Force and Microstructure Variation of SLM Prepared AlMgSc Samples during Three-Point Bending

Lightweight parts manufactured by metal selective laser melting (SLM) are widely applied in machinery industries because of their high specific strength, good energy absorption effect, and complex shape that are difficult to form by mechanical machining. These samples often serve in three-dimensional stress states. However, previous publications mainly focused on the unidirectional tensile/compressive properties of the samples. In this paper, AlMgSc samples with different geometric parameters were prepared by the SLM process, and the variation of force and microstructure during three-point bending were systematically investigated. The results demonstrate that the deformation resistance of these samples has good continuity without mutation in bending, even for brittle materials; the bending force-displacement curves exhibit representative variation stages during the entire bending process; the equivalent bending strength deduced from free bending formula is not applicable when compactability is less than 67%. The variations of grain orientation and size of the three representative bending layers also show regularity.

Collapse analysis of Al 6061 alloy conical shells with circular cutouts under axial loading: experiment and simulation

The current research is conducted to investigate the experimental and numerical study of crushing behavior and buckling modes of thin-walled truncated conical shells with or without cutouts and discontinuities under axial loading. In this regard, Instron 8802 servohydraulic machine is used to perform the experiments. Additionally, the buckling modes, derived from the axial collapse phenomenon, are simulated with Finite Element (FE) software. The force-displacement diagrams extracted numerically are compared with experimental results. Various factors, including maximum force, energy absorption, specific energy, and failure modes of each case, are also discussed. The results indicate that the increasing cutout cause a decrease in the maximum force and energy absorption. Moreover, with cutouts reduction, the failure modes of the samples changed from the diamond asymmetric mode and single-lobe mode to multi-lobes, and with removing cutouts, the failure mode is observed to be completely symmetric.

Hybrid Finite-Discrete Element Modelling of Various Rock Fracture Modes during Three Conventional Bending Tests

The numerical techniques for modelling the rock fracture have been briefly reviewed. A hybrid finite-discrete element method (HFDEM) is proposed to simulate various fracture types of rock. A fracture model is implemented in the HFDEM for simulation of the three main fracture types. In addition, the influence of the strain rate is considered during the HFDEM modelling rock behavior. Then, two typical rock mechanism tests are employed to calibrate the HFDEM. The proposed method has well modelled the rock fracture processes and can obtain reasonable stress distribution and force–displacement curves. After that, the HFDEM is used to model three convention bending tests. The obtained rock fracture processes indicates that the HFDEM can simulate various fracture types. The obtained rock strengths and fracture toughness indicate that the HFDEM can reflect the influence of the strain rate. It is concluded that the HFDEM can model the entire and complete rock fracture process during the three convention bending tests, and it also can capture the rock’s behavior on the strain rate.

Experimental and numerical investigation on bending and compressive behavior of carbon-epoxy sandwich panel with novel M-shaped core

Present paper has experimentally and numerically investigated the mechanical behavior of composite sandwich panel with novel M-shaped lattice core subjected to three-point bending and compressive loads. For this purpose, a composite sandwich panel with M-shaped core made of carbon fiber has been fabricated in this experiment. In order to fabricate the sandwich panels, the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) has been used to achieve a laminate without any fault. Afterward, polyurethane foam with density of 80 kg/m3 has been injected into the core of the sandwich panel. Then, a unique design was presented to sandwich panel cores. The study of force-displacement curves obtained from sandwich panel compression and three-point bending tests, showed that an optimum mechanical strength with a considerable lightweight. It should be noted that the experimental data was compared to numerical simulation in ABAQUS software. According to the results, polyurethane foam has improved the flexural strength of sandwich panels by 14% while this improvement for compressive strength is equal to 23%. As well as, it turned out that numerical results are in good agreement with experimental ones and make it possible to use simulation instead of time-consuming experimental procedures for design and analysis.

