Sensitivity of springback and section deformation to process parameters in rotary draw bending of thin-walled rectangular H96 brass tube

In order to study the effects of the process parameters on springback and section deformation, a sensitivity analysis model was established based on the combination use of the multi-parameter sensitivity analysis method and the springback/section deformation prediction finite element model, and by using this model the sensitivities of the springback and the section deformation to process parameters were analyzed and compared. The results show that the most sensitive process conditions for springback angle are the boost speed and the pressure of pressure die, and the most sensitive process condition for section deformation is the number of cores. When the clamp force, the boost speed and the pressure of pressure die are utilized to control section deformation, the effect of these process parameters on springback should be considered. When the process parameters are mainly used to control springback, the effect of these process parameters on the section deformation should be always considered.

Small interfering RNA targeting PGC-1α inhibits VEGF expression and tube formation in human retinal vascular endothelial cells

AIMTo determine whether small interfering RNA (siRNA) of PGC-1α could inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and tube formation in human retinal vascular endothelial cells (hRVECs).METHODShRVECs transfected with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) siRNA were incubated for 24h and then placed into a normoxic (20%, O2) or hypoxic (1%, O2) environment for another 16h. PGC-1α mRNA and protein levels were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot. VEGF mRNA and protein levels were detected by real-time PCR and ELISA. Cell proliferation was evaluated by BrdU incorporation assay. Forty-eight hours after siRNA transfection, hRVECs were planted into Matrigel-coated plates and cultured under normoxic (20%, O2) or hypoxic (1%, O2) conditions for another 48h. The tube formation of hRVECs was observed under an optical microscope and quantified by counting the number of branch points and calculating the total tube length.RESULTSPGC-1α mRNA and protein levels were significantly reduced by PGC-1α siRNA, and VEGF mRNA and protein levels also decreased significantly. The percentage of BrdU-labeled cells in siPGC-1α groups were significantly decreased compared with control siRNA groups under normoxia and hypoxia in cell proliferation assay. In the tube formation assay, PGC-1α siRNA treated cells formed significantly fewer tubes.CONCLUSIONBlocking PGC-1α expression can inhibit VEGF expression in hRVECs and inhibit their ability to form tubes under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions.

VISUAL OBSERBATION OF HCFC141b GAS HYDRATE FORMATION/DECOMPOSITION PROCESS OUTSIDE OF A TUBE

In order to design a kind of heat exchanger suitable to the indirect-touched gas hydrate cool storage vessel, a visual observation of HCFC141b gas hydrate formation/decomposition process was presented through a self-designed small-scale visualization apparatus of gas hydrate cool storage. Based on the shooted photos and recorded temperatures, the formation/decomposition process of HCFC141b are described, some characteristics are concluded, and some suggestions of designing heat exchanger are indicated according to the specific characteristics of HCFC141b gas hydrate formation/decomposition process.

Spring-back deformation in tube bending

The spring-back of a bending metal tube was studied through extensive experiments and finite element method （FEM） analysis. An approximate equation for the spring-back angle of bending was deduced. It is noted that the mechanical properties of the material （in a tubular form） are quite different from those found in the standard tensile tests （when the materials are in bar forms）. This is one of the major reasons that result in the discrepancies in the outcomes of experimental study, FEM calculations, and spring-back analysis. It is therefore of crucial importance to study the mechanical properties of the materials in their tubular forms. The experiments and FEM simulations prove that the spring-back angle is significantly affected by the mechanical properties of the materials. The angle decreases accordingly with plastic modulus, but changes inversely with the hardening index and elastic modulus The spring-back angle is also affected by the conditions of tube deformation： it increases accordingly with the relative bending radius but changes inversely with the relative wall thickness. In addition, the spring-back angle increases nonlinearly with the bending angle.

