Study of microstructure evolution of magnesium alloy cylindrical part with longitudinal inner ribs during hot flow forming by coupling ANN-modified CA and FEA

Hot flow forming(HFF)is a promising forming technology to manufacture thin-walled cylindrical part with longitudinal inner ribs(CPLIRs)made of magnesium(Mg)alloys,which has wide applications in the aerospace field.However,due to the thermo-mechanical coupling effect and the existence of stiffened structure,complex microstructure evolution and uneven microstructure occur easily at the cylindrical wall(CW)and inner rib(IR)of Mg alloy thin-walled CPLIRs during the HFF.In this paper,a modified cellular automaton(CA)model of Mg alloy considering the effects of deformation conditions on material parameters was developed using the artificial neural network(ANN)method.It is found that the ANN-modified CA model exhibits better predictability for the microstructure of hot deformation than the conventional CA model.Furthermore,the microstructure evolution of ZK61 alloy CPLIRs during the HFF was analyzed by coupling the modified CA model and finite element analysis(FEA).The results show that compared with the microstructure at the same layer of the IR,more refined grains and less sufficient DRX resulted from larger strain and strain rate occur at that of the CW;various differences of strain and strain rate in the wall-thickness exist between the CW and IR,which leads to the inhomogeneity of microstructure rising firstly and declining from the inside layer to outside layer;the obtained Hall-Petch relationship between the measured microhardness and predicted grain sizes at the CW and the IR indicates the reliability of the coupled FEA-CA simulation results.

Grain refinement and orientation of AZ31B magnesium alloy in hot flow forming under different thickness reductions

An analysis of the hot flow forming of Mg-3.0Al-l.0Zn-0.3Mn （AZ31B） alloy was conducted by experiments and numerical simulations. The effects of different thickness reductions on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated at a temperature of 693 K, a spindle speed of 800 rev/min and a feed ratio of 0.1 mm/rev. Thickness reductions have great influence on the uniformity of microstructure along the radial direction （RD） and the grain sizes become refined and uniform when the thickness reduction reaches 45%. The c-axes of most grains are approximately parallel to the RD, with a slight inclination towards the axial direction （AD）. The best mechanical properties with UTS of 280 MPa and YS of 175 MPa near the outer surface while 266 MPa and 153 MPa near the inner surface have been achieved due to grain refinement and texture. Moreover, the material flow behavior and stress/strain distributions for singlepass reductions were studied using the ABAQUS/Explicit software. The calculated results indicate that the materials mainly suffer from triaxial compressive stresses and undergo compressive plastic strain in RD and tensile strains in other directions. The higher stress and strain rate near the outer surface lead to more refined grains than that of other regions along the RD, whereas the orientation of the maximum principal compressive stress leads to a discrepancy of the grain orientations in RD.2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science ＆ Technology.

Analysis of anisotropy mechanism in the mechanical property of titanium alloy tube formed through hot flow forming

Anisotropy of mechanical property is an important feature influencing the service performance of titanium(Ti)alloy tube component.In this work,it is found that the hot flow formed Ti alloy tube exhibits higher yield strength along circumferential direction(CD),and larger elongation along rolling direction(RD),presenting significant anisotropy.Subsequently,the quantitative characteristics and underlying mechanism of the property anisotropy were revealed by analyzing the slip,damage and fracture behavior under the combined effects of the spun{0002}basal texture and fibrous microstructure for different loading directions.The results showed that the prismatic slip in primaryαgrain is the dominant deformation mechanism for both loading directions at the yielding stage.The prismatic slip is harder under CD loading,which makes CD loading present higher yield strength than RD loading.Additionally,the yield anisotropy can be quantified through the inverse ratio of the averaged Schmid Factor of the activated prismatic slip under different loading directions.As for the plasticity anisotropy,the harder and slower slip development under CD loading causes that the CD loading presents larger external force and normal stress on slip plane,thus leading to more significant cleavage fracture than RD loading.Moreover,the micro-crack path under RD loading is more tortuous than CD loading because the fibrous microstructure is elongated along RD,which may suppress the macro fracture under RD loading.These results suggest that weakening the texture and fibrous morphology of microstructure is critical to reduce the differences in slip,damage and fracture behavior along different directions,alleviate the property anisotropy and optimize the service performance of Ti alloy tube formed by hot flow forming.

