Numerical and Experimental Study on Nugget Formation Process in Resistance Spot Welding of Aluminum Alloy

The weld nugget formation in the resistance spot welding(RSW) of aluminum alloy was investigated in the present study. The nugget formation process was directly observed by using a digital high-speed camera. Numerical simulation was also employed to investigate the nugget formation process. The results showed that for the RSW of two aluminum alloy sheets, a nugget was first formed in the workpiece/workpiece(W/W) interface and grew along the radial direction and axial direction of the sheets, and then it became a large elliptical nugget. For the RSW of three aluminum alloy sheets, two small nuggets were firstly formed in two W/W interfaces and grew along the axial direction and radial direction; finally they fused into one nugget. Besides, there existed a critical welding time, after which the nugget size remained nearly unchanged. This indicates that a long welding time is unnecessary for the RSW of aluminum alloy. In addition, the calculated nugget radius was compared with the experimental results, which showed that the simulation results agreed well with the experimental results.

Laboratory pull-out tests on fully grouted rock bolts and cable bolts:Results and lessons learned

Laboratory pull-out tests were conducted on the following rock bolts and cable bolts:steel rebars,smooth steel bars,fiberglass reinforced polymer threaded bolts,flexible cable bolts,IR5/IN special cable bolts and Mini-cage cable bolts.The diameter of the tested bolts was between 16 mm and 26 mm.The bolts were grouted in a sandstone sample using resin or cement grouts.The tests were conducted under either constant radial stiffness or constant confining pressure boundary conditions applied on the outer surface of the rock sample.In most tests,the rate of displacement was about 0.02 mm/s.The tests were performed using a pull-out bench that allows testing a wide range of parameters.This paper provides an extensive database of laboratory pull-out test results and confirms the influence of the confining pressure and the embedment length on the pull-out response(rock bolts and cable bolts).It also highlights the sensitivity of the results to the operating conditions and to the behavior of the sample as a whole,which cannot be neglected when the test results are used to assess the bolt-grout or the grouterock interface.

Pull-out tests and slope stability analyses of nailing systems comprising single and multi rebars with grouted cement

The pull-out capacities for soil nailing systems comprising of one single 29 mm diameter(type A) and four 16 mm diameter(type B) rebars with grouted cement were examined.A field test and numerical analysis for the type A and type B systems were carried out to investigate the pull-out capacities and the slope stability reinforcement efficiency in soil and rock slopes.The results of the pull-out tests show the mobilized shear force and load transfer characteristics with respect to soil depth.The load-displacement relationship was examined for both type A and type B systems.Slope stability analyses were carried out to study the relationships between soil and nail reinforcement and bending stiffness as well as combined axial tension and shear forces.Factors of safety were calculated in relation to the number of nails and their outside diameters.Both soil and rock slopes were included in this evaluation.

Effects of nugget alloying on microstructures and properties of resistance spot welded joints of aluminum and steel

The resistance spot welding of 6063-T6 aluminum alloy and 16Mn steel was studied by nugget alloying. The results indicated that the Al-steel joint had characteristics of welding-brazing. The nugget zone consisted mainly of α-Al solid solution with dislocations and fine Mg2Si particles. The interface zone had a double-layer structure： Fe2Al5 layer at steel side and Fe4Al13 layer at Al nugget side. The nugget alloying has a significant effect on the joint properties by changing phase composition and refinement of grains. When alloy elements Cu, Zn, Ti and Ni were added, the tensile shear load of Al-steel joints reached 2 780 N, 2 910 N, 2 915 N and 2 929 N respectively, which increased by 24. 1%, 29.9%, 30. 1% and 30. 7% respectively compared with that （2 241 N） of joint without nugget alloying. Therefore, it is an effective way for improving mechanical properties of resistance spot welded Al-steel joints.

FEATURE ANALYSIS AND EXTRACTION OF INNER DEFECTS FOR SPOT WELD NUGGET OF ALUMINUM ALLOY

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Tapered Suction Caissons:A Numerical Investigation into Their Pull-out Performance

Suction caissons have been widely used as anchors and foundations for floating and fixed offshore platforms. The pull-out performance of conventional suction caissons （with upright walls） has been investigated by a number of researchers. However, no attention has been paid to tapered suction caissons. This paper deals with the performance of tapered suction caissons under vertical pull-out loads. A numerical approach is used for this purpose. The numerical model is first verified against test data available for common upright caissons. The verified model is then used to study the pullout performance of tapered suction caissons. It is noticed that the pull-out capacities exhibited by tapered suction caissons are in general considerably higher than those from their corresponding traditional upright caissons. To obtain an insight into this superior behaviour, effects from certain soil/caisson/drainage parameters on the pull-out capacity of tapered suction caissons are studied. Soil cohesion is noticed to have a linear improving effect on the capacity of both upright and ta- pered suction caissons. The soil internal friction angle is noticed to have an exponential increasing effect on the pull-out capacity. With a constant caisson diameter, an increase in the aspect ratio is seen to particularly influence the pull-out capacity. With a constant caisson length, an increase in the aspect ratio is discovered to result in non-linear decrease in the pull-out capacity. Under undrained conditions, tapered models generally show less sensitivity to above mentioned soil/caisson parameters as compared with those under drained conditions.