Fin formation model during pre-roll ploughing of copper 3D outside fin tube

The mechanism of pre roll ploughing for 3D fins on the outside surface of copper tube was studied systematically, and especially the process and conditions of 3D fin formation were analyzed. The right mathematical model was also established. Based on the volume of fin ploughed out is equal to the volume of the metal extruded up by the extruding face of the tool, the relations between fin height, pre roll ploughing feed and pre roll ploughing depth have been achieved. With the increase of pre roll ploughing depth which must be equal to groove depth, the fin height gradually becomes larger. There are different critical feeds with the various depths of pre roll ploughing. The pre roll ploughing feed is the critical one, the height of fin is largest. And when the feed is above the critical one, the fin height will reduce with the increase of feed. The theoretical analysis basically accords with experimental results.

Deformation Calculation of Cross-section Based on Virtual Force in Thin-walled Tube Bending Process

Cross-section deformation is one of important factors affecting the quality of tube formation, and the tube＇s capability of transporting liquid and gas will be reduced because of the cross-section ellipse deformation due to the effect of shear load in plastic bending process. When the tube is bent, the extrados-wall bears the tension stress and the intrados-wall bears the compression stress, synchronously the cross-section is affected by the circumferential stress. According to the above, the distribution function and curve of tangential stress can be obtained according to force balance differential equations on circumferential direction and Trasca rule. Subsequently the real state and virtual state moment equations were established, a new method was presented adopting the virtual principle of deformation system to calculate the x-axis and y-axis displacement of arbitrary point on cross-section. So the major and minor axes of deformed cross-section can be calculated according to the displacements of each point, and the variety value of major and minor axes will be obtained further. Finally the theoretical calculating result is compared with NC tube rotary-bending experiment results to verify the rationality of theoretical analysis, and the cross-section deformation rule of thin-walled tube can be received.

Knot formation in the feeding jejunostomy tube:A case report and review of the literature

Jejunostomy feeding tubes provide surgeons with an excellent method for providing nutritional support, but there are several complications associated with a tube jejunostomy, including complications resulting from placement of the tube, mechanical problems related to the location or function and development of focally thickened small-bowel folds. A 76-year old man who presented with multiple medical diseases was admitted to our hospital due to aspiration pneumonia with acute respiratory failure and septic shock. He underwent exploratory laparotomy with feeding jejunostomy using a 14-French nasogastric tube for nutritional support. However, occlusion of the feeding tube was found 30 d after operation, and a rare complication of knot formation in the tube occurred after a new tube was replaced. On the following day, the tube was removed and replaced with a similar tube, which was placed into the jejunum for only 15 cm. The patient's feedings were maintained smoothly for two months. Knot formation in the feeding tube seems to be very rare. To our knowledge, this is the third case in the literature review. Its incidence is probably related to the length of the tube inserted into the lumen.

NON-LOCAL MODELING ON MACROSCOPIC DOMAIN PATTERNS IN PHASE TRANSFORMATION OF NiTi TUBES

Recent experiments revealed many new phenomena of the macroscopic domain patterns in the stress-induced phase transformation of a superelastic polycrystalline NiTi tube during tensile loading. The new phenomena include deformation instability with the formation of a helical domain, domain topology transition from helix to cylinder, domain-front branching and loading-path dependence of domain patterns. In this paper, we model the polycrystal as an elastic continuum with nonconvex strain energy and adopt the non-local strain gradient energy to account for the energy of the diffusive domain front. We simulate the equilibrium domain patterns and their evolution in the tubes under tensile loading by a non-local Finite Element Method （FEM）. It is revealed that the observed loading-path dependence and topology transition of do- main patterns are due to the thermodynamic metastability of the tube system. The computation also shows that the tube-wall thickness has a significant effect on the domain patterns： with fixed material properties and interfacial energy density, a large tube-wall thickness leads to a long and slim helical domain and a severe branching of the cylindrical-domain front.

Numerical simulation of spinning deformation of thin-walled tube in necking process

The spinning deformation of thin walled tube in necking process is simulated with a dynamic explicit FEM program,LS DYNA3D and the distributions of Cauchy strains and thickness are analyzed through time history to achieve a good understanding of the deformation in necking process by spinning and the numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the test results.

