Fabrication, Mechanical Testing and Structural Simulation of Regenerated Cellulose Fabric Elium® Thermoplastic Composite System

Regenerated cellulose fibres are an important part of the forest industry, and they can be used in the form of fabrics as reinforcement materials. Similar to the natural fibres (NFs), such as flax, hemp and jute, that are widely used in the automotive industry, these fibres possess good potential to be used for semi-structural applications. In this work, the mechanical properties of regenerated cellulose fabric-reinforced poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) (Elium®) composite were investigated and compared with those of its natural fibre composite counterparts. The developed composite demonstrated higher tensile strength and ductility, as well as comparable flexural properties with those of NF-reinforced epoxy and Elium® composite systems, whereas the Young’s modulus was lower. The glass transition temperature demonstrated a value competitive (107.7 °C) with that of other NF composites. Then, the behavior of the bio-composite under bending and loading was simulated, and a materials model was used to simulate the behavior of a car door panel in a flexural scenario. Modelling can contribute to predicting the structural behavior of the bio-based thermoplastic composite for secondary applications, which is the aim of this work. Finite element simulations were performed to assess the deflection and force transfer mechanism for the car door interior.

Study of Injection Molding Process Simulation and Mold Design of Automotive Back Door Panel

Numerical simulation of the injection molding process of the outer panel of the automotive plastic rear door and mold design is presented here. CATIA is used to design the original automotive steel structure. In order to efficiently design the panels; finite element analysis is used to verify whether the designed parts meet the mechanical properties requirements such as light weight, low fuel consumption, short production cycle, strong modeling design, high corrosion resistance and good recovery. To simulate the injection molding process, CAE software such as ANSYS and HYPERWORKS are used to analyze the back door of the selected material. After the numerical analysis, suitable material is selected, so that the modal and thermodynamic properties of the product could be satisfied as well as improved. In this paper, UG is used to design the convex and concave mold for the injection molding of the automobile’s plastic back door panel. Combined with the characteristics of the parts and the design requirements of the injection mold, the multi-scheme design of the pouring and cooling system is carried out. By comparing the effects of different gating and cooling systems on injection molding, the best gating and cooling system is selected.

A thorough Six Sigma DMAIC application for household appliance manufacturing systems

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze door-panel alignment defects seen in built-in ovens manufactured in one household appliances company's plant. Alignment defects in oven door panel substantially affect aesthetics of the product which is an important aspect in driving customer preference and satisfaction. Therefore, this study aimed to increase the initial 3.1 sigma level of oven-manufacturing process to at least 4 sigma level by decreasing a particular door-panel alignment defect, which constituted 67.7 percent of the overall alignment defects.Design/methodology/approachThe goals were achieved through a structured Six Sigma implementation with lean element by utilizing various Six Sigma tools such as workflow, Pareto-analysis, measurement system analyses, control-charts, process capability analysis, cause-and effect-diagram and hypotheses tests. A non–value-added step was also eliminated through the lean approach.FindingsThrough Six Sigma implementation, the initial 3.1 sigma process performance level has been increased to 4.4 sigma level leading to substantial decrease in alignment defects.Originality/valueIn the quality management literature, not many papers directly deal with aesthetics and appearance problems of the products especially in the household appliances industry. Moreover, hypothesis testing is not frequently used in Six Sigma implementations in the literature. In addition to limited usage of hypothesis testing, very few studies conducted a thorough measurement system analysis. Considering these gaps in the Six Sigma literature, this study fills an important gap in research by implementing a detailed Six Sigma study, enhanced with hypothesis testing and a thorough measurement system analysis, on the aesthetics and appearance of the product.