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2021 | Book

Trends in Manufacturing and Engineering Management

Select Proceedings of ICMechD 2019

Editors: Dr. S. Vijayan, Nachiappan Subramanian, Prof. K. Sankaranarayanasamy

Publisher: Springer Singapore

Book Series : Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering

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About this book

This book comprises select papers presented at the International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Design (ICMechD) 2019. The volume focuses on the different design aspects involved in manufacturing, composite materials processing as well as in engineering management. A wide range of topics such as control and automation, mechatronics, robotics, composite and nanomaterial design, and welding design are covered here. The book also discusses current research in engineering management on topics like products, services and system design, optimization in design, manufacturing planning and control, and sustainable product design. Given the range of the contents, this book will prove useful to students, researchers and practitioners.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Frontmatter
Effect of Process Parameters in Electric Discharge Machining of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy

In modern-day scenario, AZ31 magnesium alloy is considered as a suitable alternative to iron and aluminum in a wide variety of medical, aerospace and automobile applications due to high strength-to-weight ratio and other excellent physical properties. In all the applications, the geometrical accuracy of the products plays a vital role. Electrical discharge machining (EDM) has emerged as a prominent manufacturing process to achieve geometrical accuracy as per the requirements and standards. A hole of diameter 10 mm in a flat plate made of AZ31 alloy is identified as the part feature for investigation in this study. The aim of this work is to optimize and investigate the effect of both qualitative and quantitative process parameters such as discharge current (I), pulse-on time (TON), pulse-off time (TOFF), electrode material (M) on critical-to-quality geometric features such as overcut (OC), tapercut (TC), circularity (CIR) and cylindricity (CYL). The experiments are carried out based on Taguchi’s L16 orthogonal array. Pulse-on time and discharge current are found to have a significant effect on the geometrical accuracy when compared with other process parameters. Regression models are developed for prediction of response parameters, and the results predicted by the models are found to correlate significantly with the results from experiments.

M. Somasundaram, J. Pradeep Kumar
Desirability Approach Machining Study on Aluminum Composite Through Wire-Cut Electric Discharge Technique

Aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) are exceptionally designed for automobile components like brake pads, cylinder body, and pistons owing to high temperature and wear resistance. Machining is a paramount issue to achieve required dimensions and tolerance for those products. The present investigation includes fabrication of composite and wire-cut electric discharge machining with various parameters. AMC designed by B4C and CNT particles of hybrid composite was fabricated by liquid metallurgy process. Carbon nanotubes were added to tailor the high temperature withstanding and reduce friction during the sliding. The role of B4C is to improve the hardness and wear resistance of the composite. The combined actions of these reinforcements enhance overall mechanical properties of the composite. The objective of the present work is to study the machinability aspects of the composite by wire-cut EDM. Input machining parameters considered are pulse on time, pulse off time, wire feed, gap in voltage, and servo speed. Kerf width and material removal rate were studied with response surface method (RSM). Pulse on time and voltage increase the material removal rate; however, voltage has a more relatively significant effect on the MRR.

K. Rajkumar, C. Balasubramaniyan, K. Ramraji, A. Gnanavelbabu, P. Sabarinathan
A Comparative Study on Abrasive Water Jet Machining Characteristics of Entry and Exit Layers of Glass and Basalt Woven Polymer Composites

Abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) induced kerf and kerf tapper angle variation is much affected by the properties of the entry and exit layer of fiber reinforced polymer of composite. In this work, experimental investigation on the machining characteristics of vinyl ester composite fabricated by basalt and glass fiber as top and bottom layers separately interlayered with flax fiber. Hybridization of basalt/glass composite was made by the additional layers of flax woven. Two different stacked composites were fabricated by using hand layup process followed by static compression loading. The mechanical properties such as tensile and flexural strength were studied. It was found that top and bottom basalt layers interlayered flax fiber composite exhibited higher tensile and flexural properties. The tensile and flexural strength improvements were 7.15% and flexural 13.3% over the top and bottom glass layers interlayered flax fiber composite. The fabricated composites were machined by abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) using constant cutting parameters with pressure, nozzle speed, and standoff distance. Experimental results reveal that minimum kerf taper and higher cutting surface quality obtained with entry and exit layers of glass fiber composite.

K. Ramraji, K. Rajkumar, M. Rajesh, A. Gnanavelbabu
Electrolyte and Machining Parameters Optimization of Wire Electrochemical Cutting of Aluminum/Titanium Diboride Composite

A hard to machining characteristics of ceramic reinforced aluminum composite requires unconventional machining methods. Wire electrochemical machining (WECM) is one of the superior machining processes that produced a smoother and brighter surface with complex profile. In this investigation, optimization of process parameters is mainly focused for slit profile cutting on the aluminum 6061/TiB2 composite by a WECM method. Liquid metallurgy route is employed to fabricate the composite with varied TiB2 weight percentages (5 and 15%). The parameters of wire electrochemical cutting process are applied voltage (10–14 V), electrolyte flow rate (2–8 l/min), and electrolyte concentration (12–18%). These were optimized for achieving optimal material removal rate and surface roughness. The optimization of process parameters was carried out based on the response surface methodology. Electrolyte flow rate significantly increases MRR, surface roughness, and slit width. When considering the optimal MRR and slit width condition, the experiment results reveal a better surface finish at low-level electrolyte concentration. Inter-electrode voltage increases the strength of electrochemical ionization resulting in higher MRR, and on the other hand, it is considerably affected surface roughness.

K. Rajkumar, M. Rajesh, K. Ramraji, P. Sabarinathan, A. Gnanavelbabu
Modeling and Parametric Optimization of Process Parameters of Wire Electric Discharge Machining on EN-31 by Response Surface Methodology

Nowadays, the majority of industry uses nonconventional machines; wire electric discharge machining is one of them. In this experimentation, optimize process parameters of wire electric discharge machining with help of response surface methodology. Central composite design is used for the design of experiments. The process parameters considered for this study are a pulse on time, wire feed rate, pulse off time, and servo voltage. For this experimentation work, EN-31 used as workpiece material. The high percentage of carbon present in the material due to this is used for manufacturing punches and dies. To find out significant factors, ANOVA is calculated. Analysis of variance for MRR clearly shows that pulse on time and servo voltages are the most significant parameters. From result analysis, the high value of MRR is obtained at high value of pulse on time and low value of servo voltage. In the case of surface roughness also pulse on time and servo voltage are the most significant factors as compared to others; the low value of surface roughness is obtained at a low value of pulse on time and high value of servo voltage.

Sushant B. Patil, Swarup S. Deshmukh, Vijay S. Jadhav, Ramakant Shrivastava
Wire-Cut Electric Discharge Machining on Nickel–Aluminium–Bronze Using Brass Wire Electrode

Wire-cut electric discharge machining (WEDM) is a widely used non-traditional subtractive machining process for removing materials from conductive workpiece to produce parts with intricate shapes/complex profiles. Nickel–aluminium–bronze (NAB alloy) is a high-strength, difficult-to-machine nickel-based alloy. In this work, a trial was conducted to machine NAB alloy using WEDM technique. The machining voltage, pulse-on time, pulse-off time, and wire feed were varied for the experiments. The 10 × 10 mm square-shaped samples were cut on NAB alloy with 0.25-mm-diameter brass wire electrode. Based on the analysis, it is found that pulse-on time, machining voltage, and wire tension are the significant parameters that affect the kerf width, material removal rate, and surface roughness. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to identify the microstructure and the surface morphology of the machined work piece. A higher pulse-on time setting leads to thicker recast layer. At lower value of pulse-on time and higher value of pulse-off time, the wire deposition on the machined surface is low.

Earnest Beni, Poovazhagan Lakshmanan, S. C. Amith

Development and Characterization of Metal Matrix Composite

Frontmatter
Manufacture, Mechanical Properties and Microstructural Characterization of Aluminium and Iron Metal Matrix Composite Manufactured

The objective of the present work is to investigate the formation of intermetallic compounds such as iron aluminides and oxides during the formation of an alloy by melting commercially pure aluminium (Al) billets and adding iron powder (Fe) at 750 °C in the molten aluminium. The exothermic reaction during the addition of ‘Fe’ in the molten ‘Al’ resulted in the formation of more amounts of intermetallic compounds because of the rise in temperature. The composition of the ‘Al’ and ‘Fe’ powder was varied to obtain various alloys. The optical microscopy examination revealed the presence of various intermetallic compounds and oxides in the matrix. The Rockwell hardness survey performed on various samples exhibited a maximum hardness value of 79 in ‘B’ scale for the alloy composition of 60% Al and 40% Fe. A maximum shear strength of 288 Mpa was obtained for the samples containing 65% Al and 35% Fe.

D. Arthur Jebastine Sunderraj, D. Ananthapadmanaban, K. Arun Vasantha Geethan, A. John Rajan
Influence of Graphite Particles on Microhardness and Microstructural Behavior of AA7068 Metal Matrix Composites Processed by Powder Metallurgy

Automotive industries require components such as automotive shock absorbers that should be lightweight and has to withstand high wear resistance. Monolithic aluminum alloys is not enough to meet the demands. Hence aluminum alloy (AA7068) reinforced with graphite particles were processed by powder metallurgy technique with different weight percentages of graphite (3, 6, and 9%) along with base matrix. A low pressure of 318 MPa was applied for compaction and sintered at a temperature of 560 °C for one hour. Vickers microhardness test was carried out for measuring the microhardness of the composites. Using pin-on-disc wear-tester, wear experiments were conducted with a velocity of 1.2 m/s over a sliding distance of 2.5 km of load 5 N. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) analysis was carried out to investigate the worn surface. Experimental results showed that the Vickers microhardness number has been reduced to 19 VHN by the addition of 9% graphite particles. Wear experiments revealed improved wear resistance by the addition of graphite particles. FESEM analysis exposed that abrasion, delamination, and oxidation were the dominant wear mechanisms for the composites. The automotive shock absorber produced using such a composite combination would be lightweight with improved wear resistance.

K. John Joshua, S. J. Vijay, P. Ramkumar, D. Philip Selvaraj
Microhardness and Microstructural Behavior of AA7068/SiC Metal Matrix Composites Synthesized by Powder Metallurgy

If anybody is missing any arm or leg, a prosthetic limb can be replaced to take care of their activities by themselves. Manufacturing of prosthetic limbs for such persons should be lightweight and requires improved hardness. Hence, silicon carbide (SiC) was incorporated into aluminum alloy (AA7068) to produce composites by powder metallurgy technique with different weight percentages of SiC (3, 6 and 9%) along with base alloy. A compaction pressure of 318 MPa was applied and sintered at a temperature of 560 °C for an hour. Vickers microhardness test was carried out to find out the microhardness values. Wear experiments were conducted with a velocity of 1.2 m/s over a sliding distance of 2.5 km of load 5 N. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis was carried out to investigate the worn surface. Experimental results showed that the Vickers microhardness number has been increased to a maximum of 55 VHN by the addition of 9% SiC particles which were 66.7% more than the base alloy. Wear experiments exposed an improved wear resistance by the addition of SiC particles. AA7068-9% SiC composite exhibited maximum wear resistance. FESEM analysis revealed that abrasion and oxidation were the predominant wear modes for the produced AA7068/SiC composites. The prosthetic limb produced using such composite combination would be lightweight with the improved hardness which would serve the persons better to perform their daily activities.

K. John Joshua, P. Ramkumar, S. J. Vijay, S. Mohanasundaram
Optimization of CO2 Laser Cutting Parameters for AA6061/B4C/hBN Hybrid Composites using Taguchi-based Response Surface Methodology

Aluminium hybrid composites due to its tailored properties are being used in many industrial applications. Machining of metal matrix hybrid composites with desired quality through conventional methods is a great challenge. As advancement, non-conventional cutting method such as laser cutting is effectively employed to cut hybrid composites. The present work investigates the cutting quality characteristics of AA6061/B4C/hBN hybrid composites using pulsed CO2 laser cutting method. Optimization of machining parameters plays a vital role in improving the quality characteristics. The parameters involved in this non-contact-type cutting process such as laser power (2000–2200 W), gas pressure (12–14 bar), speed of spot movement (600−1000 mm/s), pulsing frequency (60–100 Hz) and reinforcement (5–15 Vol.%) were varied according to Taguchi L27 orthogonal array, and the quality characteristics such as surface roughness, kerf width and edge slope were noted. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to generate quadratic models and 3D surface plots. Desirability analysis was carried out to obtain the optimal conditions. The optimal parameters obtained are: laser power—2000W, gas pressure—12.05 bar, speed of spot movement—998.07 mm/s, pulsing frequency—60 Hz and reinforcement—6.81 Vol.%.