Experimental evidence for the formation mechanism of metallic catalyst-free carbon nanotubes

Our work reported that the so-called pure carbon nanotubes(CNTs)can be synthesized without metallic catalyst by chemical vapor deposition(CVD).The as-prepared CNTs have average diameter of 50 nm and length over several microns.Analysis of intermediate objects in the products indicates that their formation mechanism follows the wire-to-tube model.Besides,according to thermodynamic analysis of the driving force combing with experimental results,we find that the thermal gradient can effectively favor the formation of CNTs in our metallic catalyst-free CVD.

Deformation behaviors of 21-6-9 stainless steel tube numerical control bending under different friction conditions

For contact dominated numerical control(NC) bending process of tube, the effect of friction on bending deformation behaviors should be focused on to achieve precision bending forming. A three dimensional(3D) elastic-plastic finite element(FE) model of NC bending process was established under ABAQUS/Explicit platform, and its reliability was validated by the experiment. Then, numerical study on bending deformation behaviors under different frictions between tube and various dies was explored from multiple aspects such as wrinkling, wall thickness change and cross section deformation. The results show that the large friction of wiper die-tube reduces the wrinkling wave ratio η and cross section deformation degree ΔD and increases the wall thinning degree Δt. The large friction of mandrel-tube causes large η, Δt and ΔD, and the onset of wrinkling near clamp die. The large friction of pressure die-tube reduces Δt and ΔD, and the friction on this interface has little effect on η. The large friction of bending die-tube reduces η and ΔD, and the friction on this interface has little effect on Δt. The reasonable friction coefficients on wiper die-tube, mandrel-tube, pressure die-tube and bending die-tube of 21-6-9(0Cr21Ni6Mn9N) stainless steel tube in NC bending are 0.05-0.15, 0.05-0.15, 0.25-0.35 and 0.25-0.35, respectively. The results can provide a guideline for applying the friction conditions to establish the robust bending environment for stable and precise bending deformation of tube bending.

Deformation and densification behavior of discrete media filled thin-walled tubes during forward extrusion

Discrete media filled thin-walled hollow profiles are frequently used as integer structures for special purpose, e.g., in certain materials processing or architectural components. To understand the deformation of such composite structures which is a complicate mechanics process, involving coupled elastic-plastic deformation of dense metal, compaction of particle and interaction between the filler and the wall, the forward extrusion of Al 6061 tubes filled with various particles was studied. The analysis regarding internal volume variation of round tubes during forward extrusion indicates that with the diameter reduction the volume of tubes decreases commonly. The cavity shrinkage brings about triaxial pressure on the filler, resulted in compaction and densification of it. Loose powders filling leads to higher extrusion load. Due to dissimilar migration behaviors of the particles, the load?stroke curves of the tubes filled with fine powders and coarse balls are quite different. Small Lankford value of the tube wall material leads to higher hydrostatic pressure of the filler and then more powders are compacted.

Effects and mechanism of miRNA-24 on the proliferation,migration and tube formation of vascular endothelial cells

Objective:To investigate the effect and mechanism of miRNA-24 on the proliferation,migration and tube formation of vascular endothelial cells.Methods:Human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs)were assigned into control,microRNA(miR)-24 overexpression and anti-miR-24 groups.The proliferation and migration abilities of HUVECs were detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT)assay and scratch wound healing assay,respectively.The ability of HUVECs to form tubular structures was evaluated by a tube formation assay.The mRNA and protein expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)and transcription factor Sp1 were determined by RT-PCR,immunocytochemistry and western blotting,respectively.Results:The miR-24 overexpression group exhibited decreased cell proliferation and migration,and expressions of VEGF and Sp1 compared with the control group(P <0.01).No tube-like network structure was formed in the miR-24 overexpression group.However,inhibition of miR-24 in HUVECs markedly increased cell proliferation and migration,enhanced tube formation and expressions of VEGF and Sp1(P<0.05 or P<0.01).Conclusion:MiR-24 suppressed the proliferation,migration and tube formation of HUVECs,and the mechanism might be related to the down-regulation of VEGF expression.Sp1 might participate in this regulation process.

