Microstructure and Properties of ZL101 Alloy Affected by Substrate Movement Speed of a Novel Semisolid Continuous Micro Fused-Casting for Metal Process

A novel semisolid continuous Micro Fused-Casting additive manufacturing technology for producing a ZL101 alloy strip was developed, Micro Fused-Casting means that the semisolid metal slurry was pressed out from the outlet of bottom of crucible to the movable plate. The degree of sub-cooling was easily provided by movement of substrate in the micro fused-casting area. Under the aid of 3 D manufacturing software, the ZL101 alloy strip was solidified and formed layer by layer. The microstructure and properties of ZL101 semisolid slurry were improved by the cooling conditions. The results showed that the ZL101 alloy strip samples fabricated by Micro Fused-Casting had uniform structures and good performances with the substrate movement speed at 20 mm/s and the temperature at 590 ℃, the ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the ZL101 alloy strip reached 242.59 MPa and 7.71%, while the average Vickers hardness was 82.55 HV.

Smart Cutting Tools and Smart Machining: Development Approaches, and Their Implementation and Application Perspectives

Smart machining has tremendous potential and is becoming one of new generation high value precision manufacturing technologies in line with the advance of Industry 4.0 concepts. This paper presents some innovative design concepts and, in particular, the development of four types of smart cutting tools, including a force-based smart cutting tool, a temperature-based internally-cooled cutting tool, a fast tool servo （FTS） and smart collets for ultra- precision and micro manufacturing purposes. Implemen- tation and application perspectives of these smart cutting tools are explored and discussed particularly for smart machining against a number of industrial application requirements. They are contamination-free machining, machining of tool-wear-prone Si-based infra-red devices and medical applications, high speed micro milling and micro drilling, etc. Furthermore, implementation tech- niques are presented focusing on： （a） plug-and-produce design principle and the associated smart control algo- rithms, （b） piezoelectric film and surface acoustic wave transducers to measure cutting forces in process, （c） critical cutting temperature control in real-time machining, （d） in- process calibration through machining trials, （e） FE-based design and analysis of smart cutting tools, and （f） applica- tion exemplars on adaptive smart machining.

Flexible electronics manufacturing technology and equipment

Flexible electronics such as mechanically compliant displays,sensors and solar cells,have important applications in the fields of energy,national defence and biomedicine,etc.Various types of flexible electronics have been proposed or developed by the improvements in structural designs,material properties and device integrations.However,the manufacturing of flexible electronics receives little attention,which limits its mass production and industrialization.The increasing demands on the size,functionality,resolution ratio and reliability of flexible electronics bring several significant challenges in their manufacturing processes.This work aims to report the state-of-art technologies and applications of flexible electronics manufacturing.Three key technologies including electrohydrodynamic direct-writing,flip chip and automatic optical inspection are highlighted.The mechanism and developments of these technologies are discussed in detail.Based on these technologies,the present work develops three kinds of manufacturing equipment,i.e.,inkjet printing manufacturing equipment,robotized additive manufacturing equipment,and roll-to-roll manufacturing equipment.The advanced manufacturing processes,equipment and systems for flexible electronics pave the way for applications of new displays,smart sensing skins and epidermal electronics,etc.By reviewing the developments of flexible electronics manufacturing technology and equipment,it can be found that the existing advances greatly promote the applications and commercialization of flexible electronics.Since flexible electronics manufacturing contains many multi-disciplinary problems,the current investigations are confronted with great challenges.Therefore,further developments of the reviewed manufacturing technology and equipment are necessary to break the current limitations of manufacturing resolution,efficiency and reliability.

Metallurgical concepts for optimized processing and properties of carburizing steel

Carburized steel grades are widely used in applications where high surface near hardness is required in combination with good core toughness as well as high strength and fatigue resistance. The process of carburizing lower to medium carbon containing steel can generally provide this combination of properties and has been prac- ticed for several decades. Such steel is essential in the vehicle power-train, machines and power generation equipment. However, the increasing performance demands by such applications as well as economical considerations forced steel producers to develop better alloys and fabri- cators to design more efficient manufacturing processes. The present paper describes recent concepts for alloy design optimization of carburizing steel and demonstrates the forthcoming beneficial consequences with regard to manufacturing processes and final properties.