Numerical Analysis of Cold-Formed Thin-Walled Steel Short Columns with Pitting Corrosion during Bridge Construction

Pitting corrosion is harmful during bridge construction,which will lead to uneven roughness of steel surfaces and reduce the thickness of steel.Hence,the effect of pitting corrosion on the mechanical properties of cold-formed thin-walled steel stub columns is studied,and the empirical formulas are established through regression fitting to predict the ultimate load of web and flange under pitting corrosion.In detail,the failure modes and load-displacement curves of specimens with different locations,area ratios,and depths are obtained through a large number of non-linear finite element analysis.As for the specimens with pitting corrosion on the web,all the specimens are subject to local buckling failure,and the failure mode will not change with pitting corrosion,but the failure location will change with pitting corrosion location;the size,location,and area ratio of pitting corrosion have little influence on the ultimate load of cold-formed thin-walled steel short columns,but the loss rate of pitting corrosion section area has a greater impact on the ultimate bearing capacity.As for the specimen with flange pitting corrosion,the location and area ratio of pitting corrosion have less influence on the ultimate load of cold-formed thin-walled steel short columns,and the section area loss rate has greater influence on the ultimate bearing capacity;the impact of web pitting corrosion on the ultimate load is greater than that of flange pitting corrosion under the same condition of pitting corrosion section area.The prediction formulas of limit load which are suitable for pitting corrosion of web and flange are established,which can provide a reference for performance evaluation of corroded cold-formed thin-walled steel.

Physical Simulation of Mold-Filling Processing of Thin-Walled Castings under Traveling Magnetic Field

Mold-filling process of thin-walled castings under the condition of traveling magnetic field has been studied by physical simulation method using gallium melt and fast speed photography. Flow morphology and its formation mechanism were obtained and discussed for thin-walled casting. The influences of magnetic field density on the filling ability, filling velocity and mold filling time have been studied. The differences in filling capability between gravity casting and casting under the traveling magnetic field have been compared. The results indicate that the mold filling ability of the gallium melt increases greatly under the condition of traveling magnetic field; the filling time is shortened from 18 s under gravity field to 3 s under the traveling magnetic field and average flow rate of the melt increases from 1.6 to 8.68 cm3/s; the change law of the cross-section morphology of the gallium melt during the mold filling is that at first, the cross-section area does not change, then it decreases gradually. When the front of the melt reaches the end of the mold cavity, the front melt will backfill the mold; the wider the width of mold cavity, the better the mold filling ability. The mold filling ability of gallium melt in mold with upper magnetic conductor is better than that without upper magnetic conductor.

Eliminating shrinkage defects and improving mechanical performance of large thin-walled ZL205A alloy castings by coupling travelling magnetic fields with sequential solidification

ZL205 A alloys with large thin-walled shape were continuously processed by coupling travelling magnetic fields(TMF)with sequential solidification,to eliminate the shrinkage defects and optimize the mechanical performance.Through experiments and simulations,the parameter optimization of TMF and the influence on feeding behavior,microstructure and properties were systematically studied.The results indicate that the magnetic force maximizes at the excitation current of 20 A and frequency of 200 Hz under the experimental conditions of this study,and increases from center to side-walls,which is more convenient to process thin-walled castings.TMF can break secondary dendritic arm and dendrites overlaps,widen feeding channels,prolong the feeding time,optimize the feeding paths,eliminate shrinkage defects and improve properties.Specifically,for as-cast state,TMF with excitation current of 20 A increases ultimate tensile strength,elongation and micro-hardness from 186 MPa,7.3%and 82.1 kg/mm^(2) to 221 MPa,11.7%and 100.5 kg/mm^(2),decreases porosity from 1.71%to 0.22%,and alters brittle fracture to ductile fracture.

Numerical simulation for mold-filling of thin-walled aluminum alloy castings in traveling magnetic field

The numerical simulation for mold-filling of thin-walled aluminum alloy castings in horizontal traveling magnetic field is performed. A force model of Al alloy melt in the traveling magnetic field is founded by analyzing traveling magnetic field carefully. Numerical model of Al alloy mold-filling is founded based on N-S equation, which was suitable for traveling magnetic field. By using acryl glass mold with indium as alloy melt, the experiment testified the filling state of alloy in traveling magnetic field. The results of numerical simulation indicate that the mold-filling ability of gallium melt increases continually with the increase of the input ampere turns.