A. Gnanavelbabu, V. Arunachalam, K. T. Sunu Surendran, K. Rajkumar, E. Anandhababu
Analysis of Corrosion Resistance in Domestic Water Geysers by Coating Nano-Film Using Thermal Spray Coating

The lifespan of domestic water geysers drastically reduces over a period of time of usage due to environmental challenges such as corrosion and scale development. The objective to be achieved here is to increase the property of corrosion resistance of internal components of the geyser and overcoming the challenges posed by such. A steel plate is to be coated with a nano-film of specified thickness using thermal spray coating consisting of nano-alumina, nano-zinc oxide and nano-molybdenum. These elements were chosen for their high corrosion resistance and formation of a superior alloy coating. The coating elements are mixed in three different ratio combinations, and each is coated on three stainless steel sample plates. These sample plates are tested for corrosion and scale development by performing a salt spray test for a period of time till visual examination shows the development of corrosion. A comparison of the results of the three samples is analysed with industry standards to determine the suitable alternative for geyser coatings. The results have convincingly proved that there is an increase in the life expectancy of the geyser which can significantly reduce maintenance expenditure.

Kabilan Sankar, Karthick Selvam, K. Joy Ashwin, S. P. Sathya Prasanth
Effect of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Additions on Its Dispersion Characteristics in Titanium Oxides

The transition metal oxides are inorganic nanomaterials with exclusive properties. However, metal oxides cannot exceptionally accomplish all requirements to develop new technologies as they are brittle and have low fracture toughness, which has motivated researchers to adopt novel techniques in enhancing their properties. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have drawn attention in engineering fields due to their unique structural, electrical and mechanical properties. This work aims to achieve a homogeneous dispersion of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by investigating the effect of increased MWCNTs concentration in titanium oxide. The MWCNTs (0.5, 1, 1.5 wt.%) were dispersed in titanium oxide using high energy ball milling (HEBM) technique at a lower milling speed of 100 rpm for 6 h. The composite powders were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to understand the uniformity of dispersion, interfacial reaction and structural integrity of the MWCNTs after dispersion. The results showed that the MWCNTs detangles at a lower concentration of 0.5 wt%, with an increase in MWCNTs there is the formation of entanglement. In addition, further analysis on structural integrity showed minimal structure damage due to lower speed adopted for HEBM technique, and there were no interfacial reactions favoured.

Senzeni Sipho Lephuthing, Avwerosuoghene Moses Okoro, Masego Mohlala, Noxolo Malgas, Oladeji Ige, Peter Apata Olubambi
Evaluation of Process Parameters Influence on the Mechanical Properties of RF Magnetron Sputtered TiC Thin-Film Coating

The mechanical properties of a thin-film coating are very paramount to the development and applications for both research and industrial usages. Enhanced mechanical properties give vast options of applications, curb cost and mitigate the unprecedented failure of materials in services. Optimizing the process parameter is very crucial in developing thin-film coatings mechanical properties. Taguchi was used to develop the experimental matrix using three levels and three factors. Three different sputtering parameters were varied during the experimental process from low to high level. Mechanical characterizations using nanoindentation, nanoscratch and wear tests were performed on the samples to determine the optimal process parameter that yields the best mechanical properties. From Taguchi analysis, the RF power proves to be the most effective control factor in optimizing the hardness and Young’s modulus properties with a contribution rate of 70.4% and 84.4%, respectively.

Olayinka Oluwatosin Abegunde, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi, Oluseyi Philip Oladijo
Effect of Compaction Loads in Machining of Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Aluminum Composite

Carbon fibers are preferred as reinforcements in metal matrix composites for their mechanical and metallurgical properties. In the present study, short carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum composites are fabricated with 2% reinforcement in pure aluminum powders using a powder metallurgy process. The blended carbon fibers and aluminum powders are compacted for different loading conditions such as 250, 300 and 350 kN followed by sintering at 580 °C. Abrasive jet machining trials are conducted on all combinations, by varying the machining parameters. Carbon fibers are found to be well dispersed in the aluminum matrix when examined through SEM. The bonding between the carbon fibers and aluminum is also found to be without any flaw. The mechanical properties showed improvements in wear resistance and hardness of composites when compared to pure aluminum. The machining parameters are further studied to obtain improved surface finish and minimize delamination of carbon fibers from the metal matrix.

S. Mohanasundaram, S. J. Vijay, Rajakumar S. Rai, I. Kantharaj, A. S. Melwyn, S. Theophilus
Synthesis and Characterization of Al 7072-Al2O3 Metal Matrix Composites

Composite materials are the combinations of two or more materials which are different in form and chemical composition. These composite are gradually gaining more importance as a structural material in the present engineering design and development activities because they offer very attractive mechanical properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio higher thermal and corrosive resistance. A wide range of metals and their alloys such as aluminium, titanium and magnesium are extensively used in combination with different reinforcements such as SiC, Al2O3, TiC, TiO2, TiB, ZrO2 and ZrB. Aluminium and its alloys are widely used to develop lightweight material for construction, transportation, aerospace industries, marine, automobile and similar engineering applications. In the present study, attempts are made to synthesize Al 7072-Al2O3 MMCs using stir casting process by varying the weight percentage of reinforcement to investigate the mechanical behaviour as per ASTM standards. EDX and XRD results confirm the presence of Al2O3 particles in the composite, and it is observed from the SEM images that alumina particles are homogeneously distributed in the matrix. Further, results reveal that the mechanical properties of Al 7072-Al2O3 were enhanced with the addition of the reinforcement.

G. Mallesh, R. Pavankumar, V. G. Pradeep Kumar, L. Laxman Naik
Erosion-wear Behaviour of 304 Stainless Steel Reinforced with TiN at Elevated Temperatures

The erosion-wear behaviour of spark plasma-sintered austenitic stainless steels matrix composite was investigated under high temperature conditions. Erosion-wear behaviour of the composites was conducted at a constant velocity of 18 m/s and impinging angle of 90° at different temperatures of 25, 400 and 600 °C. Hard abrasive alumina particles with particle size of 40 µm were used as erodent. After SPS, relative density of spark plasma-sintered samples decreased with increasing TiN content. Furthermore, the results show a reduction in material loss with increased hardness. However, there was a significant increase in material wastage as temperature increases. Microstructures of the eroded samples indicate that the erosion damage occurs mainly by plastic deformation and brittle fracture. Large fragments in the form of wear debris, pitting, ploughing with slip on the side, misplaced material and a few grooves are observed as well on the SEM images.

Ramokone Marcia Mafafo, Babatunde Abiodun Obadele, Bruno Pilotti, Walter Roberto Tuckart, Peter Apata Olubambi
A Concise Review of Nano-enhanced Phase Change Materials for Passive Cooling Applications in Buildings

Building energy consumption has been on a steady rise over the past decade. This is due to the ever-growing human population and the effect of climate change. Space conditioning accounts for over 40% of the final global energy production. Thermal energy storage (TES) systems have shown to be quite effective in reducing buildings energy demand while maintaining the desired comfort. It finds a useful application in solar thermal systems as and heat recovery systems. Phase change materials are used in building components for storing excess heat energy for use when the need arises. The ability of PCMs to store great quantity of heat in comparatively small volume makes them suitable for this application. Some of the set backs encountered by using PCMs is its poor thermal conductivity and subcooling characteristics. Nanoparticles have been found very useful in ameliorating the thermal conductivity of PCMs thereby improving its general performance. This review work brings to bear recent developments on the use of nanoenhanced PCMs for passive cooling applications in buildings, and there are very little articles in literature that emphasizes the application of nanoPCMs in passive cooling systems. We further discussed the physics of operation and phase transition behaviours with mathematical representations. Some gaps currently encountered in the research of nanoPCMs was also highlighted for further research purposes.

Chukwumaobi K. Oluah, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi, Howard O. Njoku
Effect of Silicon Carbide in Yttria-stabilized Zirconia for Thermal Protective Structural Materials

Modern coating technology development is essentially determined by systems, which perform extreme and adverse operating conditions. The ceramic coating technology (CCT) has found applications in space vehicles, missiles, gas turbine engines, and nuclear reactors for the thermal protective structural material. In present study, theyttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and with various weight percentages of 0.1 and 0.25% silica carbide nanoparticles were synthesized by a wet chemical process. The morphological and thermal properties of the prepared hybrid ceramic coating particles were studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The ablation performances of the hybrid coating samples were tested using oxyacetylene flame test. The grain size and crystal structure of samples were confirmed by SEM analysis and showed that the synthesize hybrid particles are composed of agglomerated nanometer sub particles. The results of TGA showed the major weight mass loss observed around 604 °C for pure YSZ and in the range of 650 °C for hybrid coating cured composites. The linear and mass ablation rates of the prepared samples were significantly decreased by 43% and 18.4%, respectively, on adding the 0.25 wt% of SiC hybrid filler.

S. Subha, Poojari Surendra, Ch. Gowtham Chowdary, V. Naga Venkata Sai Ram, Palem Srikanth

Structures and Processing of Polymer Matrix Composite

Frontmatter
Optimization of Process Parameter in Abrasive Water Jet Machining of Blue-Fired Grain-Reinforced Glass Fiber Polymer Composite

Abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) is the non-traditional machining process which is mostly employed for cutting non-conductive materials. The present work concentrates on the AWJ machining study of various compositions (5, 15 and 25%) of blue-fired alumina-reinforced polymer composite. The addition of reinforcement improved mechanical properties which may affect the machining characteristics. The experiment was conducted by varying the experimental process parameters of pressure, abrasive flow rate, and standoff distance. Kerf angle and surface roughness were affecting process parameters which are required to optimize for quality cutting. The results show that the pressure and standoff distance have a direct correlation with the surface roughness and kerf taper angle. Higher pressure and shortest standoff distance show a smooth surface roughness due to no appreciable loss of kinetic energy in cutting wear zone. Similarly, the increase in the reinforcement percentage increases surface roughness and kerf angle. Fiber delamination and grain embedment in the matrix were studied using an optical microscope.

P. Sabarinathan, V. E. Annamalai, K. Rajkumar
Mechanical Behavior of Raavi and Pineapple Fiber-reinforced Hybrid Polyester Composites

The raising requirement of plastic materials and their production in advanced engineering were having significant impact on environment. This investigation aims to observe the potential of agro waste residues, such as Raavi and Pineapple fiber, as reinforcement in Polyester GP51 matrix as an alternative to plastic-based components for structural applications. The composites were developed by using compression molding technique by varying the fiber content in percentage. Single fiber test and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to find the ability of the fiber. The composites were fabricated and tested as per ASTM standards. The tensile strength, flexural test, and impact strength were studied and morphological study was carried out by using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The result shows that the Raavi and Pineapple fiber polymer composites have achieved considerable increasing value of mechanical properties of the composites. This investigation suggested the possible way of utilizing hybrid fiber from the agro-based waste in polymer matrix composites.

J. Varun Siddharth, I. Daniel Lawrence, S. Jayabal
Carbon Fiber Surface Treatment for Enhanced Interfacial Properties: A Review

Pristine carbon fibers are intrinsically brittle, fuzzy, non-polar and possess graphite-based planes which are highly crystallized. These characteristics are limiting to effective interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix. Therefore, the ability to modify the surface of carbon fibers present an avenue for enhancing surface functionalities and increasing surface energy which results in improved interfacial properties (wettability) and mechanical properties. In this paper, the current novel techniques for carbon fiber surface treatment are presented. The current direction of the field is reviewed, and emerging technologies are discussed. The comparative study conducted provides insight for optimal selection of treatment approaches depending on the requirement.

Kwame Anane-Fenin, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi, Nicolas Perry
Preparation and Mechanical Property Analysis of Polymer Matrix Composite Containing Rice Husk and Saw Dust

Nowadays, there is a great demand for natural/wood fiber composites in different areas. Rice husk (RH) and saw dust (SD) are profusely available in India. In the present study, RH and SD reinforced polymer matrix composite has been prepared where both materials shared equal volume fraction in four equal categories of polymer samples containing 30, 35, 40 and 45% of filler content. The epoxy resin (HSC 9221) and hardener (EH 411) are mixed in 2:1 ratio. Polymeric samples prepared for each category have been tested for tensile test, Vickers hardness test and surface roughness. The results indicated that the tensile strength increased with percent increase in reinforcing material from 30 to 40%, thereby it deceased slightly. The highest tensile strength obtained was 57.7 MPa at 40% filler content. The average hardness of composite was found to be more for 45% filler loading. However, the hardness of polymeric sample containing 40% filler loading at different locations was found to be more uniform than that obtained at 45% filler loading and the values ranged from 7 to 7.4 HV. The surface roughness (SR) was found to be maximum (0.79 μm) at 45% filler loading due to agglomeration of filler content at few places. It was found to be minimum (0.64 μm) at 35% filler loading.

