Seamless Bra Cup Moulding of Fabric-Foam Laminated Materials

Seamless bra cup moulding is an important manufacturing technique for the apparel industry,and in particular,for bra production.Polyurethane(PU)foams and/or fabric-foam laminated sheets are moulded into a desirable cup shape in order to fit the three-dimensional(3D)breast contour.Such foam cups not only provide a wide range of designs combined with different levels of softness and support,but also reduce production costs with minimum cutting and sewing of seams.In this study,two selected PU foam and fabric materials typically used for bra cup moulding were examined.Their respective performance behaviour in relation to different moulding temperatures and time changes were recorded and analyzed.The results reveal that cup heights are greatly affected by the use of foam and/or fabric-foam laminated materials.High moulding temperatures and/or prolonged dwell time could be required when deforming laminated materials and setting large cup sizes.Nevertheless,cup height cannot be taken as the only criteria to determine the optimal moulding conditions,and this is especially the case for large cup sizes.The design of mould heads is a major factor that affects the dimension changes of foam cups.In this respect,to control the foam moulding process,it is suggested that bra manufacturers examine the fabric/foam material properties to determine the optimal moulding condition,and quantify the shape of foam cups to enhance the design and development process of aluminum mould heads.

A STUDY OF THE POSTBUCKLING PATH OF CYLINDRICALLY CURVED PANELS OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE MATERIALS DURING LOADING AND UNLOADING

In this paper, Dynamic Relaxation Method is applied to study the postbuckling path of cylindrically curved panels of laminated composite materials during loading and unloading. The phenomenon that loading paths do not coincide with unloading paths has been found. Numerical results are given for cylindrically curved cross-ply panels subjected to uniform uniaxial compression under two types of boundary conditions. The influence of the number of layers, the panels curvature and the initial imperfection on the postbuckling paths is discussed.

Tribological Properties of Self-lubricating Laminated Ceramic Materials

In order to improve the tribological properties of ceramic composites, Al2O3/TiC-Al2O3/ TiC/CaF2 self-lubricating laminated ceramic composites were prepared by vacuum hot pressing sintering. Experiments were conducted to get mechanical properties and the friction and wear properties were also measured with friction and wear tester. The worn surfaces were observed by scanning electron microscope （SEM） and energy dispersion spectrum （EDS）. The wear resistance properties and the self-lubricating effect of ceramic composites were analyzed. Results show that the Al2O3/TiC-Al2O3/TiC/CaF2 self-lubricating laminated ceramic composites layers are well-defined with a higher bonding strength and the mechanical performances are uniform enough to overcome the anisotropy of weak laminated ceramic composites. In addition, the fracture toughness of Al2O3/TiC layers is also improved. Its friction coefficient and wear rates decrease with the increase of rotation speed and load. Al2O3/TiC-Al2O3/TiC/CaF2 self-lubricating laminated ceramic composites have good wear resistance because of the tribofilm formed by the CaF2 solid lubricants. The wear mechanisms of Al2O3/TiC/ CaF2 layers are abrasive wear and Al2O3/TiC layers are adhesive wear.

Investigation of Various Laminating Materials for Interior Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motor for Cooling Fan Application

Permanent magnet brushless DC motors are used for various low-power applications,namely domestic fans,washing machines,mixer grinders and cooling fan applications.This paper focuses on selecting the best laminating material for the interior permanent magnet brushless DC(IPM BLDC)motor used in the cooling fan of automobiles.Various laminating materials,namely M19-29GA,M800-65A and M43,are tested using finite element analysis.The machine's vital performance metrics,namely the stator current,torque ripple,and hysteresis loss were analyzed in selecting the laminating material.The designed motor is also modelled as a mathematical model from the computed lumped parameters.The performance of the machines was validated through electromagnetic and thermal analysis.