Cases and statistical study on Hot Flow Anomalies with Cluster spacecraft data

Hot Flow Anomalies (HFAs) are phenomena that frequently appear in the vicinity of the Earth's bow shock. We have identified 765 HFA events with Cluster spacecraft data from 2003 to 2009. We study the plasma and magnetic field variations during typical HFAs. Then we study the average structure of HFAs using the superposed epoch method during a 200 s time interval, with the HFA onset time as the epoch time. The results show that HFAs can be classified into four classes based on variations of the dynamic pressure over time, namely "-+" (down-up), "+-" (up-down), "M" (up-down-up) and "W" (up-down-up-down-up), where the letters represent similar shapes with the variation trends of the dynamic pressure. Trends of other parameters are highly related to those of the dynamic pressure with obvious characteristics of the classification. Moreover, statistical results suggest that the number of HFA events varies in years. Compared with the speed of solar wind and sunspot number, the number of HFA events in each year has positive correlation with the former, while it has little relation with the latter. The result of this paper will provide data base for further studies on the mechanisms of the formation, the structural evolution and other relative questions of HFAs.

Flow stress equation for multipass hot-rolling of aluminum alloys

A series of simple axisymmetric compression tests were carried out on the computer servo controlled Gleeble 1 500 machine when strain rates ranged between 0.05 25 s -1 and deformation temperature 300 500 ℃. The results show that flow stress is related to the Zener Hollonom parameter Z and strain, as well as the static recrystallization fraction between passes during multipass hot deformation of 5182 aluminum alloy. Hence, a modified exponential flow stress equation was presented by considering the values of ln A and β as functions of strain, and by using the uniform softening method and incorporating the static recrystallization fraction between passes to consider the effects of residual strain during multipass hot rolling of 5182 aluminum alloy. The validity of the equation was examined by a typical non isothermal multipass deformation test.

Flow behavior and microstructure evolution of TB8 alloy during hot deformation process

Hot compression tests of metastable β titanium alloy TB8 were carried out using a Gleeble-1500 thermal simulation testing machine in the temperature range of 750-1100 ℃, at constant strain rate from 0.01 s-1 to 1 s-1 and with height direction reduction of 60%. Flow stress behavior and microstructure evolution during hot compression of TB8 alloy were investigated. The hyperbolic-sine-type constitutive model of TB8 alloy was obtained to provide basic data for determining reasonable forming process. The results indicate that hot deformation behavior of TB8 alloy is highly sensitive to the temperature and strain rate. An analysis of the flow stress dependence on strain rate and temperature gives a stress exponent of n≈3.416 19 and a deformation activation energy of Q≈227.074 4 kJ/mol. According to the deformation microstructure, no dynamic recrystallization happens below β-phase transus temperature and as a result dynamic recovery is the predominant softening mechanism. On the other hand, the main softening mechanism is characterized as dynamic recrystallization at a slow strain rate above β-phase transus temperature.

Resistance characteristics of the ball packed-bed regenerator of the new-type swirl flow hot blast stove

A renovation project of miniaturization and high efficiency is provided for the hot blast stove .The experimental data tested feasibility of the new-type swirl flow hot blast stove. The normal and hot state experiments have been done through changing the angle of gas entering into the regenerator. Factors influencing pressure drop have been studied and analyzed. The experimental results can be formulated in the form of the Ergun equation. The regression equation is obtained. And two modified coefficients are offered to the regenerator pressure drop of the new-type swirl flow hot blast stove.

Experimental investigations of detonation initiation by hot jets in supersonic premixed flows

A new method to initiate and sustain the detonation in supersonic flow is investigated. The reaction activity of coming flow may influence the result of detonation initiation. When a hot jet initiates a detonation wave successfully, there may exist two types of detonations. If the detonation velocity is greater than the velocity of coming flow, there will be a normal detonation here. Because of the influence of boundary layer separation, the upstream detonation velocity is much greater than the Chapman-Jouguet （C J） detonation velocity. On the other hand, if the detonation velocity is less than the velocity of coming flow, an oblique detonation wave （ODW） will form. The ODW needs a continuous hot jet to sustain itself. If the jet pressure is lower than a certain value, the ODW will decouple. In contrast, the normal detonation wave can sustain itself without the hot jet.

Effects of hot deformation parameters on flow stress and establishment of constitutive relationship system of BT20 titanium alloy

The hot compression experiments were performed to investigate the effects of hot deformation parameters on the flow stress of BT20(Ti-6Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V) titanium alloy. The results show that the flow stress decreases with the increment of deformation temperature and increases with the growth of strain rate. The peak stress moves toward the direction of strain reducing and the strain rate sensitivity increases with the rising deformation temperature. There is obvious deformation heating created during hot deformation under relatively higher strain rate and lower deformation temperature. The improved back propagation(BP) neural network with 3-20-16-1 architecture has been employed to establish the prediction model of flow stress using deformation degree, deformation temperature and strain rate as input variables. The predicted values obtained by BP network agree well with the measured values, the relative error is within 6.5% for the sample data and not bigger than 9% for the non-sample data, which indicates that the ANNs adopted can predict the flow stress of BT20 alloy effectively and can be used as constitutive relationship system applied to FEM simulation of plastic deformation.