Sarojrani Pattnaik, Arnab Sengupta, Mihir Kumar Sutar
Investigation of the Mechanical Properties of Polyamide 6 Hybrid Nanocomposites with MWCNT and Copper Nanoparticles

The mechanical behaviour of polyamide6 (PA6)-based hybrid nanocomposites has been investigated. The polyamide6 (PA6) is blended with multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and copper nanoparticles. The reinforcement materials in different proportions were blended with PA6 in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder and the specimens were made in an injection moulding machine. Mechanical tests were conducted on the prepared specimens to study the tensile, flexural and impact properties. The results suggested that Polyamide6 (PA6) hybrid nanocomposites infused with MWCNT and copper nanoparticles have significant increase in the tensile, flexural and impact properties. An atomic force microscope was used to examine the microstructure of the composites. Fractured surfaces of Polyamide6 nanocomposites after tensile and impact test were analysed through SEM images.

T. Anand, T. Senthilvelan
Preparation, Characterization, Image Segmentation and Particle Size Analysis of Cow Bone Powder for Composite Applications

Cow bone is a bio-waste material that has caused environmental unfriendliness to the people living around the place of production and deposition. In recent time, researchers have exploited various means of utilizing this bio-waste material and make it environmentally friendly and economically utilizable, especially in the area of applications, such as activated carbon, water purification, reinforcement in composites, filler and additives, and its efficacy has been traced to whether is in the form of macro-, micro- and nanoparticles. In this study, cow bone head (skull) was collected, washed and cleaned from meats, processed, sun-dried for six weeks, and it was then washed again with distilled water to remove impurities and contaminants, then placed inside the oven set at 50 °C to dry for 5 h to remove any trace of moisture content and to ensure absolute dryness. It was then milled into nanoparticle powder using vibratory disk milling machine and the milling times were 0 min which was taken to be 150 µm size, 20, 40 and 60 min. The morphological and physiological characterizations were carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) as well as X-ray fluorescence (XRF). MATLAB (R2015a) was employed for image processing into bimodal with foreground and background pixels using thresholding segmentation method. SEM images were taken at 1.00 ×, 2.00 × and 5.00 × which resulted to 50 µm, 20 µm and 10 µm, respectively. The image segmentation was employed to determine the foreground from a background of cow bone powder (CBP) and to enhance high resolutions, visual perception as well as to achieve better quality of the final output.

O. M. Ikumapayi, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi, Paul A. Adedeji, S. A. Akinlabi
Investigation of Mechanical and Chemical Properties of the Coir Fiber and Wood Powder Reinforced Hybrid Polymer Composite

In many engineering applications, natural fibers are used because of high strength, low weight, and easy availability. In many composite studies reveals among the various natural fibers, the coir fiber is used as a reinforcing agent in polymer composites. In this paper, the mechanical and chemical properties of the hybrid polymer composites reinforced with coconut coir fiber and wood powder at different fractions were studied. The hand layup technique is used for sample preparation as per ASTM D638-03 standards. The mechanical and chemical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength and water absorption capacity of the hybrid polymer composite were tested for different specimens prepared as per ASTM D638-03 standards. The results of the above tests prove that the coir fiber and wood powder have a significant influence on the mechanical properties of the hybrid polymer composite.

T. Prabhuram, D. Elilraja, S. Prathap Singh, Immanuel Durairaj
An Experimental Study on Hemp/Sisal Fiber Embedded Hybrid Polymer Composites

Environmental concerns encourage the use of artless fibers since bio-fiber embedded polymer composite crumble easily in nature and cheaper compare to petroleum-based fibers. Cellulosic fibers are gradually more gaining attention as their uses are diversified into structural and automobile parts for vehicle where low weight is necessary. The low density of cellulosic fibers is very beneficial in the structural and automobile industry. Cellulosic fibers offer many ecological and technical benefits for its use in incorporating composites. Current research paper investigates the mechanical strength (tensile, flexural, compression strength and shore-D hardness) and water absorption performance of different weight percentage of hemp/sisal fiber embedded polymer resin (epoxy resin) hybrid composites. Hemp and sisal fiber surfaces were subjected to 10 weight percentage of alkaline (NaOH) solution to improve the bonding characteristic between hydrophilic cellulosic fibers and hydrophobic polymer resin. Hybrid composite specimens were prepared by simple cold pressing technique. A 40 weight percentage of hemp/sisal fiber embedded hybrid composite sample discloses maximum tensile strength, flexural strength and compression strength. Shore-D hardness value and absorption of moisture of hybrid composite samples increases with increase in fiber loading. Morphological analyses are carried out to analyze the fractured surface of hybrid composite samples by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and reported. The investigational result also discloses that the hemp and sisal fibers are promising reinforcements for use in cheaper bio-composites which have high strength to weight ratio.

Akash, Shivakumar Rachoti, Vishwanath Patil, K. G. Girisha
Investigation on Chemical Isolation and Characterization of Cellulose from Delonix regia Fruit Fibers

Lignocellulosic fibers have gained popularity among the research fraternity in recent years due to its abundance in nature, biodegradability, high specific strength, etc. Cellulose can be extracted from biomasses by various chemical and mechanical methods. In this paper, Delonix regia fruit fibers are presented as a new source of cellulose, and chemical methods are used for extraction of cellulose from it. Chemically treated and untreated fibers were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to understand the effect of chemical treatment and properties of the cellulose yield. The results obtained demonstrated that a high yield of cellulose is obtained by chemical extraction methods followed and validated the suitability of Delonix regia fruit fibers for various applications including biocomposites and bionanocomposites.

Kalpit P. Kaurase, Dalbir Singh
Experimental Study and Analysis of Defragmented Carbon Nanotubes in Polyacrylonitrile Matrix

The aim of this research is to elucidate the change in electrical properties of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer when reinforced with defragmented multiwall carbon nanotubes. In conventional chopped fiber-reinforced polymer composites, uniform distributions of fibers throughout the matrix are critical for producing materials with superior physical and electrical properties. The previous methods have dispersed carbon nanotubes by aggressive chemical modification of the nanotubes or by the use of a surfactant prior to dispersion. Here, ultrasonic energy was used to uniformly disperse and defragment the multiwall nanotubes (MWNTs) in solutions and to incorporate them into composites without chemical pretreatment. A common solvent dimethylformamide (DMF) is used for the dissolution process. The film is formed by solvent casting method which involves evaporation of the homogeneous solution of CNT and polymer. Electrical characteristic studies were done on the film samples. The electrical properties such as conductivity and resistivities were found and compared to the original polymer matrix.

N. Arunkumar, Joven Job, D. Ananthapadmanaban, N. E. Arun Kumar, N. Sathishkumar
Design and Fabrication of Car Door Panel Using Natural Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites

For a lot of years, extensive research was carried on the use of natural fibers in automotive sector to meet the environmental regulations as well as to increase the profit margins of company. Natural fibers being of low cost, recyclable and lightweight provide industry with the best alternative for traditional materials such as steel, aluminum and synthetic fiber. Applications such as car door panels, sun visors, seat covers and rearview mirrors have provided excellent scope for usage of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Various car manufacturers have successfully implemented natural fiber-reinforced polymers in some of their car models in recent years and have yielded desirable results in terms of lightness, cost saving and reduction of environmental pollution. Various factors such as combinations of fibers, layer sequence, fiber-to-matrix ratio and manufacturing method influence the properties of the composite specimens. The natural fibers used are flax, hemp and kenaf. Epoxy is selected as a matrix material. Hand layup method was used to fabricate the specimens as well the car door panel. The mechanical testing was carried out to determine the tensile strength, flexural strength, hardness and impact strength according to ASTM standards. The composite with most desirable mechanical properties is chosen to fabricate the final car door panel. This paper also discusses about the optimization of influencing parameters for drilling the natural fiber-reinforced epoxy plate using Taguchi method. Spindle speed, feed rate and drill bit diameter are selected as input parameters. These parameters which influence the thrust force are measured by using drill tool dynamometer.

Sodisetty V. N. B. Prasad, G. Akhil Kumar, P. Yaswanth Sai, Shaik Varees Basha
Investigation of Physical–Chemical Properties and Evaluation of Optimal Blend Ratio of Rice Bran Biodiesel: A Mathematical Regression Analysis Approach

Our research work mainly focusses on the examination of properties, both physical and chemical, of biodiesel blends among neat diesel at different volumetric proportions. Properties like viscosity; calorific value (CV); pour point (PP); cetane number; could point (CP); flash point and fire point are measured for each blending ratios, and it is examined against the relevant standards (USA ASTM D 6751; Europe EN:14214 as well as India IS:15607). Plot between the properties and different blending ratios is drawn, and regression equations (R2) are formulated from which biodiesel properties are predicted and compared by mineral diesel. From this investigation, the optimal blending ratio is projected considering the different properties of biodiesel.

M. Selvam, S. Palani, P. Vaishnavi
Wear and Friction Behaviours of Stainless Steel (SS 316) Wire Mesh and Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composite

There is a growing demand for the development of new polymer matrix composite materials that exhibits high strength, high wear resistance, good rigidity and less weight. In this work, an attempt has been made to develop a novel carbon fibre reinforcement polymer (CFRP) composite with stainless steel (SS 316) wire mesh and to investigate its tribological characteristics with the objective of improving the wear resistance. The pin-on-disc experiment was performed on the fabricated CFRP-SS316 fibre metal laminate by using EN31 steel (high carbon alloy) pins. Wear rate and coefficient of friction have been examined by conducting four experiments on CFRP-SS316 laminate. The process parameters used for this investigation includes applied load, sliding velocity, sliding distance and speed. Experimental results showed that the wear rate increases on a CFRP-SS316 disc laminate when the load increases gradually from 10 N to 40 N. The minimum wear rate of 16.34 mm3/N was obtained for 10 N applied load.

A. H. Ansari, V. Jayakumar, S. Madhu
Tribological Properties of PEEK Reinforced with Synthetic Diamond Composite

Tribological behaviour of synthetic diamond reinforced poly ether ether ketone was studied for polymer self-lubricate bearing components. Addition of reinforcement to the matrix improved its mechanical, thermal and tribo properties of composite. Synthetic diamond provides many advantageous properties which is responsible for higher hardness and lowered the thermal degradation. This paper deals with synthetic diamonds of various volume fractions reinforced with PEEK. This thermo polymer matrix composite was manufactured by powder metallurgy process. The characterization of synthetic diamond and polymer matrix composites was done by scanning electron microscopy. Wear and tribo coefficient of developed PEEK matrix composite was found by tribometer. Diamond particles were used to prevent severe galling during higher loading.

K. Rajkumar, K. Vishal, P. Sabarinathan
Experimental Investigation on the Mechanical Properties of American Agave and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

The utilization of natural fibres has become extensive instead of conventional synthetic fibres because of the issues with the greenhouse effect and consciousness towards the environment. Exploring natural fibres has several advantages such as economically viable, availability in fibrous form readily and ease of extraction from the plant leaves. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the mechanical properties such as tensile, impact and flexural strength of the composites made by reinforcing American agave fibre into a polypropylene resin. In addition to that, the mechanical properties of hybrid composites that are fabricated by reinforcing American agave and glass fibre as 1:1 proportion into a polypropylene resin are studied. The proportion of fibre content is varied from 10 to 30% by volume percentage, and the behaviour in the mechanical properties in each case is examined. It is observed that the American agave and glass fibre reinforced polypropylene hybrid composite has exhibited better mechanical properties than American agave fibre reinforced polypropylene composite.

M. Indra Reddy, M. Anil Kumar, Vamsi Inturi
Influence of Magnesium Hydroxide Fillers on Acoustic, Thermal, and Flame Retardant Properties of Pu Foam

Polyurethane foam is a versatile material for many applications like acoustic, thermal insulation, as well as for energy absorption. The main aim of this paper is to improve acoustic properties by adding weight percentage of 2, 4, and 6 of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) micro-particles in polyurethane (Pu) foam. To investigate the influence of micro-particles on acoustic properties, the samples are tested in an impedance tube to measure sound absorption coefficient. The experimental results are compared to finite element results predicted from Johnson–Champoux–Allard model. For thermal properties, the samples are experimented in thermal conductivity and fire retardant test. The results indicate that the significant improvement in the acoustic and thermal properties due to the addition of magnesium hydroxide.