Titanium effect on the microstructure and properties of laminated high boron steel plates

High-boron steel is an important material used for thermal neutron shielding. The appropriate amount of added boron must be de- termined because excessive boron may deteriorate the steel＇s workability. A uniform microstructure can be formed by adding titanium to boron steel. In this study, casting and hot rolling were used to fabricate laminated high-boron steel plates whose cores contained 2.25wt% boron and 0wt%-7.9wt% titanium. The effects of titanium content and hot-rolling and heat-treatment processes on the microstructure and properties of the laminated plates were studied. The results indicated that the optimum titanium content was 5.7wt% when the boron content was 2.25wt%, and that the best overall properties were obtained after heat treatment at 1100℃ for 4 h. The tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation at the specified temperature and holding time were as high as 526.88 MPa, 219.36 MPa, and 29%, respectively.

Evaluation of in-plane shear test methods for composite material laminates

In-plane shear properties of composite material laminates are very important in structural design of composite material. Four commonly used in-plane shear test methods were introduced in this paper. In order to study the differences of various shear test methods, two ASTM standard in-plane shear test methods for composite material laminates were experimentally investigated. They are ±45° tensile shear test (ASTM D3518) and V-notched rail shear test (ASTM D7078). Five types of composite material laminates composed of E-glass fiber fabric and vinyl ester resin were utilized, whose stacking sequences are 03s, 0/903s, CSM/0/902s, ±453s and (0/90)2/(±45)2/(0/90)2s, respectively. The test results indicate that the ±45° tensile shear test can predict shear moduli of composite material laminates accurately. However, the predictions of shear strength using ±45° tensile shear test are significantly lower than those of V-notched rail shear test.

Static Analysis of Anisotropic Doubly-Curved Shell Subjected to Concentrated Loads Employing Higher Order Layer-Wise Theories

In the presentmanuscript,a Layer-Wise(LW)generalizedmodel is proposed for the linear static analysis of doublycurved shells constrained with general boundary conditions under the influence of concentrated and surface loads.The unknown field variable is modelled employing polynomials of various orders,each of them defined within each layer of the structure.As a particular case of the LW model,an Equivalent Single Layer(ESL)formulation is derived too.Different approaches are outlined for the assessment of external forces,as well as for non-conventional constraints.The doubly-curved shell is composed by superimposed generally anisotropic laminae,each of them characterized by an arbitrary orientation.The fundamental governing equations are derived starting from an orthogonal set of principal coordinates.Furthermore,generalized blending functions account for the distortion of the physical domain.The implementation of the fundamental governing equations is performed bymeans of the Generalized Differential Quadrature(GDQ)method,whereas the numerical integrations are computed employing theGeneralized IntegralQuadrature(GIQ)method.In the post-processing phase,an effective procedure is adopted for the reconstruction of stress and strain through-the-thickness distributions based on the exact fulfillment of three-dimensional equilibrium equations.A series of systematic investigations are performed in which the static response of structures with various curvatures and lamination schemes,calculated by the present methodology,have been successfully compared to those ones obtained fromrefined finite element three-dimensional simulations.Even though the present LW approach accounts for a two-dimensional assessment of the structural problem,it is capable of well predicting the three-dimensional response of structures with different characteristics,taking into account a reduced computational cost and pretending to be a valid alternative to widespread numerical implementations.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF EFFECTS ON DELAMINATION NEAR CRACK OF ARALL BY RESIDUAL STRESS UNDER FATIGUE ＆ STATIC LOADS

The delamination near the centre crack of ARALL under fatigue and static loads is investigated, and the effects on delamination by different residual stresses are analyzed. The results show that the situations under the two kinds of loads are different.Under the fatigue load, the typical delamination with crack growth presents symmetrical hi-ellipse-shape, whereas under the condition of static tensile, the edge-effect becomes more evident. Applying a proper pre-stress to the laminate can increase the ability of anti-delamination damage.

ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX STRESS INTENSITIES FOR CRACKED LAMINATES

Classical plate theory has been used to find out interfacial stress intensity factors in composite laminates. By using a well-known relation between the crack-tip energy release rate and the complex stress intensity factor. a closed-form solution for complex. Stress intensity in terms of external loading and a mode mix parameter for fairly. general composite laminates is given. Then a procedure for determining this mode mix. parameter is presented. followed by numerical results for some laminates. Small scale contact condition is expressed in terms of external loading In particular, a symmetric property of interfacial toughness curye is proven. Finally. the accuracy of failure load predicled by elininating oscllation index is discussed. and an example is presented to show the validity and limitation of β=0 approximation.