scholarly journals Effects of wheels and tires on high-strength lightweight wheelchair propulsion cost using a robotic wheelchair tester

Author(s):  
Jacob Misch ◽  
Stephen Sprigle
Author(s):  
Y. L. Chen ◽  
S. Fujlshiro

Metastable beta titanium alloys have been known to have numerous advantages such as cold formability, high strength, good fracture resistance, deep hardenability, and cost effectiveness. Very high strength is obtainable by precipitation of the hexagonal alpha phase in a bcc beta matrix in these alloys. Precipitation hardening in the metastable beta alloys may also result from the formation of transition phases such as omega phase. Ti-15-3 (Ti-15V- 3Cr-3Al-3Sn) has been developed recently by TIMET and USAF for low cost sheet metal applications. The purpose of the present study was to examine the aging characteristics in this alloy.The composition of the as-received material is: 14.7 V, 3.14 Cr, 3.05 Al, 2.26 Sn, and 0.145 Fe. The beta transus temperature as determined by optical metallographic method was about 770°C. Specimen coupons were prepared from a mill-annealed 1.2 mm thick sheet, and solution treated at 827°C for 2 hr in argon, then water quenched. Aging was also done in argon at temperatures ranging from 316 to 616°C for various times.


Author(s):  
L.J. Chen ◽  
H.C. Cheng ◽  
J.R. Gong ◽  
J.G. Yang

For fuel savings as well as energy and resource requirement, high strength low alloy steels (HSLA) are of particular interest to automobile industry because of the potential weight reduction which can be achieved by using thinner section of these steels to carry the same load and thus to improve the fuel mileage. Dual phase treatment has been utilized to obtain superior strength and ductility combinations compared to the HSLA of identical composition. Recently, cooling rate following heat treatment was found to be important to the tensile properties of the dual phase steels. In this paper, we report the results of the investigation of cooling rate on the microstructures and mechanical properties of several vanadium HSLA steels.The steels with composition (in weight percent) listed below were supplied by China Steel Corporation: 1. low V steel (0.11C, 0.65Si, 1.63Mn, 0.015P, 0.008S, 0.084Aℓ, 0.004V), 2. 0.059V steel (0.13C, 0.62S1, 1.59Mn, 0.012P, 0.008S, 0.065Aℓ, 0.059V), 3. 0.10V steel (0.11C, 0.58Si, 1.58Mn, 0.017P, 0.008S, 0.068Aℓ, 0.10V).


Author(s):  
L. S. Lin ◽  
C. C. Law

Inconel 718, a precipitation hardenable nickel-base alloy, is a versatile high strength, weldable wrought alloy that is used in the gas turbine industry for components operated at temperatures up to about 1300°F. The nominal chemical composition is 0.6A1-0.9Ti-19.OCr-18.0Fe-3Mo-5.2(Cb + Ta)- 0.1C with the balance Ni (in weight percentage). The physical metallurgy of IN 718 has been the subject of a number of investigations and it is now established that hardening is due, primarily, to the formation of metastable, disc-shaped γ" an ordered body-centered tetragonal structure (DO2 2 type superlattice).


Author(s):  
R. E. Herfert ◽  
N. T. McDevitt

Durability of adhesive bonded joints in moisture and salt spray environments is essential to USAF aircraft. Structural bonding technology for aerospace applications has depended for many years on the preparation of aluminum surfaces by a sulfuric acid/sodium dichromate (FPL etch) treatment. Recently, specific thin film anodizing techniques, phosphoric acid, and chromic acid anodizing have been developed which not only provide good initial bond strengths but vastly improved environmental durability. These thin anodic films are in contrast to the commonly used thick anodic films such as the sulfuric acid or "hard" sulfuric acid anodic films which are highly corrosion resistant in themselves, but which do not provide good initial bond strengths, particularly in low temperature peel.The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of anodic films on aluminum alloys that make them corrosion resistant. The chemical composition, physical morphology and structure, and mechanical properties of the thin oxide films were to be defined and correlated with the environmental stability of these surfaces in humidity and salt spray. It is anticipated that anodic film characteristics and corrosion resistance will vary with the anodizing processing conditions.


Author(s):  
W. Braue ◽  
R.W. Carpenter ◽  
D.J. Smith

Whisker and fiber reinforcement has been established as an effective toughening concept for monolithic structural ceramics to overcome limited fracture toughness and brittleness. SiC whiskers in particular combine both high strength and elastic moduli with good thermal stability and are compatible with most oxide and nonoxide matrices. As the major toughening mechanisms - crack branching, deflection and bridging - in SiC whiskenreinforced Al2O3 and Si3N41 are critically dependent on interface properties, a detailed TEM investigation was conducted on whisker/matrix interfaces in these all-ceramic- composites.In this study we present HREM images obtained at 400 kV from β-SiC/α-Al2O3 and β-SiC/β-Si3N4 interfaces, as well as preliminary analytical data. The Al2O3- base composite was hotpressed at 1830 °C/60 MPa in vacuum and the Si3N4-base material at 1725 °C/30 MPa in argon atmosphere, respectively, adding a total of 6 vt.% (Y2O3 + Al2O3) to the latter to promote densification.