Effects of different pull-out loading rates on mechanical behaviors and acoustic emission responses of fully grouted bolts

Due to the influence of mining disturbance stress,it is of great significance to better understand the bearing characteristics of fully grouted bolts under different pull-out loading rates.For this purpose,a series of laboratory pull-out tests were conducted to comprehensively investigate the effects of different pull-out loading rates on the mechanical performance and failure characteristics of fully grouted bolts.The results show that the mechanical performance of the anchored specimen presents obvious loading rate dependence and shear enhancement characteristics.With the increase of the pull-out loading rates,the maximum pull-out load increases,the displacement and time corresponding to the maximum pull-out load decrease.The accumulated acoustic emission(AE)counts,AE energy and AE events all decrease with the increase of the pull-out loading rates.The AE peak frequency has obvious divisional distribution characteristics and the amplitude is mainly distributed between 50-80 dB.With the increase of the pull-out loading rates,the local strain of the anchoring interface increases and the failure of the anchoring interface transfers to the interior of the resin grout.The accumulated AE counts are used to evaluate the damage parameter of the anchoring interface during the whole pull-out process.The analytical results are in good agreement with the experimental results.The research results may provide guidance for the support design and performance monitoring of fully grouted bolts.

Effect of retained austenite and nonmetallic inclusions on the thermal/electrical properties and resistance spot welding nuggets of Si-containing TRIP steels

Five advanced high-strength transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP) steels with different chemical compositions were studied to correlate the retained austenite and nonmetallic inclusion content with their physical properties and the characteristics of the resistance spot welding nuggets. Electrical and thermal properties and equilibrium phases of TRIP steels were predicted using the JMatPro? software. Retained austenite and nonmetallic inclusions were quantified by X-ray diffraction and saturation magnetization techniques. The nonmetallic inclusions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the contents of Si, C, Al, and Mn in TRIP steels increase both the retained austenite and the nonmetallic inclusion contents. We found that nonmetallic inclusions affect the thermal and electrical properties of the TRIP steels and that the differences between these properties tend to result in different cooling rates during the welding process. The results are discussed in terms of the electrical and thermal properties determined from the chemical composition and their impact on the resistance spot welding nuggets.

A New Characterization Approach of Weld Nugget Growth by Real-Time Input Electrical Impedance

The in-process changes of weld nugget growth during the Resistance Spot Welding were investigated based on the resistance of input electrical impedance. To compute the time varying resistance of input electrical impedance, the welding voltage and current signals are measured simultaneously and then converted into complex-valued signals by using Hilbert transform. Comparing with the dynamic contact resistance as reported in literature, it showed that the time varying resistance of input electrical impedance can be accurately correlated with the physical changes of weld nugget growth. Therefore, it can be used to characterize the in-process changes of weld nugget growth. Several new findings were reported based on the investigation of spot welds under no weld, with and without weld expulsion conditions.

DYNAMIC CRACK MODELS ON PROBLEM OF BRIDGING FIBER PULL-OUT OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

An elastic analysis of an internal central crack with bridging fibers parallel to the free surface in an infinite orthotropic anisotropic elastic plane was performed. A dynamic model of bridging fiber pull-out of composite materials was presented. Resultingly the fiber failure is governed by maximum tensile stress, the fiber breaks and hence the crack extension should occur in self-similar fashion. By the methods of complex functions, the problem studied can be transformed into the dynamic model to the Reimann-Hilbert mixed boundary value problem, and a straightforward and easy analytical solution is presented. Analytical study on the crack propagation subjected to a ladder load and an instantaneous pulse loading is obtained respectively for orthotropic anisotropic body. By utilizing the solution, the concrete solutions of this model are attained by ways of superposition.

Experimental Study on Pull-out Behavior of Different Geotextiles

The pullout testing of geosynthetics is essential for studying interface interaction in the soil-reinforcement system. In this paper, a new method for testing interface properties of geotextiles is proposed. The interface frictional characters of two kinds of geotextiles (woven and needle-punched nonwoven) are investigated through pullout test. Nonwoven specimen has more wide variety of displacement along length than that of woven under the same pressure because of their different extensibility. The greater the elongation and deformation of specimens, the more evident the variations of displacement along reinforcement from front to pullout end. The greater the normal pressure, the smaller the displacement of every position along length with the same pullout load. The study focuses on the effects of the tensile modulus and the difference of pullout response between woven and nonwoven geotextiles.

