Establishment and Growth of Potato Micro-Cuttings in Sand Trays

Two separate experiments were conducted to evaluate the success of the establishment and growth of micro-cuttings of potato (5 - 6 cm tall) in sand trays [38 cm (L) × 28 cm (W) × 7.5 cm (H) plastic trays] under controlled environment (22?C ± 2?C, 60 - 75 μmosm–1?s–1 light energy for 16 h daily). In the first experiment, micro-cuttings of potato cv. Diamant were planted at six populations (500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 cuttings per tray) in treated sand (sun dry, 1% formaldehyde, 0.2% Dithane M-45 and control). The mortality percentage of micro-cuttings was nil for sun dry sand while formaldehyde and dithane M-45 treated sand had 1% - 4% against 15% in the control with the highest population density. Mortality of micro-cuttings in formaldehyde and dithane M-45 treated sand trays were found not to be related to pathogenic organism rather toxic effect of these two chemicals. Micro-cuttings in Sun dry and control treatments showed better growth performance than these in chemically treated sand trays. In the second experiment, urea @ 1, 2 and 3 g per tray was applied as solid form after 15 days of planting the micro-cuttings and as liquid form @ 0.5, 1 and 2% solution sprayed in the micro-cuttings repeatedly after 15, 30, 45 and 60 days of planting. The micro-cuttings which received urea as solid state died within 2 - 3 days and 2% urea solution was also detrimental. Urea solution @ 0.5% found to be very effective for vegetative growth of micro-cuttings in sand trays. The control was also good for vegetative growth but at a slower rate.

Magneto-plasticity in micro-cutting of single-crystal copper

The plasticity of metals can be significantly affected by the application of a magnetic field,otherwise known as the magneto-plastic effect.This paper investigates the magneto-plastic effect in the microcutting of a non-magnetic ductile material,single-crystal copper,under a weak magnetic field and reports the influence of the phenomenon on the cutting forces and machined surface quality.A softening effect was observed from the large reduction in cutting forces from 3.2 N to 1.5 N under the magnetic field.As compared to the magnetic field intensity and polarity,the variation in magnetic field orientations with respect to the cutting direction exhibited a stronger influence on the cutting force,chip morphology,machined surface texture,subsurface microstructure,surface roughness,and machined surface microhardness of the copper sample.An analytical model was developed based on the geometry of the cutting chips to correlate the orientation-dependent influence of the magnetic field on the cutting forces.On the surface quality,excessive folds with four different types of morphology produced under magnetic-free cutting were suppressed after applying the magnetic field with the most significant improvement achieved with the 90°magnetic field direction.The magnetic-assisted changes in machined surface morphology also led to the reduction in machined surface roughness and microhardness.The optimistic micro-cutting outcomes in this work establish a greater understanding of the magneto-plastic effect and demonstrate the applicability of magneto-plasticity in ultraprecision manufacturing.

Effect of a weak magnetic field on ductile-brittle transition in micro-cutting of single-crystal calcium fluoride

Magneto-plasticity occurs when a weak magnetic field alters material plasticity and offers a viable solution to enhance ductile-mode cutting of brittle materials.This study demonstrates the susceptibility of non-magnetic single-crystal calcium fluoride(CaF_(2))to the magneto-plastic effect.The influence of magneto-plasticity on CaF_(2) was confirmed in micro-deformation tests under a weak magnetic field of 20 mT.The surface pile-up effect was weakened by 10-15 nm along with an enlarged plastic zone and suppressed crack propagation under the influence of the magnetic field.Micro-cutting tests along different crystal orientations on the(111)plane of CaF_(2) revealed an increase in the ductile-brittle transition of the machined surface with the aid of magneto-plasticity where the largest increase in ductile-brittle transition occurred along the[112]orientation from 512 nm to a range of 664-806 nm.Meanwhile,the subsurface damage layer was concurrently thinner under magnetic influence.An anisotropic influence of the magnetic field relative to the single-crystal orientation and the cutting direction was also observed.An analytical model was derived to determine an orientation factor M that successfully describes the anisotropy while considering the single-crystal dislocation behaviour,material fracture toughness,and the orientation of the magnetic field.Previously suggested theoretical mechanism of magneto-plasticity via formation of non-singlet electronic states in defected configurations was confirmed with density functional theory calculations.The successful findings on the influence of a weak magnetic field on plasticity present an opportunity for the adoption of magnetic-assisted micro-cutting of non-magnetic materials.