Solidified structure of thin-walled titanium parts by vertical centrifugal casting

The solidified structure of the thin-walled and complicated Ti-6AI-4V castings produced by the vertical centrifugal casting process was studied in the present work. The results show that the wall thickness of the section is featured with homogeneously distributed fine equiaxial grains, compared with the microstructure of the thick-walled section. The grain size of the castings has a tendency to decrease gradually with the increasing of the centrifugal radius. The inter-lamellar space in thick-walled casting parts is bigger than that of the thin-walled parts, and the profile of inter-lamellar space is not susceptible to the centrifugal radius.

Die Casting Mold Design of the Thin-walled Aluminum Case by Computational Solidification Simulation

Recently, demand for the lightweight alloy in electric/electronic housings has been greatly increased. However, among the lightweight alloys, aluminum alloy thin-walled die casting is problematic because it is quite difficult to achieve sufficient fluidity and feedability to fill the thin cavity as the wall thickness becomes less than 1mm. Therefore, in this study, thin-walled die casting of aluminum （Al-Si-Cu alloy： ALDC 12） in size of notebook computer housing and thickness of 0.8 mm was investigated by solidification simulation （MAGMA soft） and actual casting experiment （Buhler Evolution B 53D）. Three different types of gating design, finger, tangential and split type with 6 vertical runners, were simulated and the results showed that sound thin-walled die casting was possible with tangential and split type gating design because those gates allowed aluminum melt to flow into the thin cavity uniformly and split type gating system was preferable gating design comparing to tangential type gating system at the point of view of soundness of casting and distortion generated after solidification. Also, the solidification simulation agreed well with the actual die-casting and the casting showed no casting defects and distortion.

Filling mode and regularity of vertical centrifugal casting process of titanium alloy in thin-walled cylinder cavity

The mold filling process of titanium alloy in a thin-walled cylinder cavity under vertical centrifugal casting process was studied by means of the hydraulic simulation experiments. Results show that the filling mode of the melt in the cylinder cavity varies with casting wall-thickness. When the casting wall-thickness is less than or equal to the thickness of the first layer during the filling process, the melts fill the cavity from the bottom to the top.When the casting wall-thickness is greater than the thickness of the first layer during the filling process, the melts first fill the largest radius parts of the cavity with a certain thickness of the first layer from the bottom to the top of the cavity, and then they fill the cavity from the larger radius part to the smaller radius part. The melt filling ability increases with the increment of the mold rotational speed and the pouring temperature. In another aspect, the melt filling ability rises with the decrement of the melt viscosity, and the melt with the better filling ability is prone to fill the cylinder cavity layer by layer.

Review of production status of heavysteel castings and key technologies for their manufacture in China

This paper expatiates on domestic status of heavy steel casting production, with a special focus on hydraulicturbine castings for Three Gorges Project. In China, there is magnificent demand for heavy castings with the rapidgrowth of the national economy in recent years and the expected high growth in the coming 10 to 20 years. Someheavy and large castings such as mill housing and hydraulic turbine runner crown, blade and band for Three GorgesProject have been successfully made. However, the domestic production capability is still far from meeting the giganticrequirements. The domestic capability still lags behind the world class level, and a lot of heavy castings still dependon import. The paper also gives a particular introduction of the key technologies in the manufacturing of heavy steelcastings like metal melting, foundry technology, heat treatment technology and numerical simulation technique, etc.In addition, several case studies on the application of numerical simulation in the production of heavy steel castingsare presented.

Remaining Useful Life for Heavy-Duty Railway Cast Steel Knuckles Based on Crack Growth Behavior with Hypothetical Distributions

The current research on the integrity of critical structures of rail vehicles mainly focuses on the design stage,which needs an effective method for assessing the service state.This paper proposes a framework for predicting the remaining useful life(RUL)of in-service structures with and without visible cracks.The hypothetical distribution and delay time models were used to apply the equivalent crack growth life data of heavy-duty railway cast steel knuckles,which revealed the evolution characteristics of the crack length and life scores of the knuckle under different fracture failure modes.The results indicate that the method effectively predicts the RUL of service knuckles in different failure modes based on the cumulative failure probability curves for different locations and surface crack lengths.This study proposes an RUL prediction framework that supports the dynamic overhaul and state maintenance of knuckle fatigue cracks.