Research on flow stress of spray formed 70Si30Al alloy under hot compression deformation

The flow stress of spray formed 70Si30Al alloy was studied by hot compression on a Gleeble- 1500 test machine. The experimental results indicated that the flow stress depends on the strain rate and the deformation temperature. The flow stress increases with an increase in strain rate at a given deformation temperature. The flow stress decreases with the deformation temperature increasing at a given strain rate. The relational expression among the flow stress, the swain rate, and the deformation temperature satisfies the Arrhenius equation. The deformation activation energy of 70Si30Al alloy during hot deformation is 866.27 kJ/mol from the Arrhenius equation.

Flow behavior of Ti-46.2Al-2.5V-1.0Cr-0.3Ni alloy in secondary hot deformation

The flow behavior of already forged Ti-46.2Al-2.5V-1.0Cr-0.3Ni alloy was investigated by the isothermal compression experiments. The direction of secondary hot deformation was taken to be vertical to the former forging axis. And the deformation activation energy was calculated. Specimens have three kinds of starting microstructures, i.e. as-forged, relief annealed and duplex. The true strain—stress curves show that the duplex microstructure has the lowest flow resistance, better steady-state flow behavior compared with other two microstructures. It is found that obtaining duplex microstructure makes the work hardening rate and the strain rate sensitivity increase. The duplex microstructure alloy has the lowest value.

Numerical calculation of flow and heat transfer process in the new-type external combustion swirl-flowing hot stove

It is clarified that the important method to improve the blast temperature ofthe small and the middle blast furnaces whose production is about two-thirds of total sum of Chinafrom 1000℃ to 1250-1300℃ is to preheat both their combustion-supporting air and coal gas. The airtemperature of blast furnaces can be reached to 1250-1300℃ by burning single blast furnace coal gasif high speed burner is applied to blast furnaces and new-type external combustion swirl-flowinghot stove is used to preheat their combustion-supporting air. The computational results of the flowand heat transfer processions in the hot stove prove that the surface of the bed of the thermalstorage balls there have not eccentric flow and the flow field and temperature field distribution iseven. The computational results of the blast temperature distribution are similar to thosedetermination experiment data. The numerical results also provide references for developing anddesigning the new-type external combustion swirl-flowing hot stoves.

Hot Blast Flow Measurement in Blast Furnace in Straight Pipe

This article shows an innovative method to model and validate the hot air flow through the blast furnacés tuyeres. This study will be the basis for flow measurements implementation and safety interlocks for the pulverized coal injection. The flow measurements were taken in the blast furnace down leg pipes by installing refractory Venturi tubes. The system for the calculation of differential pressure takes into consideration the dimension of the Venturi, the air density and compressibility. The objective is to specify the flow transmitters required to automate a control system and implement safety interlocks for the coal injection plant.

Flow stress of 2197 Al-Li alloy during hot compression deformation

The flow stress behavior of 2197 Al-Li alloy during hot compression deformation was studied in the strain rate range from 0.01 to 10 s-1 and the temperature range from 360 to 510 ℃ by isothermal compression test on a Gleeble-1500 thermal-mechanical simulator. The results show that the flow stress of 2197 Al-Li alloy decreases with the increase of deformation temperature and increases with the increase of strain rate. The peak flow stress during high temperature deformation can be represented by Z parameter in a hyperbolic sine function. The analytical expression of peak flow stress was fitted with the hot deformation activation energy of 260.6 kJ/mol.

基于Moldflow的汽车抽屉内板注塑模具设计

采用Moldflow软件对汽车抽屉内板的模流过程进行深入分析和优化,依据模拟分析的详尽结果与塑料件独特的结构特性,设计了1点开放式热流道浇注系统方案,预测了在塑件注射成型过程中可能遇到的问题,最后设计出一模一腔的热流道注塑模具。为了克服注射成型后塑件筋位对滑块产生过强包紧力导致的脱模难题,设计了一种滑块内置顶针复合抽芯机构,该机构融合了“滑块+顶针+弹簧+滑动块”的多元组件,通过实施两次分步抽芯策略,有效防止了塑件被滑块粘住。导向定位系统通过运用“导柱导套+定模板定位”的策略,实现了模具在开启与闭合过程中的精确无误及可靠复位功能。为了高效驱动并复位顶出机构,采用了“顶辊+氮气弹簧”的组合方式,与采用液压油缸方式相比,顶出复位时间降低约25%。设计了一种近似“随形水路”的冷却系统,形成了一个立体且密集的三维网格状冷却网络,增强了冷却效果,成型周期缩短约8%。模具投入生产后,运行表现稳定可靠,所生产的塑件质量完全达到既定标准,这为同类结构塑件的模具设计提供了参考。

