived.The relation between the first resonant frequency of the mechanism and the load is investigated by incorporating the load mass into the proposed dynamics model.Analytical results show that even with a load of 0.5 kg,the first resonant frequency is still higher than 300 Hz,indicating a high load capability.The mechanism＇s static and dynamic performances are experimentally examined.The linear stiffnesses of the mechanism at the working platform and at the driving point are measured to be 3.563 0 N·μm-1 and 3.362 1 N·μm-1,respectively.The corresponding estimation values from analytical models are 3.405 7 N·μm-1 and 3.381 7 N·μm-1,which correspond to estimation errors of-4.41% and 0.6%,respectively.With an additional load of 0.16 kg,the measured and estimated first resonant frequencies are 362 Hz and 365 Hz,respectively.The estimation error is only 0.55%.The analytical and experimental results show that the developed mechanism has good performances in both decoupling ability and load capability;its static and dynamic performance can be precisely estimated from corresponding analytical models.The proposed mechanism has wide potentials in precision positioning applications.

Optimizing the Qusai-static Folding and Deploying of Thin-Walled Tube Flexure Hinges with Double Slots

The thin-walled tube flexure（TWTF） hinges have important potential application value in the deployment mechanisms of satellite and solar array, but the optimal design of the TWTF hinges haven＇t been completely solved, which restricts their applications. An optimal design method for the qusai-static folding and deploying of TWTF hinges with double slots is presented based on the response surface theory. Firstly, the full factorial method is employed to design of the experiments. Then, the finite element models of the TWTF hinges with double slots are constructed to simulate the qusai-static folding and deploying non-linear analysis. What＇s more, the mathematical model of the TWTF flexure hinge quasi-static folding and deploying properties are derived by the response surface method. Considering of small mass and high stability, the peak moment of quasi-static folding and deploying as well as the lightless are set as the objectives to get the optimal performances. The relative errors of the objectives between the optimal design results and the FE analysis results are less than 7%, which demonstrates the precision of the surrogate models. Lastly, the parameter study shows that both the slots length and the slots width both have significant effects to the peak moment of quasi-static folding and deploying of TWTF hinges with double slots. However, the maximum Mises stress of quasi-static folding is more sensitive to the slots length than the slots width. The proposed research can be applied to optimize other thin-walled flexure hinges under quasi-static folding and deploying, which is of great importance to design of flexure hinges with high stability and low stress.

Adaptive Kalman Filter of Transfer Alignment with Un-modeled Wing Flexure of Aircraft

The alignment accuracy of the strap-down inertial navigation system （SINS） of airborne weapon is greatly degraded by the dynamic wing flexure of the aircraft. An adaptive Kalman filter uses innovation sequences based on the maximum likelihood estimated criterion to adapt the system noise covariance matrix and the measurement noise covariance matrix on line, which is used to estimate the misalignment if the model of wing flexure of the aircraft is unknown. From a number of simulations, it is shown that the accuracy of the adaptive Kalman filter is better than the conventional Kalman filter, and the erroneous misalignment models of the wing flexure of aircraft will cause bad estimation results of Kalman filter using attitude match method.

Effect of Degree-of-Symmetry on Kinetostatic Characteristics of Flexure Mechanisms:A Comparative Case Study

The current research of kinetostatic characteristics in flexure mechanisms mainly focus on the improvement of accuracy. To reduce or eliminate the parasitic motion is considered as an approach by using the common knowledge of symmetry. However, there is no study on designing the flexure mechanisms with symmetrical features as many as possible for better kinetostatic performance, when considering the resulting cost by the symmetry. In this paper, the concept of degree of symmetry(DoS) is proposed for the first time, which is committed to symmetry design in the phase of conceptual design. A class of flexure mechanisms with 0?DoS, 1?DoS, 2?DoS and 3?DoS are synthesized respectively based on the Freedom and Constraint Topology method. Their overall compliance matrices in an analytical form formulated within the framework of the screw theory are used to analyze and compare the effect of different number of DoS on the kinetostatic characteristics for flexure mechanisms. The finite element analysis(FEA) simulations are implemented to verify the analytical results. These results show that the higher the DoS is, the smaller the parasitic motion error will be. The flexure model with 3?DoS is optimized according to the overall compliance matrix and then tested by using the FEA simulation. The testing result shows that with the best combination parameters, the parasitic motion error for 3?DoS mechanism is almost eliminated. This research introduces a design principle which can alleviate the unwanted parasitic motion for better accuracy.