Micropores in G20Mn5N cast steel and their influence on stress distribution

To accurately analyze the impact of casting pores in steel,high-resolution 3D X-ray tomography technology was used to gather detailed statistical information about micropores.These micropores were classified as gas,shrinkage,and gas-shrinkage pores depending on their formation origin and morphology.Clustering tendencies and affinity parameters were defined to characterize the spatial correlations among these three types of pores.The 3D data from X-ray tomography scans were then integrated into finite element analysis(FEA)software to predict how micropore shape,size,and distribution influence stress distribution within the material.The results show that certain inflection points with small local radii within the cast pores are major contributors to stress concentration.Therefore,cast pores cannot be simply modeled as ideal spherical pores.The sphericity and volume of pores have a significant impact on the stress concentration of the model.Specifically,lower sphericity and larger pore volumes result in higher stress concentrations.Moreover,the internal pores of steel castings exhibit specific global distribution characteristics.Pores located on the surface of the specimen lead to significantly higher stress concentrations compared to those located inside the specimen.

Microstructures and Properties of 550 MPa Grade High Strength Thin-walled H-beam Steel

The microstructures and mechanical properties of 550 MPa grade lightweight high strength thin-walled H-beam steel were experimentally studied. The experimental results show that the microstructure of the air-cooled H-beam steel sample is consisted of ferrite, pearlite and a small amount of granular bainites as well as fine and dispersive V（C,N） precipitates. The microstructure of the water-cooled steel sample is consisted of ferrite and bainite as well as a small amount of fine pearlites. The microstructure of the water-cooled sample is finer than that of the air-cooled sample with the average intercept size of the surface grains reaching to 3.5 gna. The finish rolling temperature of the thin-walled high strength H-beam steel is in the range of 750 ~C-850 ~C. The lower the finish rolling temperature and the faster the cooling rate, the finer the ferrite grains, the volume fraction of bainite is increased through water cooling process. Grain refinement strengthening and precipitation strengthening are used as major strengthening means to develop 550 MPa grade lightweight high strength thin- walled H-beam steel. Vanadium partially soluted in the matrix and contributes to the solution strengthening. The 550 MPa grade high-strength thin-walled H-beam steel could be developed by direct air cooling after hot rolling to fully meet the requirements of the target properties.

The EVA plastic film for V-process and steel castings by V-process in China

EVA plastic film is the key material for V-process. Through decades of research, special EVA film for V-process has been produced. The film has adequate elongation; its maximum is about 800% in longitudinal direction and 750% in transversal direction. The single width of the film is 2.8 m and the double width is 5.6 m, which is the widest sheet film for V-process in China. Sheets with different thickness ranging from the thickest 0.35 mm to the thinnest 0.08 mm can meet different demands in China. The film can be used not only for V-process of iron castings, but also for the manganese steel railway frog, steel rocking support and side frame castings for train and the steel bridge box for engine truck.

A nonlinear explicit dynamic GBT formulation for modeling impact response of thin-walled steel members

A nonlinear explicit dynamic finite element formulation based on the generalized beam theory(GBT)is proposed and developed to simulate the dynamic responses of prismatic thin-walled steel members under transverse impulsive loads.Considering the rate strengthening and thermal softening effects on member impact behavior,a modified Cowper-Symonds model for constructional steels is utilized.The element displacement field is built upon the superposition of GBT cross-section deformation modes,so arbitrary deformations such as cross-section distortions,local buckling and warping shear can all be involved by the proposed model.The amplitude function of each cross-section deformation mode is approximated by the cubic non-uniform B-spline basis functions.The Kirchhoff s thin-plate assumption is utilized in the construction of the bending related displacements.The Green-Lagrange strain tensor and the second Piola-Kirchhoff(PK2)stress tensor are employed to measure deformations and stresses at any material point,where stresses are assumed to be in plane-stress state.In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed GBT model,three numerical cases involving impulsive loading of the thin-walled parts are given.The GBT results are compared with those of the Ls-Dyna shell finite element.It is shown that the proposed model and the shell finite element analysis has equivalent accuracy in displacement and stress.Moreover,the proposed model is much more computationally efficient and structurally clearer than the shell finite elements.

Advanced manufacturing technologies of large martensitic stainless steel castings with ultra low carbon and high cleanliness

The key manufacturing technologies associated with composition, microstructure, mechanical properties, casting quality and key process control for large martensitic stainless steel castings are involved in this paper. The achievements fully satisfeid the technical requirements of the large 700 MW stainless steel hydraulic turbine runner for the Three Gorges Hydropower Station, and become the major technical support for the design and manufacture of the largest 700 MW hydraulic turbine generator unit in the world developed through our own efforts. The characteristics of a new high yield to tensile strength (R p0.2/R m ) ratio and high obdurability martensitic stainless steel with ultra low carbon and high cleanliness are also described. Over the next ten years, the large martensitic stainless steel castings and advanced manufacturing technologies will see a huge demand in clean energy industry such as nuclear power, hydraulic power at home and abroad. Therefore, the new high yield o tensile strength (R p0.2/R m ) ratio and high obdurability martensitic stainless steel materials, the fast and flexible manufacturing technologies of large size castings, and new environment friendly sustainable process will face new challenges and opportunities.

