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Die and punch set forms convolutions in thin dished metal diaphragm without stretching the metal too thin at sharp curvatures. The die corresponds to the metal shape to be formed, and the punch consists of elements that progressively slide against one another under the restraint of a compressed-air cushion to mate with the die.
Female die facilitates the removal of a sheet metal structure from a die used for explosive forming of the metal. The female die consists of a smooth conical frustum made of fiber glass with a cured epoxy-resin surface on which a molded grid pattern made of a polyurethane resin is overlaid.
Continuing work on the two die-away measurements proposed to be made in the combined pulsed neutron experiment (CPNE) for analysis of lunar and planetary surfaces is described. This report documents research done during Phase 3. A general exposition of data analysis by the least-squares method and the related problem of the prediction of variance is given. A data analysis procedure for epithermal die-away data has been formulated. In order to facilitate the analysis, the number of independent material variables has been reduced to two: the hydrogen density and an effective oxygen density, the latter being determined uniquely from the nonhydrogeneous elemental composition. Justification for this reduction in the number of variables is based on a set of 27 new theoretical calculations. Work is described related to experimental calibration of the epithermal die-away measurement. An interim data analysis technique based solely on theoretical calculations seems to be adequate and will be used for future CPNE field tests.
Silicon sessile drop experiments were performed on a variety of commercially available refractory carbides, nitrides, oxides, and borides to examine the potential of these materials for applications involving either direct contact with molten silicon or as substrates for CVD coatings in the fabrication of dies and crucibles for containing molten silicon. Simultaneous experiments were also conducted with CVD layers of SiC, Si3N4, and SiOxNy. Silicon nitride layers, deposited with NH3:SiH4 ratios ranging from 100:1 down to 5:1, were examined in sessile drop experiments to determine if the layers are degraded as a result of using lower reagent ratios. Preliminary experiments were undertaken on the stability of CVD Si3N4 near the melting point of silicon. Silicon ribbon segments were grown from vitreous carbon dies which had been coated with CVD Si3N4. Depending upon the purity of the die materials, ribbon resistivity values up to 40 Omega cm were obtained.
Die configuration encourages purity and stable growth. Contour of die orifice changes near ribbon edges. As result, silicon ribbon has nearly constant width and little carbon contamination. Die part of furnace being developed to produce high-quality, low-cost material for solar cells.
Attachment to extruder produces thermoplastic-impregnated graphite tape. Consists of profile die, fiber/resin collimator, and crosshead die body. Die designed to be attached to commercially available extrusion machine capable of extruding high-performance thermoplastics. Simple attachment to commercial extruder enables developers of composites to begin experimenting with large numbers of proprietary resins, fibers, and hybrid composite structures. With device, almost any possible fiber/resin combination fabricated.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has recently launched an effort to economically expand the North American aluminum supply chain by designing and developing a new family of Al-Mg-Si-Fe-Mn structural die cast aluminum alloys that can be made from up to 100% mixed 5xxx and 6xxx series automotive post-consumer sheet scrap and do not require heat treatment. The goal is to develop an alloy capable of capturing the approaching scrap wave of aluminum sheet intensive vehicles (in the 2030’s) into integrated structural high pressure die castings, rather than down-cycling these high-grade sheet alloys into non-structural castings. ORNL discovered a significant gap in the commercial thermodynamic databases that were unable to predict the trends of a key primary intermetallic phase as a function of composition. Experiments were performed to correct this gap and to create a unique, corrected quaternary database for Al-Mg-Si-Fe. High throughput computational methods, including solidification simulations, were used to identify a composition volume capable of avoiding this embrittling primary intermetallic phase, even at higher Fe + Si contents. Laboratory scale castings validated the thermodynamic and solidification predictions and resulted in lab-cast alloys with little primary intermetallic, and which met or exceeded structural casting properties requirements for yield strength and ductility. An accelerated demonstration of an HPDC automotive part was conducted in collaboration with two U.S. small businesses. Ingots made from 100% recycled 5xxx and 6xxx series scrap (plus Fe) were used to die cast one variant of this new family of Al-Mg-Si-Fe-Mn alloys (with high Si + Fe content) into a mid-sized HPDC structural-type automotive component. The HPDC alloy demonstration part showed good properties (especially ductility) and good castability for a complex component.