Numerical Simulation on Nugget Formation and Evolution in Spot Welding of Aluminum Alloy

With the squeeze of electrode tips, the oxide film on aluminum (Al) alloy surface is broken and numbers of micro-gaps are formed randomly. The micro-gaps act as conducting spots at the beginning of welding, so the contact resistance is extremely high and unstable in spot welding of Al alloy. In this paper, a new contact resistance model is adopted to simulate the nugget forming process. This model describes the random distribution characteristic of conducting spots. The simulation results indicate that, within the first 5 ms of welding current (AC, 50 Hz), the temperature distribution at the workpieces interface is seriously irregular. In addition, the nugget does not nucleate from the weld center and grow continuously, however, it nucleates randomly from several points almost instantaneously and then merges into an entity quickly. Experimental results agreed with the numerical simulation.

An Artificial Neural Network for Estimating Sizes of Spot Welding Nuggets

Sizes of nuggets are often used to evaluate spot weld quality in production. This paper presents a neural estimator used to carry out non-destructive on-line analysis of spot weld quality in which trained ANN functions to map dynamic resistance characteristics into sizes of spot weld nuggets and results confirm the validity of neural network for this type of application.

Influence of tool pin profile on microstructure and corrosion behaviour of AA2219 Al-Cu alloy friction stir weld nuggets

To overcome the problems of fusion welding of aluminium alloys, the friction stir welding(FSW) is recognized as an alternative joining method to improve the mechanical and corrosion properties. Tool profile is one of the important variables which affect the performance of the FS weld. In the present work, the effect of tool profile on the weld nugget microstructure and pitting corrosion of AA2219 aluminium-copper alloy was studied. FSW of AA2219 alloy was carried out using five profiles, namely conical, square, triangle, pentagon and hexagon. The temperature measurements were made in the region adjacent to the rotating pin. It was observed that the peak temperature is more in hexagonal tool pin compared to the welds produced with other tool pin profiles. It is observed that the extensive deformation experienced at the nugget zone and the evolved microstructure strongly influences the hardness and corrosion properties of the joint during FSW. It was found that the microstructure changes like grain size, misorientation and precipitate dissolution during FSW influence the hardness and corrosion behaviour. Pitting corrosion resistance of friction stir welds of AA2219 was found to be better for hexagon profile tool compared to other profiles, which was attributed to material flow and strengthening precipitate morphology in nugget zone. Higher amount of heat generation in FS welds made with hexagonal profile tool may be the reason for greater dissolution of strengthening precipitates in nugget zone.

Mechanical Characterisation of Interface for Steel/Polymer Composite Using Pull-out Test: Shear-Lag and Frictional Analysis

Fibre-matrix interface is known to have contribution to the mechanical performance of fibre-reinforced composite by its potential for load transfer between the fibre and the matrix. Such load transfer is of great importance in dentistry when a post is used for fixing a ceramic crown on the tooth. In this study, a pull-out test was carried out to analyse the interfacial properties of a steel fibre embedded in a polyester and epoxy matrices. It was found that the fibre-matrix interface is debonded on the whole embedded length when the fibre stress reached the debonding stress. Then, the fibre stress fell down to the initial extraction stress required to pulling out the debonded fibre from the matrix. Both debonding stress and initial extraction stress initiated a linear increase with the implantation length after the debonding stress reached horizontal asymptotes. To analyse the fibre-matrix load transfer before debonding, an analytical shear-lag model was adopted to in this test conditions. Fitting the experimental results with the analytical model provided the interfacial shear strength. By considering the Coulomb friction at the fibre-matrix interface during the fibre extraction process, an analytical model which considers Poisson＇s effects on both fibre and matrix, was developed. In this model, knowledge of the initial extraction stress of the fibre provides the residual normal stress at the fibre-matrix interface.

Evaluation of Nutritional Value and Acceptability of Chicken Nuggets Produced by Chicken Wings and Dehydrated Shellfish

