Static Structural Analysis of Different Materials for Connecting Rod

Connecting Rods are an important and irreplaceable part of IC Engines. It is responsible for converting the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotary motion of the crankshaft. During this process, the connecting rod is subjected to various loads. Therefore, the materials used for connecting rod are also very important. In this paper, a static structural analysis of a connecting rod made of 5 different materials: Forged Steel, Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel, Grey Cast Iron and Titanium Alloy are compared. The connecting rod is analyzed only for the axial compressive load and not the axial tensile load because the tensile load is very much lesser than the compressive load. The connecting rod’s model is developed in FUSION 360 software and then imported to and analyzed using Finite Element Method in the ANSYS 2021 WORKBENCH software. The equivalent stress, total deformation along with the factor of safety for all the materials is found and compared in the analysis and all the results are shown with the help of images and graphs. Keywords: Connecting Rod, FEA, ANSYS WORKBENCH, Structural Analysis, Forged Steel, Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel, Grey Cast Iron, Titanium Alloy.

Study on Solid Particle Erosion of Pump Materials by Fly Ash Slurry using Taguchi’s Orthogonal Array

Various grades of stainless steel are used to fabricate the pump impeller, casings, and seals used in heavy-duty erosion and corrosion conditions. In the present study, stainless steel (SS316L, SS304, SDSS2507) and grey cast iron used in the fabrication of heavy-duty pump impellers were taken for the analysis of solid particle erosion. Experiments were conducted on the lab-scale slurry pot tester. Fly ash slurry was prepared of different concentrations (wt%). Taguchi’s orthogonal array is used to design the experiments of erosion wear for the variation of rotational speed, solid concentration, time, and particle size. Results showed that SS316L showed superior microhardness and wear behavior against the fly ash slurry followed by SS304, SDSS2507 and Grey cast iron.

FEA on Grey Cast Iron Assets: A Case Study on Penstocks in the Waste Water System

Penstocks have been used in the water industry for flow control since the Victorian expansion and consolidation of clean and waste water networks. However, the Victorians were the first to use grey cast iron (GCI) castings to manufacture large scale penstocks. Most of these ageing assets are still in operation, however engineering assessments are necessary to determine a structure’s fitness-for-service. Even today, penstocks in the sewer system tend to be made from GCI, due to ease of manufacturing, resistance to corrosion and cost. One characteristic property of grey cast iron is the graphite flake structure in the material, contributing to its low toughness, inconsistency in material strength and brittle behaviour, despite exhibiting slight hardening properties. Finite element analysis (FEA), is a numerical method which allows the analysis of complex structures by splitting it into finite parts and solving them with a computer processor. Despite the versatility of FEA, appropriate considerations and assumptions are necessary due to the difficulty to obtain data from inspection and unique material behaviour of GCI. The article shows concerns for an analysis of GCI penstocks using FEA, which extends into the application of fracture mechanics approaches for defect assessments.

Study of Factors Affecting Tensile Strength of Grey Cast Iron

Tensile strength of a material is the capacity of material to withstand tensile force without failure. Tensile strength is important mechanical property of material which gives direction to use it for proposed application safely. It is very important parameter considered in designing sound product. Grey cast iron carries properties like high compressive strength, castable, good machinability, good abrasion resistance, high thermal conductivity, resist to expand under high temperature. Tensile strength of grey cast depends mainly on carbon content, steel scrap % used, inoculation, graphite morphology, cooling time. Present paper summarizes study of factors affecting tensile strength of grey cast iron. With the study of factors affecting the tensile strength of cast iron it is very helpful to achieve required tensile strength by controlling the factors affecting strength of the material. While studying and experimenting on the behavior of tensile strength, clear idea comes into the picture how the strength is affected.

Corrosion Resistance of CoCrFeNiMn High Entropy Alloy Coating Prepared through Plasma Transfer Arc Claddings

High entropy alloy attracts great attention for its high thermal stability and corrosion resistance. A CoCrFeNiMn high-entropy alloy coating was deposited on grey cast iron through plasma transfer arc cladding. It formed fine acicular martensite near the grey cast iron, with columnar grains perpendicular to the interface between the grey cast iron substrate and the cladding layer as well as dendrite in the middle part of the coatings. Simple FCC solid solutions present in the coatings which were similar to the powder’s structure. The coating had a microhardness of 300 ± 21.5 HV0.2 when the cladding current was 80 A for the solid solution strengthening. The HEA coating had the highest corrosion potential of −0.253 V when the plasma current was 60 A, which was much higher than the grey cast iron’s corrosion potential of −0.708 V. Meanwhile, the coating had a much lower corrosion current density of 9.075 × 10−7 mA/cm2 than the grey cast iron’s 2.4825 × 10−6 mA/cm2, which reflected that the CoCrFeNiMn HEA coating had much better corrosion resistance and lower corrosion rate than the grey cast iron for single FCC solid solution phase and a relatively higher concentration of Cr in the grain boundaries than in the grains and this could lead to corrosion protection effects.

The Influence of Undercooling DT on the Structure and Tensile Strength of Grey Cast Iron

Inoculation of cast iron has become a commonly used metallurgical process, which is carried out in a foundry in order to improve the mechanical properties of utility alloys. It consists in changing the physicochemical state of the melted alloy. This change is caused by the introduction of cast iron with a low ability to nucleate graphite, shortly before pouring a small mass of the substance—an inoculant that increases the number of active nuclei. It is also justified that the literature often connects an increase in the tensile strength UTS of the inoculated grey cast iron, with changes in the characteristics of the particles of graphite. However, in strongly hypoeutectic cast iron, in which a large number of primary austenite grains crystallize, the interdendritic distribution of graphite is usually the result. It also follows that the nature of the graphite precipitates is determined by the mutual relations between the interfacial distances in eutectic grains and the interdendritic distances in the grains of primary austenite occurring in the Fe–C alloys. The article presents the influence of the inoculant on the characteristics of the precipitation of primary austenite grains in relation to the sulphur content in grey cast iron with flake graphite. The study also showed that primary grains in grey cast iron have a great influence on mechanical properties, such as the tensile strength UTS. In this case, the key is to know the value of the degree of undercooling DT. The type of inoculant used affects the DT value. The study related the number of N primary austenite grains with the degree of undercooling DT and the tensile strength UTS with the number of primary austenite N grains.