A Large Range Flexure-Based Servo System Supporting Precision Additive Manufacturing

This paper presents the design, development, and control of a large range beam flexure-based nano servo system for the micro-stereolithography （MSL） process. As a key enabler of high accuracy in this process, a compact desktop-size beam flexure-based nanopositioner was designed with millimeter range and nanometric motion quality. This beam flexure-based motion system is highly suitable for harsh operation conditions, as no assembly or maintenance is required during the operation. From a mechanism design viewpoint, a mirror-symmetric arrangement and appropriate redundant constraints are crucial to reduce undesired parasitic motion. Detailed finite element analysis （FEA） was conducted and showed satisfactory mechanical features. With the identified dynamic models of the nanopositioner, real-time control strategies were designed and implemented into the monolithically fabricated prototype system, demonstrating the enhanced tracking capability of the MSL process. The servo system has both a millimeter operating range and a root mean square （RMS） tracking error of about 80 nm for a circular traiectorv.

NANO-BEARING:THE DESIGN OF A NEW TYPE OF AIR BEARING WITH FLEXURE STRUCTURE

A new type of air bearing with flexure structure is introduced. The new bearing is designed for precision mechanical engineering devices such as mechanical watch movement. The new design uses the flexure structure to provide 3D damping to absorb shocks from all directions. Two designs are presented： one has 12 T-shape slots in the radian direction while the other has 8 spiral slots in the radian direction. Both designs have flexure mountings on the axial directions. Based on the finite element analysis （FEA）, the new bearing can reduce the vibration （displacement） by as much as 8.37% and hence, can better protect the shafts.

LOADS INFLUENCE ANALYSIS ON NOVEL HIGH PRECISION FLEXURE PARALLEL POSITIONER

A large workspace flexure parallel positioner system is developed, which can attain sub-micron scale accuracy over cubic centimeter motion range for utilizing novel wide-range flexure hinges instead of the conventional mechanism joints. Flexure hinges eliminate backlash and friction, but on the other hand their deformation caused by initial loads influences the positioning accuracy greatly, so discussions about loads＇ influence analysis on this flexure parallel positioner is very necessary. The stiffness model of the whole mechanism is presented via stiffness assembly method based on the stiffness model of individual flexure hinge, And the analysis results are validated by the finite element analysis （FEA） simulation and experiment tests, which provide essential data to the practical application of this positioner system.

Kinematics modeling of a 6-PSS parallel mechanism with wide-range flexure hinges

A novel 6-PSS flexible parallel mechanism was presented,which employed wide-range flexure hinges as passive joints.The proposed mechanism features micron level positioning accuracy over cubic centimeter scale workspace.A three-layer back-propagation(BP) neural network was utilized to the kinematics analysis,in which learning samples containing 1 280 groups of data based on stiffness-matrix method were used to train the BP model.The kinematics performance was accurately calculated by using the constructed BP model with 19 hidden nodes.Compared with the stiffness model,the simulation and numerical results validate that BP model can achieve millisecond level computation time and micron level calculation accuracy.The concept and approach outlined can be extended to a variety of applications.