Our study investigated the effect of utilizing chicken wings and dehydrated shellfish to produce chicken nuggets rich in protein, minerals and vitamins. The proximate composition, nutritional value, physical and sensorial properties were evaluated. The differently prepared chicken nuggets were supplemented with dehydrated shellfish CN 0%, CN 2%, CN 4% and CN 6%. There was a significantly reduction in moisture and an increasing in protein content (P < 0.05) in all Chicken Nuggets (CN) in comparison to the control. Fat content was significantly higher in CN 0% than CN 2%, CN 4% and CN 6%. Ash content was increasing with added dehydrated shellfish, while the reduction in carbohydrates and total calories of the different chicken nuggets were noticed with the significant gradual rise in pH values, TBA values showed no significant difference (P < 0.05) between chicken nuggets. Results showed that using dehydrated shellfish in preparing chicken nuggets caused a marked rise in its content of Ca, Fe, Na, K, Zn, Mg and Mn levels, CN 0% had the lowest concentration of all minerals, and had lower values of vitamins A, E and D but CN 6% had higher values of vitamins A, E and D. Control Nuggets (CN 0%) had the lowest value of yellowness and highest value of lightness but CN 6% had the highest value of yellowness and, the lowest value of lightness. The redness had a slightly reduction. All samples showed slight changes in hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess and chewiness were noticed. An increase in WHC, pick-up, and cooking loss of chicken nuggets with dehydrated shellfish was noticed. Panelists accepted all prepared chicken nuggets and the chicken nuggets CN 4% had the highest score compared with other chicken nuggets prepared.

Properties of frictional bridging in fiber pull-out for fiber-reinforced composites

Stress equilibrium equations, boundary- and continuity-conditions were used to establish a theoretical model of progressive debonding with friction at the debonded interface. On a basis of the minimum complementary energy principle, an expression for the energy release rate G was derived to explore the interfacial fracture properties. An interfacial debonding crite- rion G≥Γi was introduced to determine the critical debond length and the bridging law. Numerical calculation results for fi- ber-reinforced composite SCS-6/Ti-6Al-4V were compared with those obtained by using the shear-lag models.

Small glitches: the role of strange nuggets?

Pulsar glitches, i.e. the sudden spin-ups of pulsars, have been detected for most known pulsars.The mechanism giving rise to this kind of phenomenon is uncertain, although a large data set has been built.In the framework of the starquake model, based on Baym ＆ Pines, the glitch sizes（the relative increases of spin-frequencies during glitches） △Ω/Ω depend on the released energies during glitches, with less released energies corresponding to smaller glitch sizes. On the other hand, as one of the dark matter candidates,our Galaxy might be filled with so called strange nuggets（SNs） which are relics from the early Universe.In this case collisions between pulsars and SNs are inevitable, and these collisions would lead to glitches when enough elastic energy has been accumulated during the spin-down process. The SN-triggered glitches could release less energy, because the accumulated elastic energy would be less than that in the scenario of glitches without SNs. Therefore, if a pulsar is hit frequently by SNs, it would tend to have more small glitches, whose values of ？？/？ are smaller than those in the standard starquake model（with larger amounts of released energy）. Based on the assumption that in our Galaxy the distribution of SNs is similar to that of dark matter, as well as on the glitch data in the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue and Jodrell Bank glitch table, we find that in our Galaxy the incidences of small glitches exhibit tendencies consistent with the collision rates between pulsars and SNs. Further testing of this scenario is expected by detecting more small glitches（e.g.,by the Square Kilometre Array）.

Pull-out Behaviour of Axially Loaded Screwed-in Threaded Rods Embedded in CLT Elements: Experimental Study

Experimental investigation on the pull-out behaviour,including the withdrawal capacity,slip stiffness and inter-facial shear stress,of axially loaded screwed-in threaded rod embedded in cross laminated timber(CLT)was con-ducted.Specimens with varying embedment length and different number of threaded rods were tested in this study.To prevent premature splitting failure of timber,some specimens were reinforced in the direction perpen-dicular to the timber grain with self-tapping screws.Test results showed that the screwed-in threaded rod con-nections exhibited good pull-out behaviour with high withdrawal capacity and slip stiffness.Within a certain range,the withdrawal capacity increases considerably with the increase of embedment length,while the average interfacial shear stress shows the opposite tendency.The self-tapping screws played an important role on reducing the splitting of the timber and improving the withdrawal capacity and slip stiffness of the screwed-in threaded rod.Additionally,for the specimens with self-tapping screw reinforcements,the improvement of withdrawal capacity and stiffness when increasing the number of threaded rods are much more obvious than that of the speci-mens without the self-tapping screws,due to the change of failure modes.

Anti-plane pull-out of a rigid line inclusion from an elastic medium

The transient and static anti-plane problem of a rigid line inclusion pulled out from an elastic medium is studied.The singular integral equation method is used to solve the stress field.Under the static load,the stress intensity factor(SIF)at the inclusion tips increases with the medium length.The problem becomes equivalent to an inclusion in a medium with an infinite length when the length of the medium is 3.5times longer than that of the inclusion.However,under the transient load,the maximum value of the SIF occurs when the medium length is about two times the inclusion length.Besides,the relation between the pull-out force and the anti-plane displacement is given.The conclusions are useful in guiding the design of fiber reinforced composite materials.