L. Yuvaraj, S. Jeyanthi, Digvijay D. Kadam, R. G. Ajai
Development and Analysis of GFRP Conical Springs

Increasing competition and innovation in automobile sector tends to modify the existing products or replace old products by new and advanced material products. A suspension system of vehicle is also an area where these innovations are carried out regularly. Nowadays, the automobile industry has shown much interest in using glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) components replacing conventional steel components due to its ‘high strength to low weight’ ratio. Therefore, replacement of steel conical suspension springs (in heavy automobiles) with GFRP conical springs with an aim to reduce its weight was attempted. A manual pultrusion and braiding process is approached for fabricating the FRP open coil springs using e-glass and epoxy resin. Its total deformation, equivalent stress and equivalent elastic strain were analysed using GFRP conical spring at different static loads of 20, 40, 60 and 80 N.

D. Vivek, R. Praveen, A. Sanjay Krishnan, Y. K. Sabapathy, D. Ebenezer, M. Selvaraj
Effect of Nano and Microfillers in Basalt/Epoxy Composites

There is a growing demand emerging from industries towards usage of composite materials. Remarkable properties of basalt fibre reinforced polymer composites are being tailored for its application in various fields. Effect of epoxy/basalt fibre with nano and microparticles as filler has been studied in this work. Owing to easier manufacturing process, low cost and exceptional properties, basalt fibre finds its wider usage. Nano graphene platelets are added as filler to epoxy resin to enhance physical and mechanical properties of matrix. Synergistic effect of zinc borate with alumina trihydrate has also made them to incorporate with the resin as a flame retardant. Influence of nano titanium dioxide with graphene platelet nanopowder as reinforcement in basalt fibre-epoxy composite was also determined by appropriate tests. Mechanical properties such as tensile and flexure strength were investigated in accordance with ASTM standards. SEM image of failure pattern is also studied.

M. M. Metro, M. Selvaraj
A Feasibility Study on Microwave Joining of GFRP Composite Pipes with Interlayer Coupling Agents

This paper investigates the feasibility of energy, economic, and environment way to joining the GFRP pipes. These GFRP pipes are used to transport chemicals, fuel, oil, and natural gases. Microwave joining is economic and energy-efficient method for bonding thermoset composite with suitable intercoupling layers. Microwave joining was carried out in 2.45 GHz furnace with suitable susceptor and various coupling agents such as molten polypropylene and polyethylene, epoxy resin liquid, and sodium silicate. These interlayered GFRP pipes were tested to evaluate their lap shear strength and bond strength. Among the various coupling agents used, polyethylene interlayered coupling agent joints exhibited a good shear strength. The abstract should summarize the contents of the paper in short terms, i.e., 150–250 words.

K. Rajkumar, M. Dhananchezian, S. Aravindan
Comparative Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of GFRP and Polymer Hybrid Composite

Synthetic fiber polymer laminates are becoming competitive material for engineering and structural applications. In this work, an attempt is made to synthesize a laminate with natural as well as synthetic fibers to get the advantage of cost-effective natural fibers. Coir is a natural fiber available in significant amount in south India. The present work aims at manufacturing a strong, cost effective, light and low impact on environment hybrid material. Both GFRP laminates and hybrid (GFRP + coconut Coir) laminates were fabricated by hand layup method and compression molding. Physical and mechanical properties of this laminates such as tensile strength, impact strength and density were evaluated. Microscopy images of this laminates were arrived at through scanning electron microscope. Even though the performance of hybrid (GFRP + coconut Coir) laminates is relatively lesser than GFRP laminates, these hybrid laminates may be adopted in the industries where cost is an important design factor.

R. Raja, Sabitha Jannet, Allen Varughese, Joby George
Study of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Particulate as Vibration Behaviour Modifier of Alternate Stacked Glass–Natural Fibre Polymer Composite Laminate

The vibration behaviour of polymers can be modified by the particulates and natural fibres which are interesting study to the design engineers. A study has been carried out to investigate the tensile, flexural and vibrational behaviour of vinyl ester composites reinforcing with woven kenaf and glass fibres. Vibration behaviour of composite was further enhanced by the addition of hexagonal boron nitride (2&4% hBN) particles. The fibres were chemically treated to improve its adhesion to matrix. The tensile strength of fabricated composites was marginally reduced with increase in hBN particles. The vibration behaviours of composite were studied by electro-dynamic shaker. The experimental results were clearly showed that natural frequency of composite decreases with increasing particulate content. The hBN particles inclusion in the treated kenaf laminate has increased damping ratio by dissipating by more local vibration energy. This is due to combined effect of chemical treatment of fibre and local relaxing behaviour of secondary hBN particles. The two fold increase in damping ratio obtained by adding four times of hBN particle. Dynamic mechanical tests proved that hBN, a secondary particle, is improving vibration damping characteristics. Hence, it potentially benefits the composite as an engineered material.

K. Rajkumar, M. Selvaraj
Study of Statistical Distribution and Morphology of Particles in a Polymer Matrix by Foldscope Imaging Technique

Design and material engineers are focusing on strengthening and toughening of the polymer matrix by introducing secondary particles. However, particle distribution is a control parameter to ensure the properties of polymer materials. Further, the agglomeration of the fine particle affects polymer composite performance. The chosen process may affect the statistical distribution and aggregation of secondary particles in the polymer composite. There is a lack of simple and affordable technique to evaluate the particle distribution, morphology and degree of agglomeration of particles in the polymer matrix. In this paper, the origami crafted microscope called foldscope is used to find out the particle distribution in the polymer matrix. Initially, the fillers/particles are mixed in the epoxy matrix through an ultra-sonication technique. The experiments are conducted by varying the size of filler (30, 80 and 120 grit) with sonication parameters such as power rate (70, 80 and 100%) and processing time Ton (45, 90 and 135 s) with constant 3% filler in weight. With the above parameters, Taguchi L17 array was constructed, and the process parameters were optimized to the high degree of uniform distribution. From the particulate polymer composite, the images captured by foldscope were further analyzed by ImageJ technique for determination of the statistical distribution of particles. The processing parameters of 80% power, Ton 135 s for 120 grit size exhibited excellent particle distribution and higher tensile strength.

P. Kaythry, A. Madhan, K. Rajkumar
Dynamic Mechanical Analysis of Flax Fiber Stacked Polyurethane Blend Epoxy Composites

Dynamic mechanical properties of polymer blend composites reinforced with flax woven were investigated. Polyurethane prepolymer was used as a modifier with the varied composition of 5–20 wt% within the epoxy resin. The ultrasonic stirring process was employed to mix the polyurethane with epoxy resin. Polymer blend composite was fabricated by using hand layup technique followed compression pressing. Tensile and flexural test was carried out for the fabricated composite. Experimental results revealed that the increasing polyurethane composition gradually decreases the mechanical properties of the blended polymer composite. Additionally, polyurethane blending has reduced the brittleness of composites. Dynamic mechanical properties of fabricated blend composites like storage modulus, loss modulus, and loss factor (tan δ) were improved only with 10% polyurethane composition.

K. Rajkumar, K. Ramraji, M. Rajesh, M. Rajiv kumar

Material Processing Technology

Frontmatter
Comparative Study of Ball Nose and Flat End Milling on A356 Alloy/SiCp Metal Matrix Composite

The end milling process is mainly used to quickly remove large amounts of material during heavier machining operations. It is most suitable for making slots, profiles and plunge cutting. The ball nose end milling is used to produce complex 3D sculptured surfaces for making moulds and dies. But, a variation of cutting force and surface roughness in both end milling processes is not well understood due to the constant change in cutting tool–workpiece engagement during these milling processes. Aluminium alloy–SiC particle-reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) are used in many industries in different shapes through different machining processes. Therefore, the present study focuses on the comparative performance study of ball end and flat end milling on A356/SiC MMC. Composite was prepared from A356 alloy powders (avg. size-50 µm) and SiC powders (avg. size-1 µm). MMC with 90 vol.% A356 alloy powder and 10 vol.% SiC powders were synthesized using vacuum hot pressing (VHP) process at 600 °C temperature with 25 MPa pressure. VHP is mainly used to achieve high densification with uniform distribution of reinforcement. Both ball and flat end mill machining experiments were conducted as per Taguchi L9 array. Experiments were carried out by varying cutting speed (100, 150 and 200 m/min), feed (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mm/rev) and depth of cut (0.4, 0.7 and 1 mm) for both machining processes. From the experimental results, it is observed that the flat end mill gave more material removal rate (MRR) in cm3/min with low surface roughness (Ra) value than ball nose milling.

K. Jayakumar
Numerical Modeling of Orthogonal Machining Process Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics—A Parametric Study

Some of the challenges faced during numerical modeling of machining processes using finite element method are: extreme deformations, complicated and discontinuous contact conditions between the workpiece and cutting tool, and the chances of self-contact due to chip curling. Another difficulty encountered in FEM is in the form of mass and energy losses. Lately, the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method has developed as a potential alternative for modeling machining processes due to its ability to handle severe deformations while avoiding energy losses and mass losses encountered by traditional FE Model. This method has been implemented in commercial finite element package Abaqus, for solving problems involving localized severe deformations. Several control parameters are used in a typical SPH formulation. The purpose of this research work is to investigate the influence of the important factors such as the type of SPH formulation, mass scaling, particle density, artificial bulk viscosity, and the smoothing length in the numerical modeling of orthogonal machining of AISI 1045 steel. The challenges involved in accurately modeling this highly nonlinear problem is handled using the Abaqus/Explicit integration scheme along with the Johnson–Cook material model. Results from this parametric study are validated with the results from previously published literatures.

Sarath Babu Thekkoot Surendran, C. S. Sumesh, Ajith Ramesh
Acoustic Emission-Based Grinding Wheel Sharpness Monitoring Using Machine Learning Classifier

Grinding is one of the important secondary manufacturing processes used to improve the dimensional accuracy, surface finish and geometric form of the component. Grinding wheel consists of abrasive particles, which perform the metal removal function. The sharpness of the grinding wheel is one of the important factors for achieving the required surface geometry in the component. In this study, a simple device used to measure the sharpness of the abrasive particles of the grinding wheel is designed and fabricated. Aluminium oxide grinding wheel conditions are established using the sharpness of the abrasive grinding wheel. Grinding process is monitored using acoustic emission (AE) Sensor. AE features are extracted in time domain and dominated features which contain useful information about the grinding wheel that are identified. A correlation between grinding wheel condition and AE feature is established using ANN-based machine learning classifier.

J. Revant, Rahul Sree Kumar, K. Rameshkumar, D. S. B. Mouli
Turning Process Characteristics of Aluminium Matrix Hybrid Composite Using Grey Relational Surface Methodology

Aluminium metal matrix composites have generated huge attention in modern industries because of its high strength-to-weight ratio, low density and corrosion resistance. Turning is a widely used material removal process to produce cylindrical products. Presence of solid lubricant reinforcements such as graphite (Gr), carbon nanotube (CNT) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) could increase the feasibility of turning on aluminium metal matrix composites. Aluminium alloy 6061 reinforced with B4C (5–15 vol.%) and hBN (10 vol.%) particulates were fabricated using stir casting process. The effect of process parameters such as feed, speed, depth of cut and volume percentage of boron carbide has been investigated to explore the impact on tangential force, cutting power and tool wear. Experiments were conducted using Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array (OA). The factors affecting the responses were optimized by applying grey-response surface methodology (G-RSM) using grey relational grade (GRG) calculated by normalized S/N ratio and grey relational coefficient (GRC).

A. Gnanavelbabu, V. Arunachalam, K. T. Sunu Surendran, R. Saranraj, K. Rajkumar
Corrosion Behaviour of Hot Rolled AA8015 in Natural Seawater at 1.37 µm Surface Roughness

Aluminium alloy 8015 (AA8015) is a general-purpose alloy having a wide range of applications that include household appliances and marine ship structures. Electrochemical testing of hot rolled AA8015 with a particular roughness immersed in natural seawater solution was investigated. The AA8015 under investigation in this research is manufactured by a continuous casting method and subjected to mechanical hot rolling process at a temperature above its recrystallization temperature into 7 mm thickness plate. A roughness average of 1.37 µm with three cold-mounted samples was accomplished on an automatic dual multi-purpose grinding-polishing machine with the aid of 320 grit silicon carbide waterproof paper sheet. Corrosion experiments via electrochemical reactions were conducted on the corrosion samples immersed in natural seawater with the aid of a computerized controlled Ivium potentiostat in an open electrochemical polarization cell arrangement at ambient temperature condition. Observation of the surface morphologies of the corroded samples was achieved by a high megapixel camera and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Findings show asymmetric polarization curves for all the investigated samples, showing an actively corroding region. Consequently, the SEM examination confirms corrosion occurring at localized areas in the form of pitting.