The Effect of Composite Flexures on Aeroelastic Stability of a Hingeless Rotor Blade

The effects of ply orientation angle of composite flexures on stability of hingeless rotor blade system are studied.The composite hingeless rotor blade system is simplified as a hub,a flap flexure and a lag flexure.pitch bearing and main blade.The kinematics formulations are inferred by employing the moderate deflection beam theory.The shear deformation and warping related to torsion are considered.The quasi-steady strip theory with dynamic inflow effects is applied to obtain the aerodynamic loads acting on the blade.Based on these.the set of finite element formulations of a hingeless rotor blade system is worked out.The numerical results show that the ply angle of the composite flexures has great effects on the aeroelastic stability of rotor blade.

Design Principle of High-precision Flexure Mechanisms Based on Parasitic-motion Compensation

In design of flexure mechanism, diminishing the parasitic-motion is a key point to improve the accuracy. However, most of existing topics concentrate on improving the accuracy of linear-motion flexure mechanisms via compensating the parasitic error, but few research the multi-dimensional flexure mechanisms. A general design principle and method for high-precision flexure mechanisms based on the parasitic-motion compensation is presented, and the proposed method can compensate the parasitic rotation in company with translation, or the parasitic translation in company with rotation, or both. The crucial step for the method is that the parasitic motion of a flexure mechanism is formulated and evaluated in terms of its compliance. The overall compliance matrix of a general flexure mechanism is formulated by using screw theory firstly, then the criteria for the parasitic motions is introduced by analyzing the characteristics of the resultant compliance matrix as well as with aid of the concept of instantaneous rotation center. Subsequently, a compliance-based compensation approach for reducing parasitic-motion is addressed as the most important part. The design principles and procedure are further discussed to help with improving the accuracy of flexure mechanisms, and case studies are provided to illustrate this method. Finally, an analytical verification is provided to demonstrate that the symmetry design philosophy widely used in flexure design can effectively improve accuracy in terms of the proposed method. The proposed compensation method can be well used to diminish the parasitic-motion of multi-dimensional flexure mechanisms.

A Novel Method for Measuring Flexure Strength of Brittle Materials

A novel test method to measure flexure strength for silicon slices and other brittle materials was suggested by using simple supported circular slice samples and steel ball impact loading. The maximal tensile stress expression under concentrating impact load for center of simple supported circular plate was derived based on kinetic energy theorem and small deflection theory of thin plate. The instrument used in the method is simple, the test results are accurate, and the test does not need large scale loading apparatus. An experimental correct method was presented for test results deviated from small deflection limit when the slices were thinner or the strength of slice was higher.

Experimental research and finite element analysis of bridge piers failed in flexure-shear modes

In recent earthquakes, a large number of reinforced concrete （RC） bridges were severely damaged due to mixed flexure-shear failure modes of the bridge piers. An integrated experimental and finite element （FE） analysis study is described in this paper to study the seismic performance of the bridge piers that failed in flexure-shear modes. In the first part, a nonlinear cyclic loading test on six RC bridge piers with circular cross sections is carried out experimentally. The damage states, ductility and energy dissipation parameters, stiffness degradation and shear strength of the piers are studied and compared with each other. The experimental results suggest that all the piers exhibit stable flexural response at displacement ductilities up to four before exhibiting brittle shear failure. The ultimate performance of the piers is dominated by shear capacity due to significant shear cracking, and in some cases, rupturing of spiral bars. In the second part, modeling approaches describing the hysteretic behavior of the piers are investigated by using ANSYS software. A set of models with different parameters is selected and evaluated through comparison with experimental results. The influences of the shear retention coefficients between concrete cracks, the Bauschinger effect in longitudinal reinforcement, the bond-slip relationship between the longitudinal reinforcement and the concrete and the concrete failure surface on the simulated hysteretic curves are discussed. Then, a modified analysis model is presented and its accuracy is verified by comparing the simulated results with experimental ones. This research uses models available in commercial FE codes and is intended for researchers and engineers interested in using ANSYS software to predict the hysteretic behavior of reinforced concrete structures.