Research on the Landscape Utilization and Renovation of Industrial Wasteland in Panzhihua Steel-casting Factory

Renovation design of wasteland on the original Quarter A of Panzhihua Nongnongping Steelcasting Factory was taken for example in this study, natural conditions and biological landscapes in the study area were investigated. Principles and theories of the renovation design were introduced, it was proposed that protection and landscape renovation of industrial heritage had to be insisted to make regular and unique overall spatial layouts. On this basis, design approaches for the wasteland landscape renovation of the steel-casting factory were proposed as "maintaining original images, realizing the functional substitution; optimizing spatial structure; updating seriously-damaged industrial facilities with insignificant functionality; improving and recovering landscape soil; recovering and reconstructing vegetation".

Mechanical Properties of V-,Nb-,and Ti-bearing As-cast Microalloyed Steels

The influence of microalloying additions on the mechanical properties of a low-carbon cast steel containing combinations of V, Nb, and Ti in the as-cast condition was evaluated. Tensile and hardness test results indicated that good combinations of strength and ductility could be achieved by V and Nb additions. While the yield strength and UTS （ultimate tensile strength） increased up to the range of 378-435 MPa and 579- 590 MPa, respectively in the microalloyed heats, their total elongation ranged from 18% to 23%. The presence of Ti, however, led to some reduction in the strength. Microstructural studies including scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and optical microscopy revealed that coarse TiN particles were responsible for this behavior. The Charpy impact values of all compositions indicated that microalloying additions significantly decreased the impact energy and led to the dominance of cleavage facets on the fracture surfaces. It seems that the increase in the hardness of coarse ferrite grains due to the precipitation hardening is the main reason for brittle fracture.

Effects of Rare Earths on Toughness of 31Mn2SiRE Wear- Resistance Cast Steel

The toughness of 31Mn2SiRE wear-resistance cast steel were increased by means of RE compound modification and high temperature austenitizing. The results show that the microstructures can be refined, needle and network ferrite are eliminated, the dislocation density and the quantity of dislocated martensite are increased remarkably, and the shape and distribution of inclusions are improved by the addition of RE. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the modified steel can be greatly increased, especially the toughness (αK) by 44%, yield strength (σs) by 10%, and elongation (δ5) by 42%.

Effect of melting temperature on microstructural evolutions, behavior and corrosion morphology of Hadfield austenitic manganese steel in the casting process

In this study, the effect of melting temperature on the microstructural evolutions, behavior, and corrosion morphology of Hadfield steel in the casting process is investigated. The mold was prepared by the sodium silicate/CO_2 method, using a blind riser, and then the desired molten steel was obtained using a coreless induction furnace. The casting was performed at melting temperatures of 1350, 1400, 1450, and 1500°C, and the cast blocks were immediately quenched in water. Optical microscopy was used to analyze the microstructure, and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and X-ray diffractrometry(XRD) were used to analyze the corrosion morphology and phase formation in the microstructure, respectively. The corrosion behavior of the samples was analyzed using a potentiodynamic polarization test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) in 3.5 wt% NaCl. The optical microscopy observations and XRD patterns show that the increase in melting temperature led to a decrease of carbides and an increase in the austenite grain size in the Hadfield steel microstructure. The corrosion tests results show that with increasing melting temperature in the casting process, Hadfield steel shows a higher corrosion resistance. The SEM images of the corrosion morphologies show that the reduction of melting temperature in the Hadfield steel casting process induced micro-galvanic corrosion conditions.

Effect of Alloying Elements on Thermal Wear of Cast Hot-Forging Die Steels

The effect of main alloying elements on thermal wear of cast hot-forging die steels was studied. The wear mechanism was discussed. The results show that alloying elements have significant influences on the thermal wear of cast hot-forging die steels. The wear rates decrease with an increase in chromium content from 3% to 4% and molybdenum content from 2% to 3%, respectively. With further increase of chromium and molybdenum contents, chromium slightly reduces the wear resistance and molybdenum severely deteriorates the wear resistance with high wear rate. Lower vanadium/carbon ratio （1.5-2.5） leads to a lower wear resistance with higher wear rate. With an increase in vanadium/carbon ratio, the wear resistance of the cast steel substantially increases. When vanadium/carbon ratio is 3, the wear rate reaches the lowest value. The predominant mechanism of thermal wear of cast hot-forging die steels are oxidation wear and fatigue delamination. The Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 or lumps of brittle wear debris are formed on the wear surface.