FABRICATION OF 2-5 µM HYGROSCOPIC SEEDING MATERIAL FOR RAIN ENHANCEMENT PURPOSES

Hygroscopic cloud seeding, which uses giant cloud condensation nuclei (GCCN) particles with diameters between 2-5 µm, has been known to be 100 times more effective compared to those that use hygroscopic flares. Micronisation through jet milling has been recognized as the most common and ubiquitous method used to obtain particles with such a narrow size (2-5 µm) distribution. This research has successfully developed and identified 2-5 µm NaCl powders mixed with 10% cab-o-sil anticaking agent and 2 (two) times jet milling frequency as a potential GCCN (hygroscopic) seeding material. We use a combination of jet mill micronisation, rough milling with a Cross-Beather Mill, and analytical sieving to produce powders with those mentioned above (2-5 µm) size distribution. We varied the anticaking agent percentage in the mixture and the jet milling process frequency to identify which parameters would result in the 2-5 µm size distribution. We then confirmed the micronisation results particle size distribution with a particle size analyzer (PSA) and its morphology with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) machine. The materials with the 10% cab-o-sil agent mixture were confirmed to have the aforementioned size distribution from the characterization results. Intisari Penyemaian awan higroskopis menggunakan partikel giant cloud condensation nuclei (GCCN) dengan diameter 2-5 m telah diketahui 100 kali lebih efektif dibandingkan dengan yang menggunakan flare higroskopis. Mikronisasi melalui jet milling telah dikenal sebagai metode yang paling umum dan banyak digunakan untuk mendapatkan partikel dengan distribusi ukuran sempit (2-5 µm). Penelitian ini berhasil mengembangkan dan mengidentifikasi serbuk NaCl 2-5 µm yang dicampur dengan 10% anti gumpal berupa Cab-O-Sil dan frekuensi jet milling 2 (dua) kali sebagai bahan penyemaian GCCN (higroskopis) potensial. Pada penelitian ini telah digunakan kombinasi mikronisasi jet mill, penggilingan kasar dengan Cross-Beather Mill, dan ayakan analitik untuk menghasilkan serbuk dengan distribusi ukuran yang disebutkan di atas (2-5 µm). Telah divariasikan pula persentase bahan anti gumpal dalam campuran dan frekuensi proses jet milling untuk mengidentifikasi parameter yang akan menghasilkan distribusi ukuran 2-5 µm. Distribusi ukuran partikel hasil mikronisasi tersebut kemudian dikonfirmasi dengan alat analisa ukuran partikel (PSA) dan morfologinya dengan mesin scanning electron microscope (SEM). Dari hasil karakterisasi, material dengan campuran anti gumpal Cab-O-Sil sebanyak 10% dipastikan memiliki sebaran ukuran tersebut.

SIMULATION OF THE MACHINED SURFACE AFTER END MILLING WITH SELF-OSCILLATIONS

Thin-walled parts are widely used in the aviation industry. It is mainly carried out with end mills and is accompanied by self-oscillation during rough milling. They negatively affect the quality of the machined surface. Therefore, it is important to model it taking into account the dynamics of the milling process to predict the accuracy. In the early works of the authors, the mechanism of the profile forming of the machined surface was determined. In this case, the identity of the shape of the cutting surface and the oscillogram of part’s oscillations during milling is taken as a basis. The first wave of self-oscillations takes part in the shaping of the machined surface during cut-up milling with self-oscillation, and during cut-down milling - the last wave. The change in the distances of the cut depressions to the position of the elastic equilibrium of the part is periodically repeated from the maximum value to the minimum. Based on this, when modeling the waviness pitch of the machined surface after cut-up milling, it is necessary to know the feed rate and how many cuts were made by the tool from the largest to the smallest depression. When modeling the machined surface after cut-down milling, you need to know the length of the cutting surface. It is calculated based on cutting speed and cutting time. The formula for determining the waviness pitch after cut-down milling is derived taking into account the tool feed. The waviness height of the machined surface after cut-up and cut-down milling is determined as the difference between the largest and smallest depressions. To determine the size of the pitch and the height of the waviness, formulas are derived for converting electrical and time values of oscillograms into linear ones. These formulas also allow you to determine areas of the oscillogram with oscillations of the part during cutting and the resulting surface areas on the profilogram. The methods for modeling machined surfaces were tested after cut-up and cut-down milling with self-oscillation. In this case, the pitch and height of the waviness on the profilograms were compared with those calculated from the results of measurements of the oscillograms. Based on their analysis, refined formulas for calculating the waviness height have been derived. The error between the measurements of the waviness pitch and height and the calculated values is within 6%.