O. Olaogun, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi
Influence of Tool Profiles on Heat Transfer Analysis in Al-6061 Alloy Using Friction Stir Welding

The following paper describes the thermal analysis on friction stir welded aluminum alloy AA 6061. The tool for this investigation is made up of high-speed steel material. We considered tool profile as tapered and the pin is with threaded and without threaded and also discusses the process parameters and their effects of thermal analysis of similar welded aluminum alloys. The joint is fabricated at a tool rotational speed of 825 rpm, feed rate of 32 mm/min and angle of 3 degree for the joining process. There is no surface-level cracks in a welded region by using liquid penetrant testing (NDT) method. The heat transfer model and evolution of temperature during the process of FSW are calculated theoretically, and the values of heat rate and peak temps are evaluated. These are compared with practical analysis values based on ANSYS values.

M. Bala Chennaiah, A. Sreenivasulu, K. Ravi Kumar
Tensile, Hardness, and Impact Properties of Amorphous Al–Si–Mg Cast Alloys

This research work focused on tensile, hardness, and influence properties of amorphous Al–Si-Mg cast alloys. Enhancement of aluminum alloy with Mg and Si was performed after which heat treatments were carried out on the produced samples. The result showed the percentage of Mg as 0.14, 4.14, 0.14, 0.32, and 0.20%, for as-cast aluminum, annealed, age-hardened, hardened, and glassy-phase samples, respectively. The percentages of Si were 2.01%, range of 1.94–4.10% and 3.37% for as-cast, heat-treated, and glassy-phase aluminum alloys, respectively. The impact tests showed an increase in impact value from 5.423 J of as-cast sample to 8.135 J of age-hardened sample. Hardened sample has the lowest impact value of 2.712 J while glassy-phase sample has the highest impact value of 10.847 J. The ultimate tensile strength of annealed sample is higher compared to as-cast while glassy-phase has the highest value. The SEM of the annealed alloy sample contains bright and dark regions indicating α and β phases, respectively.

Olayide R. Adetunji, Adeniran S. Afolalu, Mufutau A. Mustapha, Oluwasegun J. Adelakun, Samson O. Ongbali, Abiodun A. Abioye
Experimental Investigation on the Influence of Tool Geometry in Minimum Chip Thickness of Microendmilling Using Cutting Force Analysis

Minimum uncut (tm) chip thickness is the promising factor of the microendmilling process, which is affected by many factors. The tool geometry is one among them. In this work, the effect of different tool geometries, two flutes and four flutes of microendmill (500 μm diameter), are investigated, during slot milling of copper alloy (BSS 249) by considering the surface roughness (Ra) and cutting forces. The results show that the feed rate has more impact on the Ra. A higher order of Ra value is observed with the two flutes microendmill than that of with four flutes microendmill, due to the closer tool path generation of the subsequent passes of the four flutes. It is also observed that the transition of chip formation from interrupted chips to continuous chips has occurred with two flutes and four flutes. From the cutting forces analysis, it is found that the feed force (Fy) is greater than that of the transverse forces (Fx) irrespective of the tool geometry. The behaviour of cutting forces also helps to identify the minimum uncut chip thickness (tm). The angular shifting of the cutting forces is also observed concerning the tool geometry. The material removal mechanism reveals that the ploughing effect is more dominant than that of the shearing effect with two flutes microendmill. The present investigations have shown that four flutes microendmill is more suitable for tool-based microendmilling in order to achieve better Ra with minimum cutting forces.

M. Prakash, M. Kanthababu, A. Arul Jeya Kumar, V. Prasanna Venkadesan
Temperature and RF Power Effect on the Morphology and Structural Properties of TiC Thin Film Grown by RF Magnetron Sputtering

In this research study, the effect of temperature and radio frequency (RF) power on the surface morphology and structural properties of titanium carbide (TiC) thin film was studied. TiC thin film was deposited on the surface of commercially pure titanium (CpTi) alloys to enhance its surface properties. During the deposition process, the sputtering temperature and RF power were varied while other sputtering parameters were kept constant. Field emission scanning electron microscope was used to analyze the surface profiling of the film, and atomic force microscope was used to study the surface roughness. Raman spectroscopy was used to determine the film composition, and grazing incidence X-ray diffractometer was used to analyze the phase composition. Nanoindentation was carried out to understand the hardness and Young’s modulus properties of the coating. The results reveal the dependency of the thin film properties on the independent process parameters.

Olayinka Oluwatosin Abegunde, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi, Oluseyi Philip Oladijo
Effect of Temperature on the Surface Characteristics of Anodized Aluminium Tubes

Thin porous coating was found to be vital for boiling heat transfer enhancement in various heat transfer devices that use a phase change mechanism. However, the formation of a stable thin porous surface is a challenging process. It is known that the aluminium tubes were used to fabricate different kinds of heat pipes which are used in space applications. Therefore, developing nanoporous coating in an aluminium tube is essential to improve the performance of heat pipes. Anodization is an electrochemical process that applied mostly for aluminium materials to protect the surface from corrosion. This anodized aluminium surface can also be utilized for heat transfer applications by controlling the morphology of the surface through adjusting the process parameters of the anodization. One of the most critical parameter that controls the morphology of coating surface is the temperature of the anodizing cell. Therefore, in this study, the effect of cell temperature on the coating thickness, pore size and contact angle is analysed while maintaining the electrolyte concentration, cell voltage, electrolyte flow rate and anodizing time as constant. An aluminium tube of the outer and inner diameter of 19 mm and 16.8 mm, respectively, with a length of 350 mm was used for anodization. The anodized aluminium tubes were characterized by analysing the surface morphology, coating thickness, pore size and contact angle. It was found that the formation of micro/nanoporous structure in the inner layer of aluminium tube with the pore size ranging from 2.05 µm to 3.6 μm and contact angle less than 10° between the temperature range of 20–35 °C when 10% H2SO4 solution is used as the electrolyte.

A. L. Sriram Sudhan, A. Brusly Solomon
Experimental Investigation on Heat Pipe-Assisted Cooling During Milling Process of AISI 1040

The cutting temperatures during milling operation are high owing to the hardness of work specimens and due to friction at the tool–work and tool–chip interfaces. This elevated temperature results in the deformation of the cutting edges during dry milling. The most common method employed to reduce the heat that is generated is the application of cutting fluids in the cutting zone. The tool life during milling is prominently enhanced by providing a higher quantity of cutting fluid at the cutting zone. Though the cutting fluid effectively removes heat from the tool, its sudden application causes thermal shocks in the tool. This thermal shock makes the tool brittle specifically at the cutting edges resulting in tool wear. Also, coolant application has a negative impact on the environment as well as the machine operator’s health. Moreover, tool cost is higher than the cost of safekeeping and clearing of cutting fluids. Machining with heat pipe is a newly established technique to lower the problem involved with cutting fluid. Thus, in this experiment, a customized milling tool is fabricated such that it can house a ring-shaped heat pipe. The experiments were conducted in conditions of dry milling with no coolant and heat pipe-assisted cooling. The results obtained in the experiments confirm that milling with heat pipe-assisted cooling exhibited reduced cutting force and cutting temperature than dry machining. Thus, heat pipe-assisted cooling can be suggested as an alternative for conventional methods.

I. Kantharaj, D. J. Hiran Gabriel, Julius Benedict Prakash, S. Mohanasundaram
Development of a Modified Magnetic Moulding Set up for Improved Heat Transfer

Magnetic moulding is a relatively lesser-known process used for casting of metallic materials. The conventional magnetic moulding set up has certain shortcomings, due to heat transfer from the molten metal to the container wall through the steel balls; simultaneously heat is generated from the container wall due to Joule Thomson heating from the current-carrying copper coils, leading to the possibility of stagnation in heat transfer and thereby retarding the heat carried away to the steel balls. In order to overcome this, the current work deals with, the conventional magnetic moulding set up modified with water circulating jacket, so as to enhance the heat transfer, which is expected to improve the solidification rate and hence have control over the grain size of the cast products.

B. Anand Ronald, M. Harshal, K. Barath Varadaraj, G. Gopinath
Quality Assessment Studies on AA7075 Plate in Hot Rolling Process

Rolling is an important material-forming process and more than 90% of ferrous and nonferrous metals and alloys are processed to their usable shapes by rolling. In the rolling process, permanent deformation is achieved by subjecting the material to high compressive stress by allowing the material to pass through the gap between two rotating cylindrical rolls. In 7075 aluminum alloy, zinc as the primary alloying element. It is strong, with a strength comparable to many steels, and has good fatigue strength and average machinability. In order to improve further the strength of the AA7075 alloy, the hot rolling study was carried out on a 6.62 mm thickness plate. Hot rolling was carried out as per L9 orthogonal array by varying roller speed (750 and 850 rpm), the number of passes (10 and 20) and preheating the workpiece at 350 and 500 °C. From the experimental results, it was observed that the hardness value was increased from 42.6 to 48.3 HRB with an increase of all the selected process parameters. The thickness of the rolled plate was reduced from 6.62 to 5.53 mm at a higher number of passes. Dye penetrant inspection was carried out to see the surface-level defects or microstructural changes. The rolled plate with low roller speed, less number of passes, and higher preheating temperature showed more surface-level defects or microstructural deformation.

K. Jayakumar
Artificial Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm-Based Models for Predicting Cutting Force in Turning of Hardened H13 Steel

The manufacturing sector in the modern era is striving hard to reduce the cost of production by employing innovative techniques. One such technique is hard turning where the workpiece is heat treated to the requisite hardness, and the final size and shape of the component are obtained directly through hard turning process. Hard turning is generally carried out with a huge amount of cutting fluid to enhance the output performance. Since petroleum-based emulsions are easily available in the market at reasonable price, they are widely used in industries. Petroleum-based cutting fluids create a number of environmental and health issues. In this perspective, pure dry turning is a logical substitute as it does not possess the harmful effects connected with the cutting fluids. The feasible tool life and surface quality are often disturbed while carrying out the machining operation under pure dry condition. Under such circumstances, the concept called minimal cutting fluid application (MCFA) performs itself as a possible solution. This paper investigates the effect of applying cutting fluid using MCFA technique at the critical contact zones while hard turning of H13 steel. An artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed for the prediction of the main cutting force, and its ability to predict cutting force (Fz) was analyzed. An effort is made to optimize the cutting parameters to accomplish minimum cutting force using genetic algorithm.

K. Leo Dev Wins, B. Anuja Beatrice, D. S. Ebenezer Jacob Dhas, V. S. Anita Sofia
Experimental Study of the Effect of TiN–Zn Coated High-Speed Steel Cutting Tool on Surface Morphology of AL1060 Alloy During Machining Operation

In machining operations, surface morphology is a significant parameter in developing mechanical components, as the level of the surface roughness gives the consumer the notion of whether the product is well developed or not. Also, the surface roughness of the mechanical component will affect the component during machining operations. The application of coatings in cutting tools is very significant, as coatings will help in improving the cutting tool life as well as protect it from rapid wear and corrosion rate. This research work focuses on the investigation of the significance of TiN–Zn coatings on high-speed steel (HSS) when compared with non-coated HSS cutting tool on the surface morphology, machining parameters and machining time on 1060 aluminum alloy during the machining operation. Computer numerical control (CNC) program and excel software was employed to investigate the effects the Coated cutting tool, various depth of cut and such as 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 mm and at a constant cutting speed of 1250 rpm, constant feed rate of 10 mm/rev, with machining time varies from 15 to 500 s on the machined surface morphology of the 1060 aluminum alloy. After each machining time, the average surface roughness was determined, from three-point of the work piece, that is the starting point, middle point, and the end point. The result shows that the TiN–Zn coated HSS cutting tool on the surface morphology of 1060 aluminum alloy was found to reduce surface roughness with about 15.5% and both minimum surface roughness of 0.96 and 1.06 µm was achieved for the TiN–Zn coated and uncoated HSS cutting tool, respectively, with cutting time of 15 s at 1 mm depth of cut, which is viable for machining operations.

I. P. Okokpujie, C. A. Bolu, O. S. Ohunakin, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi
Experimental Investigation of Surface Roughness in End Milling of AA6061 Alloy with Flooded Cooling and Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) Technique

This article presents an experimental investigation on the effect of surface roughness during end milling of aluminium alloy 6061 grade in minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) technique. The MQL technique is becoming increasingly more popular due to the safety of the environment. The cutting speed, depth of cut, feed rate and MQL flow rate are selected input parameters in this study. This experiment was conducted based on the Orthogonal Array (L27). The comparative effectiveness of surface roughness was investigated between MQL technique end milled components and flooded lubrication end milled components. The findings of this study show that surface roughness values have a significant difference upon application of the MQL technique.