Mesoplasticity Approach to Studies of the Cutting Mechanism in Ultra-precision Machining

There have been various theoretical attempts by researchers worldwide to link up different scales of plasticity studies from the nano-, micro- and macro-scale of observation, based on molecular dynamics, crystal plasticity and continuum mechanics. Very few attempts, however, have been reported in ultra-precision machining studies. A mesoplasticity approach advocated by Lee and Yang is adopted by the authors and is successfully applied to studies of the micro-cutting mechanisms in ultra-precision machining. Traditionally, the shear angle in metal cutting, as well as the cutting force variation, can only be determined from cutting tests. In the pioneering work of the authors, the use of mesoplasticity theory enables prediction of the fluctuation of the shear angle and micro-cutting force, shear band formation, chip morphology in diamond turning and size effect in nano-indentation. These findings are verified by experiments. The mesoplasticity formulation opens up a new direction of studies to enable how the plastic behaviour of materials and their constitutive representations in deformation processing, such as machining can be predicted, assessed and deduced from the basic properties of the materials measurable at the microscale.

Failure analysis of ring die of a feed pellet machine

The severely worn position and failure mechanisms of the ring die of a feed pellet machine were investigated.The macroscopic and microscopic morphologies of the failed surface,the chemical composition and mechanical properties of the collected samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy,energy disperse spectroscopy,optical emission spectrometry,and a universal testing machine.Results show that the dip angle at the entrance of the ring die hole between the roller and ring die was severely worn.The feed powder could not be fully extruded through the dip angle at the entrance of the ring die holes,thus the density of the feed particles produced could not meet the requirements.Therefore,abrasive wear under high stress is the main reason of failure at the entrance of the ring die holes under the action of feeding powder;and cutting and fatigue spalling lead to substantial material loss.In addition,a high damp-heat environment aggravates abrasive wear on the die hole internal surface.

Design and Construction of a Low-Force Stylus Probe for On-machlne Tool Cutting Edge Measurement

A new on-machine profiler employing a cantilever beam was proposed and developed to measure the sharp micro-cutting edges of precision cutting tools with low measuring force of 0.1 mN.The proposed profiler consists of a probe unit and a positioning unit.The probe unit employs a stylus mounted on the free end of a hollow triangular cantilever beam and a laser displacement sensor to detect the detlection of the cantilever beam.The positioning unit consists of two single-axis DC servo motor stages for precise positioning of the probe unit.The cantilever is designed with the assistance of the finite element method.In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed measurement system,experiments are conducted and the measurement result for a micro-cutting edge is compared with that by a commercial profiler.Furthermore,a method to com-pensate for the measurement error caused by the lateral displacement of the cantilever beam is proposed.The compensated measurement results show good agreement within±2μm with those obtained by the commercial profler.

Study on mathematical model of cutting force in micromachining

With the development of micromachining technology,it is very important to study the mechanism of micromachining,determine the micromachining parameters and ensure the products’quality during the micromachining process.Combined with the micromechanism between tool and workpiece during micromachining process,the sources of the micro-cutting force were analyzed,the micro-cutting physical model was constructed,and the microstress model interacted between the cutting arc edge of the tool and the material of the workpiece was analyzed.Combined with the surface friction and elastic extrusion mechanism between the cutting tool and workpiece,the micro-cutting force model was constructed from two aspects.The micro-cutting depth is deeper than the minimum cutting depth and the micro-cutting depth is shallower than the minimum cutting depth,then the minimum cutting depth value was calculated.Combined with the dislocation properties and microcrystal structure of workpiece’s material,the internal stress of the micromachining force model based on the gradient plasticity theory was calculated,and the force model of the micro-cutting process was studied too.It is significant to control the precision of micromachining process during the micromachining process by constructing the micromachining process force model through studying the small deformation of the material and the mechanism of micromachining.