Surface Integrity Investigation to Determine Rough Milling Effects for Assessment of Machining Allowance for Subsequent Finish Milling of Alloy 718

The planned material volume to be removed from a blank to create the final shape of a part is commonly referred to as allowance. Determination of machining allowance is essential and has a great impact on productivity. The objective of the present work is to use a case study to investigate how a prior rough milling operation affects the finish machined surface and, after that, to use this knowledge to design a methodology for how to assess the machining allowance for subsequent milling operations based on residual stresses. Subsequent milling operations were performed to study the final surface integrity across a milled slot. This was done by rough ceramic milling followed by finish milling in seven subsequent steps. The results show that the up-, centre and down-milling induce different stresses and impact depths. Employing the developed methodology, the depth where the directional influence of the milling process diminishes has been shown to be a suitable minimum limit for the allowance. At this depth, the plastic flow causing severe deformation is not present anymore. It was shown that the centre of the milled slot has the deepest impact depth of 500 µm, up-milling caused an intermediate impact depth of 400 µm followed by down milling with an impact depth of 300 µm. With merged envelope profiles, it was shown that the effects from rough ceramic milling are gone after 3 finish milling passes, with a total depth of cut of 150 µm.

Influence of Tool Holder Types on Vibration in Rough Milling of AZ91D Magnesium Alloy

The article presents the results of an analysis of the influence of the technological parameters related to tool holder types on the vibrations occurring during the milling of AZ91D magnesium alloy. Magnesium alloys are very low-density materials and, therefore, are increasingly being considered as replacement materials for the more commonly used aluminium alloys. The tool used in the study was a carbide end mill with TiAlN coating, clamped in three different types of tool holder: ER collet, heat shrink, and Tendo E hydraulic. The milling tests used straight toolpaths at varied cutting speeds and feed per tooth values. Based on the vibration displacement and acceleration signals recorded during the machining tests, the following were analysed: maximum value, amplitude, and root mean square (RMS) value of the vibrations. As part of the study, composite multiscale entropy (CMSE) analysis was also performed, describing the level of disorderliness of the obtained vibration signals. The increase in machining parameters caused an increase in the values characterising the displacement and acceleration of the vibrations. It was noted that multiscale entropy might be an important parameter describing the vibration signal (both displacement and acceleration).

Analytical cut geometry calculation for multi-pass rough milling of a free-form surface machining

This paper presents a simple analytical approach to define cut geometry of multi-pass rough milling during a free-form surface milling. The shape of in-process workpiece surface was identified using the coordinate of corner points that are found in every step of stair-surface. In every instantaneous tool location, the workpiece sections that have possibility intersecting with the cutting edge were identified based on the coordinate of cutter location point. The algorithm was developed for machining using indexable flat end-mill by considering the effect of helix angle to the cut geometry. The proposed method was successfully used to determine the length of cut and generate the shape of cuts. The implementation test also demonstrated that helix angle tends to produce larger cut.The validation of the accuracy was carried out by comparing the length of cut measured using CAD software with those generated by the proposed approach. The results showed that the differences were very small or less than 0.4%. Therefore, it can be taken into conclusion that the method was accurate. The comparison test on computational time was conducted. ABS took only 1.63 second for calculating cut geometry during one tool pass, while Z-mapping method spent 23.21 second. This result proved that ABS is computationally more efficient.

Fully automated, sequential focused ion beam milling for cryo-electron tomography

Cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) has become a powerful technique at the interface of structural biology and cell biology, due to its unique ability for imaging cells in their native state and determining structures of macromolecular complexes in their cellular context. A limitation of cryoET is its restriction to relatively thin samples. Sample thinning by cryo-focused ion beam (cryoFIB) milling has significantly expanded the range of samples that can be analyzed by cryoET. Unfortunately, cryoFIB milling is low-throughput, time-consuming and manual. Here, we report a method for fully automated sequential cryoFIB preparation of high-quality lamellae, including rough milling and polishing. We reproducibly applied this method to eukaryotic and bacterial model organisms, and show that the resulting lamellae are suitable for cryoET imaging and subtomogram averaging. Since our method reduces the time required for lamella preparation and minimizes the need for user input, we envision the technique will render previously inaccessible projects feasible.

Analysis of Multi-Objective Optimization of Machining Allowance Distribution and Parameters for Energy Saving Strategy

Machining allowance distribution and related parameter optimization of machining processes have been well-discussed. However, for energy saving purposes, the optimization priorities of different machining phases should be different. There are often significant incoherencies between the existing research and real applications. This paper presents an improved method to optimize machining allowance distribution and parameters comprehensively, considering energy-saving strategy and other multi-objectives of different phases. The empirical parametric models of different machining phases were established, with the allowance distribution problem properly addressed. Based on previous analysis work of algorithm performance, non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II and multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition were chosen to obtain Pareto solutions. Algorithm performances were compared based on the efficiency of finding the Pareto fronts. Two case studies of a cylindrical turning and a face milling were carried out. Results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective in trading-off and finding precise application scopes of machining allowances and parameters used in real production. Cutting tool life and surface roughness can be greatly improved for turning. Energy consumption of rough milling can be greatly reduced to around 20% of traditional methods. The optimum algorithm of each case is also recognized. The proposed method can be easily extended to other machining scenarios and can be used as guidance of process planning for meeting various engineering demands.