D. Nathan, D. Elilraja, T. Prabhuram, S. Prathap Singh

Material Joining Technology

Frontmatter
Performance Study of Dissimilar Alloy Joints of SS321 and SS347 Under MIG Welding Process

An attempt is made in this research work to study the influence of filler wire materials on the dissimilar alloys between SS321 and SS347 are made using Robotic MIG welding process Preliminary experimental welding trials are conducted by varying the MIG welding process parameters like current, welding speed and stick out the distance. The prepared metal coupons of two different stabilized stainless steels are welded using ER321 as well as ER347 filler wires. The performance of the joint is studied by mechanical testing and microstructural characterization. The results of mechanical testing showed that the welded joint with ER347 filler wire exhibited improved tensile strength and hardness value than the joint made by ER321 filler wire.

S. Nishanth, S. Prem, T. Prakash, J. Siva, M. Sathish Kumar, N. Siva Shanmugam
Effect of Friction Stir Welding Tool on Al–SiC Composites by Varying Tool Pin Profile and Tool Material

Efficient joints can be accomplished through the friction stir welding (FSW) process with the selection of appropriate tool profile, tool material and D/d ratio. This experiment to weld Aluminium 6061 with 10% silicon carbide reinforcement was carried out in a CNC FSW machining set-up, the tool materials being H13 and OHNS, the tool profiles plain pentagon, plain taper and threaded cylinder and the D/d ratio, a common 2. The different welding parameters chosen were 1000 rpm tool rotation speed and 25 mm/min travel speed with an axial load varying between 3.8 and 4.3 kN. The joint produced with the threaded cylinder tool, compared with the rest of the tools, exhibited the maximum tensile strength of 150 MPa and hardness of 41 HRC and was found to be defect-free with a uniform grain size distribution.

P. Jayaseelan, T. V. Christy, S. J. Vijay
Fabrication of AISI 304 Austenitic Stainless Steels with TiN Addition Using Spark Plasma Sintering Method

The spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a type of electric discharge sintering technique used to consolidate metallic/ceramic powders. In this study, spark plasma sintering was used to fabricate 304 stainless steel with TiN addition. The best parameters that influence the sintering process such as sintering temperature, heating time and pressure were investigated. Results show that by varying the amount of TiN, the sintered properties of the composites could be significantly affected. The relative density decreased with the increment of TiN. Microhardness values vary from 270 to 350 HV0.1.

Babatunde Abiodun Obadele, Ramokone Marcia Mafafo, Walter Roberto Tuckart, Peter Apata Olubambi
Effect of Process Parameters on Bead Width of 202 Grade Stainless Steel Gas Tungsten Arc Welded Plates Using Response Surface Methodology

Welding quality can be accomplished by meeting quality prerequisites, for example, bead geometry by detecting either directly or indirectly the different procedure parameters engaged with the procedure. Lacking weld bead measurements may add to the disappointment of a welded structure. This paper presents an improvement of a scientific model for foreseeing bead width for gas tungsten arc welding of 202-grade stainless steel plates. This model depends on the connection between procedure parameters and bead width and can be utilized to foresee the impact of procedure parameters on bead width. To assemble the required information for demonstrating, real tests were done dependent on a central composite rotatable plan with 31 test runs. The procedure factors considered here incorporate welding current (I), welding speed (V), gas flow rate (Q) and welding gun angle (θ). The sufficiency of the model was tried utilizing ANOVA procedure. The outcomes demonstrate that the proposed model can foresee bead width with sensible precision. Primary and cooperation impacts of the control factors are exhibited in a graphical structure that helps in choosing rapidly the procedure parameters to accomplish the ideal outcomes.

R. Sudhakaran, P. S. Sivasakthivel, M. Subramanian, S. Mahendran, M. Sathish Kumar, R. Vijayakumar
Feasibility Study of TIG Welding of AA6063-AA7075 Alloys

The aim of this paper is to study the feasibility of welding dissimilar aluminum alloys AA6063 and AA7075 using destructive and nondestructive testing. Dissimilar Aluminum alloys AA6063 and AA7075 plates were butt-jointed using the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding method. The feasibility of welding of dissimilar aluminum alloy can be confirmed by both strength calculations as well as identification of welding defects. The feasibility of welding of dissimilar aluminum alloy joint was studied through visual appearance, microstructures, tensile strength, hardness, liquid penetrant test and ultrasound test. Microstructures at different zones of dissimilar TIG joints were identified. The average tensile strength and hardness values were calculated. Using the liquid penetrant test and ultrasound test, welding defects were identified. It can be concluded that TIG welding of a dissimilar aluminum alloy is feasible.

D. Nathan, S. Ashwin Kannan, P. Krishna Kumar
Effects of Processing Parameters on Temperature Distributions, Tensile Behaviour and Microstructure of Friction Stir Welding of Dissimilar Aluminium Alloys

Research has shown that there is a correlation between process parameters, temperature variations, tensile strength, microstructures and the durability of the welds obtained in friction stir welding (FSW). The need to institute this correlation is crucial in order to achieve a weld free of defects and having sound mechanical behaviours for industrial applications. This work examines process parameters effects on variations of weld temperature, tensile strength and microstructures in dissimilar FSW of 6101-T6 and 7075-T651 aluminium alloys with a plate thickness of 6 mm. The welding was done with rotational speeds of 1250, 1550 and 1850 rpm and traverse speeds of 50 and 110 mm/min. The results obtained indicate that processing parameters significantly affect the temperature distributions in the weld. Increase in rotational speed increases the temperature but cause a decrease in tensile strength. While the increase in travel speed cause a reduction in temperature which results to increase in the tensile strength. Highest tensile strength of 143 MPa was obtained at 1250 rpm and 50 mm/min but better mixing of both materials was achieved at 1550 rpm and 50 mm/min.

Olatunji P. Abolusoro, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi
Optimizing the Parameters for Friction Stir Welding of an Aluminium Alloy

A novel slip factor accounted for thermal model is being used to predict the temperature with time and the effect of welding and rotations on heat input for weld length peak-temperature of the friction stir welding process. Material used in this study is aluminium alloy of AA6061 grade which is used in aerospace applications. For various rotations and weld velocities, friction stir welding experiments were conducted on aluminium alloy plates. The plates were fixed with thermocouples at different locations from weld centerline to measure the temperatures during the welding process. The temperature with time and locations predicted by the model along the transverse direction are closely matching with the experimental results. The heat input for unit length of weld and peak-temperature increases as rotation increases and decreases as weld velocity increases. The energy required for welding for length is minimum at the combination of lower rotation and higher weld velocity in the defect-free zone.

M. Selvaraj
Machining of ZE41 Magnesium Alloy in WEDM Using Taguchi Approach

This study explains the effects of process parameters of Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM) on the machinability and surface characteristics of Magnesium ZE41 alloy. ZE41 alloy has a plethora of applications in the structural industry, aerospace industry, military equipment, video cameras, and vibration testing equipment. In this study, Pulse on time (Ton), Pulse off time (Toff), Current (I) and Wire Tension (WT) were considered as the input parameters to conduct the experiments for the performance measures Material removal rate (MRR) and Surface roughness (Ra). Experimentation works were conducted by using Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify the significant parameters. XRD test was carried out to identify the phase constituents of the material. Further, Surface morphology of the machined surface is analyzed using SEM micrographs.

G. Selvakumar, S. Ram Prakash, E. Caleb Kovilpillai
Comparative Study of Friction Stir Welding and Underwater Friction Stir Welding on Magnesium ZE41 Alloy

5-mm-thick ZE41 magnesium alloy plates were subjected to normal friction stir welding (in air) and under water friction stir welding (UWFSW). A comparative study was made to investigate the process parameter and resultant properties of microstructure and tensile behaviour. The friction stir welding (FSW) was carried out at two different speeds 660 and 1220 rpm in order to obtain the influence of rotation speed on the performance of underwater joints. And the tool transverse speed and the tool tilt angle were fixed at 40 mm/min and 2.5°, respectively. From this investigation, it can be found that the UWFSW joint made using the higher tool rotational speed of 1220 rpm exhibited good tensile properties when compared to FSW joints without any defects like tunnel-type defects or hot cracking. The higher cooling rate in the UWFSW caused reduced thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) in the weld. The joint welded at UWFSW made the grain size fine when compared to the grain size of joints at the air weld condition. It is also noted that the hardness was increased in the UWFSW specimen due to the fine grains present in the stir zone. For air weld, the fracture occurred in the weld region and for UWFSW the fracture moved away from the stir zone.

S. Cyril Joseph Daniel, A. K. Lakshminarayanan
Characterizing the Tensile Deformation Behavior of Friction Stir Welded Dissimilar Joints Using Acoustic Emission Technique

In the present investigation, P91 and 316LN dissimilar weld joints were fabricated at the tool speeds of 600 and 900 rpm with 0.5 and 1 mm offset conditions. For all mentioned welding conditions, the tensile testing was carried out at the constant strain rate of 3.3 × 10−4 S−1. A non-destructive acoustic emission (AE) technique was used to analyze the tensile deformation behavior at elastic and plastic deformation stages. The AE signals were recorded until the crack initiation and the deformation behavior is compared with base metals. The obtained results were useful to identify the deformation characteristics and joint integrity in different tool speed and offset conditions.

A. Venkatakrishna, A. K. Lakshminarayanan, K. Radhika, R. Rajasekaran
Study of Infrared Thermography on Tensile Behavior of Laser Beam Welded 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel

In this investigation, the tensile behavior of laser beam welded 316LN austenitic stainless steel was studied by infrared thermography (IRT) and compared with the base metal tensile behavior. Initially, microstructural characterization of base metal and weld bead was carried out by optical microscopy (OM). Base metal comprises an average grain size of 60 µm and LBW exhibited refined grains at the fusion zone. Very narrow HAZ around 15 µm was recorded at LBW interface. Tensile samples were prepared as per ASTM standard E8, and the test was conducted at room temperature of 26.5 °C. A strain rate of 4.4 × 10−4 s−1 was used during the tensile test of the base metal and LBW samples. Temperature variations of the base metal and weld bead were recorded by an infrared camera at different stages of deformation. Compared to LBW sample base metal sample deformed more and displayed the percentage of elongation as 64.14%, whereas LBW sample displayed less percentage of elongation around 53.2% due to lesser deformation as compared to the base metal. This is attributed to grain refinement during rapid solidification of LBW process at fusion zone. High temperatures were recorded on the base metal (39.2 °C) and center of the LBW fusion zone (30.8 °C) before just the time of fracture. This high temperature of the base metal over LBW sample indicates that the base metal deformed more compared to laser beam welded sample.

R. Rajasekaran, A. K. Lakshminarayanan, A. Venkatakrishna, K. Radhika

Production and Operation Management

Frontmatter
Evaluation of Ergonomics Issues in Repetitive Scrap Handling Work in Automobile Industries

Ever since the origin of the evolution of human being either named as ape or man, striving to survive with safety, by becoming wise on live hazards, he has been innovating as many ways and means for the safe living/working. To this day, the struggle for safety is existing but in a sophisticated manner, as he grew from being wise to being an intellectual. This paper discusses the ergonomics issues in an automobile industry handling the hard substance, among the engineering industries, as the manual scrap handling system is one of the most critical safety concern aspects which includes more manual effort, due to its impact on the manpower expenses, medical expenses, personal protective equipment expenses, and time consumption. Ergonomic assessment, as a tool and method for analyzing human activities and their interactions with the surrounding environment, is thus crucial for designing operations and workplaces that achieve high safety. In the engineering industry, however, the constant repetitive work environment and laborious tasks cause traditional approaches to ergonomic analysis, such as manual observations and measurements to require substantial time and effort to yield reliable results. This study mainly concentrates on scrap handling because of its repetitive actions with heavy loads and also explores the adaptation and integration of various existing methods for data collection, analysis, and output representation potentially available for comprehensive ergonomic analysis. The proposed framework integrates the 3DSSP’s (Static Strength Prediction) localized fatigue report for the inputs such as measurement of body angles using goniometer and NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) weight lifting equation. The proposed framework is demonstrated through a case study using data from on-site scrap handling system through 3DSSP software.

Aravind Babu Dasari, Dhinesh Balasubramanian
Reduction of Terminal Rejections and Failure Cost through Kaizen at Shop Floor of a Wire Harness Manufacturing Company

In the cutthroat market, demand for higher-quality products is currently the most important task in front of organization and management looks for better effectiveness. In manufacturing units, high cost, declining profit boundaries, discrepancy of quality of products, and delivery of such products in the competitive market are the factors those have encouraged many organizations to focus on ways to increase the involvement of employees to improve quality and productivity. Kaizen is one of the employee contribution methods intended to bring together all level of workforce in an organization for setting principles of excellence and achieving better consequences. In this paper, it is tried to analyze the performance of Kaizen in a wire harness manufacturing unit which is considered for the study, and the paper presents a case study of the selected company to reduce rejections due to high contact gap in terminal that further confides decrement in failure cost.