Inhibition of germ tube's formation of Candida albicans by lactobacillus spp.

Objective:To investigate the effects of 6 strains of lactobacilli and their main culture metabolites on the morphogenesis of Candida albicans (C. albicans) so as to screen medicinal strains as antifungal agents. Methods: Spent culture supernatant (SCS) at different culture time points, live lactobacilli, heatkilled bacteria and bacterial short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) with different molarities were incubated with C. albicans respectively. Crystal violet-based germ tube assay was used to detect the germination of C. albicans and the inhibitory efficiency of each addition was tested by germination rate. Results: SCS of lactobacillus spp. decreased the germination significantly and live bacteria of L. rhamnosus. GG, L. acidophilus L050103-12 as well as L. johnsonii JCM1022 could partially inhibit the conversion, however, all the heatkilled bacteria failed to control the germ tube formation. In addition, only butyric acid blocked the conversion of yeast to hypha among all the SCFA. Conclusion: The excellent fungistasis activities make L.rhamnosus. GG, L. acidophilus L050103-12 and L. johnsonii JCM1022 potential strains as antifungal drugs and the inhibition seems to have direct correlation to the metabolites.

Novel approach for analysis of deformation behavior of thin-walled tube in free hydro-bulging process

Based on the assumption that profile of thin walled tube in free hydro-bulging process is a quadratic curve and any point on the profile moves vertically to the profile, mathematical models were deduced for analyzing the deformation behavior. The critical pressure and the maximum bulge coefficient(height) at bursting can be determined based on the models, in which a shape factor a is introduced to tightly communicate the material property and geometric parameters to plastic deformation. Free hydro-bulging experiments of stainless steel and low carbon steel tubes were conducted to validate the models, and the experimental data indicate that the theoretical predictions are reliable and accurate. The results display that the profile, dependent on the material and geometric parameters, can be hyperbola, parabola, arc and ellipse or alternative among them; moreover, the forming pressure and forming limit are both closely connected with material and geometric parameters.

Reliability improvement of gas discharge tube by suppressing the formation of short-circuit pathways

After cumulative discharge of gas discharge tube(GDT),it is easy to form a short circuit pathway between the two electrodes,which increases the failure risk and causes severe influences on the protected object.To reduce the failure risk of GDT and improve cumulative discharge times before failure,this work aims to suppress the formation of two short-circuit pathways by optimizing the tube wall structure,the electrode materials and the electrode structure.A total of five improved GDT samples are designed by focusing on the insulation resistance change that occurs after the improvement;then,by combining these designs with the microscopic morphology changes inside the cavity and the differences in deposition composition,the reasons for the differences in the GDT failure risk are also analyzed.The experimental results show that compared with GDT of traditional structure and material,the method of adding grooves at both ends of the tube wall can effectively block the deposition pathway of the tube wall,and the cumulative discharge time before device failure is increased by 149%.On this basis,when the iron-nickel electrode is replaced with a tungsten-copper electrode,the difference in the electrode’s surface splash characteristics further extends the discharge time before failure by 183%.In addition,when compared with the traditional electrode structure,the method of adding an annular structure at the electrode edge to block the splashing pathway for the particles on the electrode surface shows no positive effect,and the cumulative discharge time before the failure of the two structures is reduced by 22.8%and 49.7%,respectively.Among these improved structures,the samples with grooves at both ends of the tube wall and tungsten-copper as their electrode material have the lowest failure risk.