Structural Timber Connections with Dowel-Type Fasteners and Nut-Washer Fixings: Mechanical Characterization and Contribution to the Rope Effect

Dowel-type fasteners are one of the most used type of connections in timber joints. Its design follows the equations included in the Eurocode 5. The problem with these equations is that they do not adequately contemplate the resistive capacity increase of these joints, when using configurations which provoke the so-called rope effect. This effect appears when using threaded surface dowels instead of flat surface dowels, expansion kits or nut-washer fixings at the end of the dowel. The standards consider this increase through a constant value, which is a poor approximation, because it is clearly variable, depending on the joint displacement and because is much bigger, especially when using nut-washer fixings. It is also very important because of the rope effect trigger interesting mechanisms that avoids fragile failures without warning of the joints. For these reasons, it is essential to know how these configurations work, how they help the joint to resist the external loads and how much is the increase resistance capacity in relationship with the joint displacement. The methods used to address these issues consisted of a campaign of experimental tests using actual size specimens with flat surface dowels, threaded surface dowels and dowels with washer-nut fixings at their ends. The resistance capacity results obtained in all the cases has been compared with the values that will come using the equations in the standards. After the tests the specimens were cut to analyze the timber crushings, their widths, the positions and level of plasticizations suffer in the steel dowels and in the washer-nut fixings and the angle formed in the dowel plastic hinges. With all this information the failure mode suffered by the joints has been identified and compared with the ones that the standards predict. The results for the size materials and types of joints studied shows that the crush width average values go from 20 mm with flat surface dowels, to 24 mm in threaded to 32 mm in threaded with washer-nut fixings. The rope effect force/displacement goes from 100 N/m in threaded surface dowels to 500 N/m in threaded with washer-nut fixings. Finally, the load capacities are on average 290% higher those indicated in the standard. The main conclusion is that the rope effect force should be considered in the standards in more detail as a function of multiple variables, especially the displacement of the joint.

Simplified Pushover Analysis for Rapid Assessment of Shear-Type Frames

A simplified pushover method for rapidly assessing the seismic capacity of shear-type frames is presented. The frame global force-displacement capacity is described as a trilinear curve passing through three limit states (LS): Damage LS (DLS), Life safety LS (LLS), and Collapse LS (CLS). The global LSs are obtained consequently to the attainment of story-level, element-level, and section-level LSs. All LS capacities are described through closed-form equations. The validity of the proposed method is verified by applying it on several reinforced concrete (RC) frames with a varying number of stories. The results obtained with such an analytical procedure show a good match with those obtained from pushover based on finite element method (FEM) analysis models, in terms of both global force-displacement capacity curves and story displacements at various LSs. The proposed method has the potential to be conveniently applied in large-scale vulnerability/risk assessment studies, where the quality and quantity of the available data call for the use of simplified yet accurate models. More refined models would in fact require significantly heavier computational efforts, not justified by the quality of the results that are usually obtained. The simplicity of the proposed method in such a context is demonstrated through the development of the fragility curves of a five-story shear-type reinforced concrete frame, starting from a predefined set of mechanical and geometrical features characterizing a building typology.

Tungsten Langmuir probes from JET-with the ITER-Like Wall: Assessment of mechanical properties by nano-indentation

Tungsten Langmuir probes retrieved from the JET tokamak with the ITER-Like Wall (JET-ILW) after the second ILW campaign were examined by nano-indentation, microscopy and X-ray diffraction in order to determine changes in mechanical properties and phase composition. Not-exposed probe served as a reference material. Two regions were studied: (i) recrystallized region below the tip and, (ii) the lower probe structure, called “support structure”. A large difference between the hardness in the tip and the other region has been found: 5 GPa versus 15 GPa, respectively. The measured values of the Young’s modulus in both zones of exposed probe are at the same level of 260 GPa. From the force-displacement curves, it can be concluded that the material in the tip has a smaller range of elastic deformations compared to that characteristic for the support structure. The values obtained for the material in its initial state are consistent with the available literature data for tungsten. With X-ray diffraction and microscopy only tungsten has been detected in the probe tip. It remained clean and free from impurities and undesirable compounds, which could have a negative impact on the probes electrical properties.