To prevent distortion of extruded metal, a guidance assembly is aligned with the die. As the metal emerges from the extrusion dies, it passes directly into the receiver and straightening tube system, and the completed extrusion is withdrawn.
Tungsten forming in a press brake employs a bottom die assembly with a heating manifold between two water-cooled die sections. The manifold has hydrogen-oxygen burners spaced along its length for even heat during forming.
X = 0.75 Beta prime Sialon (a silicon aluminum oxynitride) and Sibeon (silicon beryllium oxynitride) are promising die materials. In sessile drop tests in contact with molten silicon, beryllium contamination was less than ppm and aluminum contamination 50 ppm. A shaping die of the Sialon material was successfully fabricated. Dry milling studies for the preparation of Si3N4-Al2O3-ALN mixtures were performed with butanol, acetic anhydride, oleic acid, and triethanolamine milling aids. Optimum mixing was achieved with 0.15 percent triethanolamine using a milling time of 8 hours. Preliminary evaluation of Sibeon materials indicates that they are more resistent to molten silicon attack than Sialon. Silicon contamination from the beryllium was less than aluminum contamination even though the aluminum impurity level in the Sibeon was only 450 to 1300 ppm. Work designed to produce an aluminum-free Sibeon is described.
Carbon extension for dies used in forming silicon ribbon crystals machined precisely with help of special tool. Die extension has edges beveled toward narrow flats at top, with slot precisely oriented and centered between flats and bevels. Cutting tool assembled from standard angle cutter and circular saw or saws. Angle cutters cuts bevels while slot saw cuts slot between them. In alternative version, custom-ground edges or additional circular saws also cut flats simultaneously.
This invention relates generally to pultrusion die assemblies, and more particularly, to a pultrusion die assembly which incorporates a plurality of functions in order to produce a continuous, thin composite fiber reinforced thermoplastic material. The invention is useful for making high performance thermoplastic composite materials in sheets which can be coiled on a spool and stored for further processing.
The flow pattern and solidification phenomena in die casting process have been investigated in the first phase study. The flow pattern in filling process is predicted by using a VOF (volume of fluid) method. A good agreement with experimental observation is obtained for filling the water into a die cavity with different gate geometry and with an obstacle in the cavity. An enthalpy method has been applied to solve the solidification problem. By treating the latent heat implicitly into the enthalpy instead of explicitly into the source term, the CPU time can be reduced at least 20 times. The effect of material properties on solidification fronts is tested. It concludes that the dependence of properties on temperature is significant. The influence of the natural convection over the diffusion has also been studied. The result shows that the liquid metal solidification phenomena is diffusion dominant, and the natural convection can affect the shape of the interface. In the second phase study, the filling and solidification processes will be considered simultaneously.
Seven commercial off the shelf (COTS) boards containing electronic devices (all in plastic packages, PEMS), under consideration for use in a spacecraft subsystem, were exposed to beams of very high energy ions at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (MSU). The ion energies were high enough that an entire board could be exposed in air, and it could still penetrate through the plastic and reach the silicon die. A total of about 300 runs were made, and for each, the LET of the ion entering the silicon die had to be determined, based on the thickness of the plastic lid and the thickness of overlaying materials (e.g., aluminum degraders). Single event latchup (SEL) and functional interrupt (SEFI) were determined during each run, the SEFI by means of simple programs being continuously written to and read from the boards to monitor functionality, while each part was being exposed to the heavy ions.