Pramod Kumar, Jaiprakash Bhamu
Solving the Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem Using a Hybrid Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm

In this work, a hybrid artificial bee colony algorithm is proposed for solving the flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) which is a classification of the classical job shop scheduling problem (JSP) considered to NP-hard in nature. In FJSP, an operation can be processed on a set of capable machines with different processing times, thereby dealing with a routing and sequencing problem. The objective considered is to minimize the makespan. The basic artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm stresses on the balance between global exploration and local exploitation. However, the drawback of the basic ABC algorithm is that it converges prematurely and may get trapped in the local optima. Hence to improve its exploration capability in local space, it is hybridized using a Tabu search (TS) algorithm. At first, initial solutions are generated with certain quality and diversity as food sources using multiple strategies in combination. Crossover and mutation operations are carried out for machine assignment and operation sequencing separately generating new neighboring solutions. Lastly, a local search strategy based on TS is proposed to enhance the local search capability. Kacem’s and Brandimarte’s benchmark instances are used to compare the performance of the proposed approach to five other well-known algorithms in the literature. Experimental results revealed the superiority of the proposed approach in solving FJSP.

Rylan H Caldeira, A. Gnanavelbabu, J. Joseph Solomon
Linear Programming in Market Management Using Artificial Intelligence

The intelligence exhibited by machines in decision making using mathematical algorithms in contrast to the human intelligence is known as artificial intelligence (AI). It is an area of engineering science that focuses on the modeling of intelligent systems that work and act in response like humans. The tasks that AI includes are face recognition, voice recognition, planning, learning, and predicting. Linear programming problem (LPP) is a tool to solve the real-life problems using the standard mathematical approach that gives us the optimal solution. This paper aims at providing the investors an aid in decision making while advertising their business with combination of the tools that are available. Neural network model will be formulated and trained on the basis of dataset that includes past data of variables such as amount of investment, type of business, demographical area, and consumer attributes. The output nodes include the variables based on the type of advertisement. After training and testing are finished, user provides the model with the inputs and the output predicts the optimal percentage of marketing of product in different fields. This way the model will help us to make sound decisions in allocating the total investment among the variables.

Shetty Vignesh Uday, Hamritha, Gaurav Chaudhary
Queueing Theory an Index Factor for Production Inventory Control in Automotive Industry—A Review

In this paper, various approaches to inventory control within the automotive industry were reviewed using queueing theory. Different models used in past literature were stated and the model considered to be most effective in this review is dock management modeling. This model was used to analyze inventory control and how effectively automotive industries can minimize inventory by getting the component needed in the assembly line just in time, this helps to reduce additional costs for warehouse maintenance and capital tied down in form of excess inventory. Analytical and simulation models are the mathematical models that are considered in this review as they are used in several papers by different authors.

Sunday A. Afolalu, Segun Oladipupo, Samson O. Ongbali, Abiodun A. Abioye, Ademola Abdulkareem, Mfon O. Udo, Oluseyi O. Ajayi
Design and Analysis of ASRS Using AGV for Rapid Inventory Storage System

Non-competitive market pricing is easy to use and maintain but it is a major issue in automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that are available in the current market. Space is a very valuable commodity in urban areas. The current AGV available in the market needs optimization and is specifically designed for one particular form of storage system. In order to reduce the complexity of the system, hard locating method approach is used. Hard locating is a process that assists the operator in avoiding mistakes. In this work, an AGV for rapid inventory storage system is proposed. The AGV consists of a 5-degrees of freedom (DOF) robotic arm with a two-fingered gripper is used for picking and placing the boxes. The gripper is equipped with a piezoelectric sensor to sense the size of the object. By using this approach, the existing rack can be used without much alteration. This system has the capability to increase the utilization of the warehouse. This paper presents an optimized automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) with the help of AGV with reduced cost and complexity.

Pranav Santhosh Nair, Sourabh Nair, Soukhin Sarkar, Arockia Selvakumar Arockia Doss, D. Dinakaran

Optimization Techniques

Frontmatter
Multi-response Optimization of Inconel 825 Process Parameters Using LN2 Cooled Zinc-Coated Brass Wire in CNC Wire-Cut EDM

Inconel 825 is a nickel-based superalloy which is mostly used in most of the industries where high corrosion resistance and high temperature withstanding are needed. Some of these industries are Petrochemical, Chemical, Missiles and Nuclear power plants. Inconel 825 has possessed high anti-oxidation nature even at high temperatures, i.e. about 650–760 °C. Inconel 825 cannot be machined in the traditional machines because of its high strength at elevated temperatures, high strain hardened and low thermal conductivity. WEDM is an alternative machine which is used for machining of Inconel 825, because WEDM can machine any material without considering its hardness if the material is electrically conductive. Liquid Nitrogen cooled (LN2) Zinc-coated brass is taken as a cathode and the Inconel 825 is taken as an anode during the machining process. Taguchi’s L27 orthogonally array is used in the experimentation method. Five parameters of WEDM i.e., Wire Tension, Wire Feed, Pulse on Time, Pulse off Time, Servo Voltage are taken as inputs and MRR and Surface finish are taken as the output responses. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the effect of various parameters and optimize the result. Mathematical modelling of the output responses is developed.

Midthur A. Salman Khan, C. Nandakumar, B. Mohan, R. Senthil Kumar
Optimization of Process Parameters During EDM on Inconel Alloy 625

Inconel 625 is a Nickel–Chromium–Molybdenum based superalloy which is extensively used in numerous engineering applications like, aerospace, nuclear and marine fields, aeronautical, chemical, petrochemical industries, oil and gas extraction industries. It has high strength and outstanding corrosion resistance properties. The main problem with using this material is their low machinability while machining with conventional machining processes due to its high mechanical properties. From different unconventional machining processes (UCMP), the Electrical discharge machining (EDM) process is the most important and versatile UCMP and is suitable for machining any difficult to machine materials and it is most appropriate for the manufacturing of dies, molds, and press tools. Normally machining industries targets the achievement of high-quality products, relating to the surface finish, workpiece dimensional accuracy, high material removal rate (MRR) at low cost. Hence, the present research work deals with the optimization of process parameters in EDM of Inconel 625 alloy for minimizing the surface roughness (Ra) and maximizing MRR. EDM studies were conducted as per Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array by varying process parameters such as current, voltage, pulse on time (Ton) and electrode bottom profile. Surface roughness and MRR values were measured. Effects of process parameters on the selected machinability responses were analyzed. Optimum process parameters were found for the optimization of EDM on Inconel alloy 625.

K. Jayakumar
Optimization of Laser Trepanning Parameters for Mild Steel by Taguchi Response Surface Methodology (T-RSM)

Laser trepanning plays a vital role in the machining of holes as it needs to eliminate material only from a thin annular region, not the entire circle. The key benefits of trepanning are material saving and less energy consumption. In this study, responses from laser trepanning on mild steel were taken for optimization. Responses like hole-top circularity (HTC), hole-bottom circularity (HBC) and hole taper (HT) were recorded according to the variations made in the parameters such as laser power, gas pressure, speed of spot movement and pulsing frequency as per Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array. To optimize the operating parameters, Taguchi–response surface methodology (T-RSM) was applied. Three-dimensional response surface graphs and ramp function graph for desirability were plotted for the obtained results. Optimal level of parameters obtained was laser power-2716.83 W, gas pressure-7 bar, speed of spot movement-1200 mm/s, pulsing frequency-2000 Hz and trepanning hole-20 mm.

A. Gnanavelbabu, V. Arunachalam, K. T. Sunu Surendran, V. Dharaniya, K. Rajkumar
Parametric Optimization of Cracked Cantilever Beam Using Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents a smart crack detection system using genetic algorithm (GA) for a cantilever beam. The accuracy of prediction is optimized by performing parametric optimization of the first three natural frequencies. The three modes of natural frequencies are obtained from the experimental procedures and are optimized to reduce the percentage of error in predicting the relative crack position and crack depth from a fixed position. Comparison of analytical method is in agreement with the experimental values as the error percent between the experimental and predicted values is below 10%.

Mihir Kumar Sutar, Sarojrani Pattnaik, Pawan Kumar Modi
Study of the Influence of Reinforcement Parameters on Thermal Conductivity of Magnesium-Based MMCs Through Taguchi’s Orthogonal Array Approach

Light metal alloy-based composites (MMCs) find applications in automotive and aerospace sectors, mainly due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. Such composites exhibit enhanced mechanical properties too. However, these MMCs inherently have inadequate thermal properties. In the present investigation, the thermal conductivity of pure magnesium/soda–lime glass composite was analyzed through Taguchi’s orthogonal array approach, and reinforcement parameters were optimized to realize maximum possible thermal conductivity. Analysis of variance was applied to find out the contribution of individual reinforcement parameters to the thermal conductivity of the composite.

M. R. Shivakumar, N. V. R. Naidu, M. Jai Surya, D. Indhuja
Finite Element Modelling and Optimisation of Sheet Hydroforming for Cryo-rolled AA5083 Sheets

Hydroforming is a manufacturing process that is used to form complex geometries by applying fluid pressure. The punchless hydroforming process is the most popular in the race, considering the absence of any punch that helps in reducing the tooling costs. Based on the part geometries formed, the punchless process can be classified into three categories, namely sheet hydroforming, shell hydroforming and tube hydroforming. Sheet metal hydroforming is a hydroforming process that uses hydrostatic fluid pressure for deforming the blank into a die cavity of the desired shape. Owing to the inert advantages, like lower tooling costs, reduced processing steps, remarkable precision, waste reduction and weight reduction, this process finds extensive use in applications requiring a high strength-to-weight ratio, as in complex automobile parts. The presented work involves the development of a nonlinear 2D finite element model for the sheet hydroforming process of AA5182 (aluminium alloy) using the FE package Abaqus/Explicit and validation of the numerical results using the available literature (Daryl in Logan: a first course in the finite element method. Cengage Learning Products, Canada 2007 [2]). The model is first validated by reproducing the research work carried out by Bharatkumar Modi et al., considering the input parameters, like blank holding force (BHF), sheet thickness and internal pressure, and the corresponding output parameters, like material thickness reduction and die corner radius. The research is further extended by replacing the current blank material AA5182 using cryo-rolled AA5083. The effect of varying BHF, at varying annealing temperature of blank considering varying frictional coefficients, is also studied. This work also investigates the optimisation of the process using a well-established design of experiments (DOE) technique—response surface methodology (RSM).

Akhil B. Raj, A. Arun, Ajith Ramesh
Selection of Parameterization Method for Fitting of Freeform Curves Using Uniformly Spaced Data

The term “parameterization” refers to the mapping of measured data points in Cartesian space into parametric space for the fitting of freeform curves and surfaces, etc. Among the conventional parameterization methods, the chord length and centripetal parameterization methods are generally considered adequate for most of the applications. However, the choice between these two parameterization methods is not obvious. The present work attempts to analyze the measured data points in order to select between the chord length and centripetal parameterization methods for achieving better results while fitting the freeform curves. The chord length between two adjacent measured data points and the discrete curvature at each point have been used to develop an approach to select between the two parameterization methods considered. For validation purposes, the measured data points with uniform spacing have been taken from some assumed example freeform curves of varying complexities. The proposed approach has been found to correctly select the appropriate parameterization method in all examples considered.

G. Rajamohan

Energy Engineering

Frontmatter
Experimental Study of an Axial Turbine for Wave Energy Conversion

With the growing menace of increase in population and pollution, renewable sources of energy are being preferred over the fast depleting fossil fuels. Ocean wave energy is one such form of renewable source with a huge potential all around the globe. Wave energy conversion (WEC) devices are used to harness the energy from ocean waves. An oscillating water column (OWC) is a WEC device, which uses an axial turbine to convert wave energy into useful electrical energy. The experimental setup designed and assembled at Wave Energy and Fluids Engineering Laboratory, IIT Madras tested the turbine subjected to bidirectional airflow. The objective of the preliminary experiment is to measure the rotational speed and pressure drop across the turbine. The variable parameters are stroke length and time period of the oscillating piston, which simulates different ocean wave conditions. A comparative study of the parameters is carried out and reported in this article.

Kumud Kumar, Tapas K. Das, R. Srikanth, Abdus Samad
Investigations into Nonlinear Energy Sinks for a Stochastic Dynamical Oscillator

The paper deals with Nonlinear Energy Sinks (NES), utilizing piezoelectric transduction mechanism, focusing on the degree of effect the auxiliary nonlinear stiffness has on the performance of the NES and the performance of NES with the primary system subjected to random excitation. Hence, a parametric sweep of the auxiliary nonlinear stiffness over a broad range of values has been done and the variations in primary vibration suppression and voltage generation by the NES have been observed for its corresponding values. It has been conducted with the NES attached to a linear primary system and then an essentially nonlinear one. Comparison of results and validation of the performance of NES for both the cases have been performed. Following that, performance of the NES has been investigated when a linear primary system is subjected to random excitation. Two separate cases have been utilized to randomize the excitation. Results regarding vibration control and voltage generated have been derived for both and compared to those obtained for deterministic excitation. By and large, it is found that NES is successful in protecting a primary system and broadening the operation bandwidth, while satisfyingly generating voltage, irrespective of the type of excitation on the primary system.