Sap flow characteristics of three afforestation species during the wet and dry seasons in a dry-hot valley in Southwest China

Assessing and using tree species （exotic or native） with superior tolerance to environmental stresses （such as drought and high temperature） play an important role in afforestation practices. In the present study, stem sap flow characteristics and responses to ambient meteo- rological factors of three tree species, Albizzia kalkora （native）, Azadirachta indica （exotic）, and Acacia auriculaeformis （exotic）, in a dry-hot valley （Yuanmou, Yunnan Province, China） were investigated using thermal dissipation probes. The diurnal dynamics of sap flow in three studied species displayed an obvious circadian rhythm during the wet and dry seasons, with the exception of A. indica during the dry season. The sap flow velocity （SFV） in A. kalkora and A. auriculaeformis was significantly positively correlated with photosynthetically active radiation （PAR）, air temperature, vapour pressure deficit （VPD） and wind speed, but negatively correlated with atmospheric relative humidity over the two seasons. The cross-corre- lation analysis also revealed that the SFV of the three species was significantly correlated with PAR and VPD （P 〈 0.001）. Additionally, stem sap flow lagged behind PAR but ahead of VPD, and the diurnal sap flow was more dependent on PAR than on VPD. However, we found that the dominant climatic factor influencing the stem sap flow differed between daytime and nighttime. PAR was more influential than other meteorological factors during the daytime, while VPD or other factors were more influential overnight. When the nighttime refilling ability of the three tree species was compared, our results suggest that A. indica has higher drought resistance and better for afforestation of the studied region.

基于Moldflow的手机外壳注塑成型仿真与优化

通过Moldflow软件对某型手机外壳的注塑成型进行了浇注系统的设计,并对冷热流道进行流动分析和翘曲分析,以优化塑件的成型性能和质量。首先,通过分析4种浇口位置方案,确定最佳方案,并在此基础上建立了浇注系统的CAE模型。然后,对冷流道浇注系统进行流动分析,发现除缩痕指数较高外,其他流动性指标参数值较为合理,并通过系统保压进一步优化了塑件在Y方向上的翘曲变形量。最后,对热流道浇注系统进行了流动分析和翘曲变形分析,改善了流动性指标参数,减小了塑件的翘曲变形量。

基于Moldflow的摩托车前中心盖模具设计

利用Moldflow软件对摩托车前中心盖进行了仿真分析,结合零件结构特点及成型工艺要求,设计了两种浇注系统方案,依据填充时间、流动前沿温度、冻结层因子和熔接线等仿真参数分析,优选出最佳浇口位置及数量,并依此确定采用“3点针阀式热流道+3点侧浇口”的进胶方式,最终设计了一副顺序阀热流道注塑模具。为解决T1区域型腔侧向抽芯的难题,设计了“垂直油缸+连接块+T形块”的抽芯机构,使模具结构更加紧凑;采用“大斜顶+小斜顶”组合的方式解决了倒扣方向不统一、抽芯空间小及难脱模的问题;导向定位系统采用了“0°精定位块+动定模止口”的方式,确保模具在开模和合模过程中能够准确、可靠地复位;采用类似“随形水路”的组合式冷却系统,滑块与大斜顶均设计有直径12 mm的独立冷却水路,其余部分设计有直径18 mm的水路,使模温更均匀,成型周期缩短约11%;试模后,模具运行平稳,各机构运动安全可靠,塑件精度及表面质量符合要求,可为同类模具的设计提供参考。

基于Moldflow的汽车大型覆盖件注射成型工艺研究

以汽车后保险杠为例,利用Moldflow软件直观地模拟出注射过程中的熔体流动过程。针对后保险杠的结构特点及品质要求,提出了一种针阀控制顺序进料延时保压的热流道浇注系统,分析了填充时间、填充/保压转换点压力、锁模力、翘曲变形、熔接痕分布等情况,消除了该类塑件易存在的熔接痕、翘曲变形大等缺陷,为实际生产提供了理论指导。

基于Moldflow的热流道双色注射模具的流动平衡优化

利用模流分析软件Moldflow的充填分析和流动平衡分析模块,分析了双色牙刷热流道注射模具的不平衡流动。通过调整流道的截面尺寸,得到良好的流动平衡,一次注射充填时间的不平衡率从38.2%降低为1.7%,充填末端压力的不平衡率从39.6%降低为4.1%;二次注射充填时间的不平衡率为0.37%,充填末端压力的不平衡率为4.5%。通过模拟确定了注射时间、注射压力、熔体温度和模具温度等主要工艺参数。