Sema3A secreted by sensory nerve induces bone formation under mechanical loads

Bone formation and deposition are initiated by sensory nerve infiltration in adaptive bone remodeling. Here, we focused on the role of Semaphorin 3A(Sema3A), expressed by sensory nerves, in mechanical loads-induced bone formation and nerve withdrawal using orthodontic tooth movement(OTM) model. Firstly, bone formation was activated after the 3rd day of OTM,coinciding with a decrease in sensory nerves and an increase in pain threshold. Sema3A, rather than nerve growth factor(NGF),highly expressed in both trigeminal ganglion and the axons of periodontal ligament following the 3rd day of OTM. Moreover, in vitro mechanical loads upregulated Sema3A in neurons instead of in human periodontal ligament cells(hPDLCs) within 24 hours.Furthermore, exogenous Sema3A restored the suppressed alveolar bone formation and the osteogenic differentiation of hPDLCs induced by mechanical overload. Mechanistically, Sema3A prevented overstretching of F-actin induced by mechanical overload through ROCK2 pathway, maintaining mitochondrial dynamics as mitochondrial fusion. Therefore, Sema3A exhibits dual therapeutic effects in mechanical loads-induced bone formation, both as a pain-sensitive analgesic and a positive regulator for bone formation.

Geochemical identification of a source rock affected by migrated hydrocarbons and its geological significance:Fengcheng Formation,southern Mahu Sag,Junggar Basin,NW China

The Fengcheng Formation is a crucial source rock and the primary reservoir for oil accumulation in the Mahu Sag.Crude oils are distributed throughout the Fengcheng Formation,ranging from the edge to the interior of the sag in the southern Mahu Sag.These crude oils originate from in-situ source rocks in shallowly buried areas and the inner deep sag.During migration,the crude oil from the inner deep sag affects the source rocks close to carrier beds,leading to changes in the organic geochemical characteristics of the source rocks.These changes might alter source rock evaluations and oil-source correlation.Based on data such as total organic carbon(TOC),Rock-Eval pyrolysis of source rocks,and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS)of the saturated fraction,and considering the geological characteristics of the study area,we define the identification characteristics of source rock affected by migrated hydrocarbons and establish the various patterns of influence that migrated hydrocarbons have on the source rock of the Fengcheng Formation in the southern Mahu Sag.The source rocks of the Fengcheng Formation are mostly fair to good,containing mainly Type II organic matter and being thermally mature enough to generate oil.Source rocks affected by migrated hydrocarbons exhibit relatively high hydrocarbon contents(S1/TOC>110 mg HC/g TOC,Extract/TOC>30%,HC:hydrocarbon),relatively low Rock-Eval Tmax values,and relatively high tricyclic terpane contents with a descending and mountain-shaped distribution.Furthermore,biomarker composition parameters indicate a higher thermal maturity than in-situ source rocks.Through a comparison of the extract biomarker fingerprints of adjacent reservoirs and mudstones in different boreholes,three types of influence patterns of migrated hydrocarbons are identified:the edge-influence of thin sandstone-thick mudstone,the mixed-influence of sandstone-mudstone interbedded,and the full-influence of thick sandstone-thin mudstone.This finding reminds us that the influence of migrated hydrocarbons must be considered when evaluating source rocks and conducting oil-source correlation.

Study on the low mechanical anisotropy of extruded Mg-Zn-Mn-Ce-Ca alloy tube in the compression process

In this study,the extruded Mg-Zn-Mn-Ce-Ca alloy tube with a low compression anisotropy along the ED,45ED and TD was prepared.The effect of the second phases,initial texture and deformation behavior on this low mechanical anisotropy was investigated.The results revealed that the alloy tube contains the high content(Mg1-xZnx)11Ce phase and the low content of Mg12Ce phase.These second phases are respectively incoherent and coherent with the Mg matrix,and their influence can be ignored.Additionally,the alloy tube exhibited a weak basal fiber texture,where the c-axis was aligned along the 0°∼30°tilt from TD to ED.Such a texture made the initial deformation(at 1.0%∼1.6%strain)of the three samples controlled by comparable basalslip.As deformation progressed(1.6∼9.0%strain),larger amounts of ETWs nucleated and gradually approached saturation in the three samples,re-orienting the c-axis to a 0°∼±30°deviation with respect to the loading directions.Meanwhile,the prismatic and pyramidal<c+a>slips replaced the dominant deformation progressively until fracture.Eventually,the similar deformation mechanisms determined by the weak initial texture in the three samples contribute to the comparable strain hardening rates,resulting in the low compressive anisotropy of the alloy tube.