Anuroop Parvathaneni, Dhritimaan Sharma, Dhruv Vashishtha, Pradeep V. Malaji, J. Venkatramani
A Novel Banana Leaf Waste-Based Activated Carbon for Automobile Emission Control

Recycling of plant and vegetable wastes is very much needed for improving the economy and minimizing wastages of materials. This can be a very beneficial act toward the progress of society overall. Environmental pollution issues especially from automobiles are also much decreased by this. Activated carbon is better known for its characteristics and applications in the areas of gas absorption, water purification and as composite reinforcement fillers. In this current research work, an attempt is made to economically synthesize activated carbon from dried banana leaf waste taken from a local vegetable market. This is characterized by measuring moisture content, ash content, bulk density, yield of charcoal, fixed carbon and hardness. Gas adsorption test is conducted using Atlon gas analyzer for various engine speeds. Its effect on being porous is analyzed by means of comparing its performance with the solid ones. Recycled banana leaves are used as the natural resource, and heat activation is used for converting the so-produced carbon into activated carbon. Potassium hydroxide is used for synthesizing porous activated carbon. Comparison is made between solid and porous activated carbons for better adsorbing capabilities for automobiles. Scanning electron microscopy was done to analyze the morphology of particles.

A. John Presin Kumar, S. Sivakumar, R. Balaji, Mukesh Nadarajan
Analyzing Different Methods to Increase the Natural Period of a Compact Wave Energy Converter

In this article, we present the numerical analysis performed on a compact mechanical-based direct drive wave energy converter (WEC), in order to improve its performance on longer wave periods. For this work, the numerical modeling of the point absorber is done with the help of an open-source code written in MATLAB, WEC-Sim and the hydrodynamic parameters of the WEC are determined using the BEM code AQWA. From the past experience, it is a known fact that the range of frequencies for which a point absorber can perform satisfactorily is less if they are small-sized. In this work, we make an effort to increase the operational bandwidth of a point absorber and to match the natural period of the system with the period of sea waves, without increasing its size (diameter). During the process, the variation in different hydrodynamic coefficients and performance parameters, triggered by the proposed design alteration is studied. In the end, it has been concluded that the proposed modification was able to improve the operational bandwidth of the device and the resonant frequency of the system was reduced, as expected.

Vishnu Vijayasankar, Abdus Samad
Comparison of Hydrogen Yield from Ball-Milled and Unmilled Magnesium Hydride in a Batch System Hydrogen Reactor

Energy plays a crucial role in the economic development of a nation and its sustenance. In view of the important role of energy to man; energy demand has been on the increase as the human population increases. Interests in solid-state hydrogen generation especially from lightweight metals have increased lately due to high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen storage/reserve. In this study, effect of ball milling on hydrogen yield was examined by comparing hydrogen generation from unmilled MgH2 and ball-milled MgH2 in a hydrolysis reaction carried out in a batch system hydrogen reactor. Furthermore, the effects of acetic acid concentration and MgH2 weight on hydrogen generation was investigated. The reaction was carried out at 30 °C with three substrates weights 0.2 g, 0.4 g and 0.6 g respectively. Ball-milled MgH2 performed better than unmilled MgH2 by recording higher hydrogen yield when compared to unmilled MgH2 components with a hydrogen yield of about 0.0194 L relative to 0.0131 L using 0.6 g MgH2 obtained in unmilled MgH2. The results from the XRD spectra validates the reduction of crystallite size of ball-milled MgH2 compared to the unmilled MgH2. The crystallite size reduces from an average of 52.4 µm to about 92.25 nm after one-hour ball milling. This development enhances reaction kinetics by increasing the reaction surface area. Similarly, the fracturing of the substrate crystals during ball milling increases the nucleation reaction in the particles thereby increasing the hydrogen release phenomenon.

J. A. Adeniran, R. S. Fono-Tamo, Esther Titilayo Akinlabi, T. C. Jen
A Review on the Synthesis of Activated Carbon from Natural Resources for Mechanical Applications

Activated carbon is a material which can be produced from various waste materials such as plant waste, animal waste and industrial waste resulting in reduction of material wastage, better utilization of natural materials and environmental friendliness. Activated carbon plays an important role in many applications in various forms like gas absorbent, composite fillers, etc. Activated carbon particles have many promising applications in various industries like water treatment, dye and sugar refining, degasification and composite fabrication as fillers. In composites, activated carbon can play a vital role as effective reinforcement materials for improving properties. During the last ten years, there had been a good work done in this field with regard to exploring the possibilities of activated carbon in both production and application. This work discusses contribution of several authors in the area of activated carbon in both synthesis and characterization toward various applications related to mechanical engineering.

A. John Presin Kumar, S. Sivakumar, D. Prasanth, B. Guhanesh, A. Ijas Ahamed
Combined Casing Groove and Blade Tip Treatment for Wave Energy Harvesting Turbine

The Wells turbine is a self-rectifying air turbine, used in oscillating water column (OWC) to harvest wave energy. It produces unidirectional torque as the flow oscillates inside the OWC chamber. It has inherent disadvantage of narrow operating range due to stall at high airflow rate. Whereas, a wider operating range is essential to improve the turbine power output. A casing groove modifies the tip leakage flow pattern and improves the operating range. In addition, a radiused tip can alter the tip leakage flow and delay the stall. To enhance the performance further, this paper investigates the combined effect of tip groove and radiused tip (CG&RT) design modification. The flow was simulated by solving steady, incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations in Ansys CFX 15.0. As expected, the CG&RT blade enhanced the relative operating range and the turbine power output by 44.4% and 23.8%, respectively.

P. Madhan Kumar, Paresh Halder, Abdus Samad
Design and Development of Wind Tunnel to Study Smoldering Combustion

Smoldering is flameless combustion that occurs on the surface of the condensed phase that is very difficult to detect and which causes serious fire risks in residential and industrial areas by the presence of turbulent winds. Statistics show that major fire accidents are due to smoldering for example cigarettes. Smoldering combustion is also a great concern in space facilities like ISS since the zero gravity environments can increase the rate of smoldering propagation. The main motivation of this paper is to design and develop the wind tunnel in order to study the effect of aerodynamic and combustible properties on the smoldering. A wind tunnel is an effective tool that is used to study the aerodynamic effects of air or smoke when it is allowed flowing past the solid bodies. The specific measurements that are required to construct the wind tunnel are mentioned in this paper, as well as the materials used in various sections of the wind tunnel are discussed. The power source and light source used for the visualization of the turbulent wind flow past the burning fuel are discussed. A low-speed tabletop wind tunnel is first designed using CATIA and then fabricated using necessary tools. The results from these experiments can be used to know how the combined effect of both laminar and turbulent flow on smoldering combustion is more harmful than the normal combustion.

S. Sanjana, M. Rakshantha, Yeleti Bunny Venkat, B. T. Kannan
Spatial Location of Renewable Energy Plants: How Good Is Good Enough?

Land suitability analysis for renewable energy (RE) plants is gradually becoming multidisciplinary. The integration of Geographical Information System (GIS) with Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) tools has proven effective in such studies. From the trend in the literature, both experts in GIS and non-experts use these tools. There exist several factors that determine the suitability of a site for an intended purpose. In this study, factors specific to the reliability and accuracy of the results of GIS-MCDM approach to siting RE plants are reviewed. The reliability of the results from this integrated tool is hinged on the accuracy of principal milestones in the analysis. Four of these were identified in this article: data integrity, sensitivity analysis, correct use of tools, criteria weight assignment. It was concluded that apart from the identified dots in achieving high reliability and accuracy of the suitability analysis, ground verification is highly essential as this helps to verify the reality of the seemingly virtual analysis.

Paul A. Adedeji, Stephen Akinlabi, Nkosinathi Madushele, Obafemi O. Olatunji
Analysis of Pendulum-Based Nonlinear Energy Sink for Energy Harvesting

Passive method is one of the best-suited methods for vibration reduction of the primary structure. Energy harvesting converts vibration energy into useful electrical energy which can be used to power up sensors used for monitoring. Nonlinear energy sinks (NES) are analyzed to passively reduce vibration of the structure as well as energy harvesting simultaneously in this article. Current work considers the applicability of common pendulum as the NES for mitigation linear primary structure and electromagnetic energy conversion. It is observed that the pendulum NES can overcome one of the main limitations of conventional tuned mass damper (TMD) designs, as it has the capability to mitigate primary structure excitation and harvest electrical energy over a wide range. This is because the pendulum has the capability to operate both in linear and nonlinear zones that can be utilized into a resonance of the primary oscillator. For small input excitation, the pendulum acts as a conventional tuned mass damper. However, for larger energy input, the pendulum acts in the nonlinear zone as NES to reduce primary mass vibration. Thus, a pendulum can dissipate energies in a relatively broad spectrum. This article presents a numerical analysis of pendulum NES for control and energy harvesting.

Pradeep V. Malaji
Effect of Input Velocity on the Output of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) are finding applications in the advanced scientific fields and seem to be a promising and rapidly growing innovation. A rarely researched field regarding VAWT is on analyzing the effects of various input velocities for bidirectional wind flow on the vertical axis wind turbines due to the complex and unsteady wind flow characteristics. In the current study, three-dimensional simulations are carried out, and the static and dynamic results are then reported for different values of rotational speed. The outcomes like output velocities and pressure are analyzed for a range of input velocities in a Savonius wind turbine. Different input velocities in the range of 10 m/s, 15 m/s, 20 m/s and 25 m/s were studied. The model for the rotor was designed on Solidworks 2018, and numerical analysis was carried out for a bidirectional wind input on commercial CFD software, ANSYS Fluent v16.0. From the analysis, the output velocity and pressure graphs were plotted with respect to the input air velocity and compared.

Sankgeeth Vennila Sigamani, Shami Jose Jose Robin, Arun Prakash Chandran, B. Anand Ronald
Radiative Heat Transfer of Magnetic Nanofluid Flow Past a Porous Inclined Plate: A Mathematical Model

This paper numerically investigates radiative magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow of nanofluids over a porous inclined plate in the presence of viscous dissipation. The governing partial differential equations are converted into nonlinear differential equations by using a suitable similarity transformation, which are solved numerically using Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg fourth-fifth-order method along with shooting technique. Two types of nanoparticles are discussed, namely copper (Cu) and alumina (Al2O3) in the base fluid of water. Maxwell Garnetts and Brinkman models are used for the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of the nanofluids, respectively. The velocity and temperature distributions are obtained for various governing physical parameters and are presented graphically. In addition, the evolution of skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number values with selected parameters is presented. Comparison is made with previously published work and found to be in good agreement.

M. Shanmugapriya
A GA-ANFIS Model for the Prediction of Biomass Elemental Properties

The elemental composition of biomass is a significant property, which determines the energy content of biomass feedstock. This article develops a prediction model based on a hybrid adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) optimized with genetic algorithm (GA). The model inputs were the proximate constituents of biomass which are ash, fixed carbon, and volatile matter. These were used to predict the hydrogen (H), oxygen (O) and carbon (C) content of biomass fuels. The proposed algorithm was evaluated based on some known performance metrics. The root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute deviation (MAD), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), coefficient of correlation (CC), mean absolute error (MAE) are 3.673, 2.4609, 5.1757, 0.9464, 0.309 at computation time (CT) of 33.65 secs for carbon (C); 0.6293, 0.4168, 8.3011, 0.75581, 0.0716 at CT of 40.21 secs for hydrogen (H); 4.4538, 3.1042, 13.3983,0.9167, 0.9899 at CT of 33.57 secs for oxygen (O), respectively. Regression analysis was also carried out to determine the level of dependence among the correlated variables. The model performance shows that GA-ANFIS can be applied in the computation of the elemental composition of biomass for strategic decision-making.

Obafemi O. Olatunji, Stephen Akinlabi, Nkosinathi Madushele, Paul A. Adedeji
Metadata
Title
Trends in Manufacturing and Engineering Management
Editors
Dr. S. Vijayan
Nachiappan Subramanian
Prof. K. Sankaranarayanasamy
Copyright Year
2021
Publisher
Springer Singapore
Electronic ISBN
978-981-15-4745-4
Print ISBN
978-981-15-4744-7
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4745-4

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