Author(s):  
D.M. Vanderwalker

Aluminum-lithium alloys have a low density and high strength to weight ratio. They are being developed for the aerospace industry.The high strength of Al-Li can be attributed to precipitation hardening. Unfortunately when aged, Al-Li aquires a low ductility and fracture toughness. The precipitate in Al-Li is part of a sequence SSSS → Al3Li → AlLi A description of the phases may be found in reference 1 . This paper is primarily concerned with the Al3Li phase. The addition of Zr to Al-Li is being explored to find the optimum in properties. Zirconium improves fracture toughness and inhibits recrystallization. This study is a comparision between two Al-Li-Zr alloys differing in Zr concentration.Al-2.99Li-0.17Zr(alloy A) and Al-2.99Li-0.67Zr (alloy B) were solutionized for one hour at 500oc followed by a water quench. The specimens were then aged at 150°C for 16 or 40 hours. The foils were punched into 3mm discs. The specimens were electropolished with a 1/3 nitric acid 2/3 methanol solution. The transmission electron microscopy was conducted on the JEM 200CX microscope.


Author(s):  
W. T. Donlon ◽  
J. E. Allison ◽  
S. Shinozaki

Light weight materials which possess high strength and durability are being utilized by the automotive industry to increase fuel economy. Rapidly solidified (RS) Al alloys are currently being extensively studied for this purpose. In this investigation the microstructure of an extruded Al-8Fe-2Mo alloy, produced by Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Goverment Products Div. was examined in a JE0L 2000FX AEM. Both electropolished thin sections, and extraction replicas were examined to characterize this material. The consolidation procedure for producing this material included a 9:1 extrusion at 340°C followed by a 16:1 extrusion at 400°C, utilizing RS powders which have also been characterized utilizing electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
R-R. Lee

Partially-stabilized ZrO2 (PSZ) ceramics have considerable potential for advanced structural applications because of their high strength and toughness. These properties derive from small tetragonal ZrO2 (t-ZrO2) precipitates in a cubic (c) ZrO2 matrix, which transform martensitically to monoclinic (m) symmetry under applied stresses. The kinetics of the martensitic transformation is believed to be nucleation controlled and the nucleation is always stress induced. In situ observation of the martensitic transformation using transmission electron microscopy provides considerable information about the nucleation and growth aspects of the transformation.


Author(s):  
H. Kung ◽  
A.J. Griffin ◽  
Y.C. Lu ◽  
K.E. Sickafus ◽  
T.E. Mitchell ◽  
...  

Materials with compositionally modulated structures have gained much attention recently due to potential improvement in electrical, magnetic and mechanical properties. Specifically, Cu-Nb laminate systems have been extensively studied mainly due to the combination of high strength, and superior thermal and electrical conductivity that can be obtained and optimized for the different applications. The effect of layer thickness on the hardness, residual stress and electrical resistivity has been investigated. In general, increases in hardness and electrical resistivity have been observed with decreasing layer thickness. In addition, reduction in structural scale has caused the formation of a metastable structure which exhibits uniquely different properties. In this study, we report the formation of b.c.c. Cu in highly textured Cu/Nb nanolayers. A series of Cu/Nb nanolayered films, with alternating Cu and Nb layers, were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering onto Si {100} wafers. The nominal total thickness of each layered film was 1 μm. The layer thickness was varied between 1 nm and 500 nm with the volume fraction of the two phases kept constant at 50%. The deposition rates and film densities were determined through a combination of profilometry and ion beam analysis techniques. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) was used to examine the structure, phase and grain size distribution of the as-sputtered films. A JEOL 3000F high resolution TEM was used to characterize the microstructure.


Author(s):  
G. Fourlaris ◽  
T. Gladman

Stainless steels have widespread applications due to their good corrosion resistance, but for certain types of large naval constructions, other requirements are imposed such as high strength and toughness , and modified magnetic characteristics.The magnetic characteristics of a 302 type metastable austenitic stainless steel has been assessed after various cold rolling treatments designed to increase strength by strain inducement of martensite. A grade 817M40 low alloy medium carbon steel was used as a reference material.The metastable austenitic stainless steel after solution treatment possesses a fully austenitic microstructure. However its tensile strength , in the solution treated condition , is low.Cold rolling results in the strain induced transformation to α’- martensite in austenitic matrix and enhances the tensile strength. However , α’-martensite is ferromagnetic , and its introduction to an otherwise fully paramagnetic matrix alters the magnetic response of the material. An example of the mixed martensitic-retained austenitic microstructure obtained after the cold rolling experiment is provided in the SEM micrograph of Figure 1.


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