The microstructure and mechanical properties, along with the hot-die forming and joining of Ti-47Al-2Nb-2Mn-0.8 vol% TiB, sheets (known as 47XD), produced by a low-cost rolling process, were evaluated. A near-gamma microstructure was obtained in the as-rolled condition. The microstructures of heat-treated sheets ranged from a recrystallized equiaxed near-gamma microstructure at 1,200 to 1,310 C, to a duplex microstructure at 1,350 C, to a fully lamellar microstructure at 1,376 C. Tensile behavior was determined for unidirectionally rolled and cross-rolled sheets for room temperature (RT) to 816 C. Yield stress decreased gradually with increasing deformation temperature up to 704 C; above 704 C, it declined rapidly. Ultimate tensile strength exhibited a gradual decrease up to 537 C before peaking at 704 C, followed by a rapid decline at 816 C. The modulus showed a gradual decrease with temperature, reaching approximately 72% of the RT value at 816 C. Strain to failure increased slowly from RT to 537 C; between 537 C and 704 C it exhibited a phenomenal increase, suggesting that the ductile-brittle transition temperature was below 704 C. Fracture mode changed from transgranular fracture at low temperature, to a mixture of transgranular and intergranular fracture at intermediate temperature, to ductile fracture at 816 C, coupled with dynamic recrystallization at large strains. Creep rupture response was evaluated between 649 and 816 C over the stress range of 69 to 276 MPa. Deformation parameters for steady-state creep rate and time-to-rupture were similar: activation energies of approximately 350 kJ/mol and stress exponents of approximately 4.5. Hot-die forming of sheets into corrugations was done at elevated temperatures in vacuum. The process parameters to join sheets by diffusion bonding and brazing with TiCuNi 70 filler alloy were optimized for test coupons and successfully used to fabricate large truss-core and honeycomb structures. Nondestructive evaluation methods, e.g., ultrasonic C-scans and thermography along with metallography, were used to characterize bond quality. Microstructural evaluation during heat treatment, identification of phases at the braze/matrix interface, determination of shear strengths of brazed joints, and deformation mechanisms during tensile and creep processes will be discussed.
PrintCast composites are fabricated by infiltrating a metal mesh or preform (e.g., an additively-manufactured 316L lattices) with molten metal of a lower melting temperature (e.g., A380 aluminum). The resulting PrintCast composite has been shown in the literature to produce diverse and unique mechanical properties that are controllable at the local or global level by adjusting volume-fraction and/or topology of the preforms geometry and overall volume fraction. Although promising mechanical and thermal properties have been achieved at the laboratory scale level, the scalability from laboratory to full scale components has been limited using conventional casting infiltration. This work highlights how using high pressure die casting can significantly advance the development and eventual deployment of PrintCast approaches at large scales. We have successfully produced 9-inch by 6-inch by 1-inch thick PrintCast 316L stainless steel/A380 aluminum “bricks” via high pressure die casting. Initial findings show excellent infiltration and production capability. The resulting approach demonstrates the scalability and manufacturability of hybrid cost effective metal-metal matrix composites at larger length scales with high quality infiltration results.
This study uses friction stir processing (FSP) for thermomechanical processing of high-pressure die-casting (HPDC) to modify microstructure and improve mechanical properties. FSP is carried out on two different HPDC aluminum alloys: (a) general-purpose, high-iron, HPDC A380 alloy and (b) premium quality, low-iron HPDC Aural-5 alloy in thin wall, flat plate geometry. Subsequent mechanical testing shows ~30 % and ~65 % enhancement in yield strength and tensile ductility. In addition, FSP leads to ~10 times improvement in fatigue life for A380 alloy and ~70 % improvement in fracture toughness for Aural-5 alloy. These findings emphasize the capability of FSP to modify the microstructure of HPDC Al-alloys-based structural components so that they can demonstrate a good combination of strength, ductility, fracture toughness, and high fatigue properties for long-term durability and reliability.
Accurate thermal scattering laws (TSLs) are essential for reliable neutron transport simulations, particularly for systems with low-energy neutrons. Pulsed-neutron die-away (PNDA) experiments provide a highly sensitive platform for TSL validation but face challenges from fast neutron leakage and material constraints in nonhydrogenous targets such as beryllium. This work investigates the use of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as a premoderator to reduce leakage, improve thermalization, and shorten experimental run times while preserving sensitivity to the Be TSL. Here, three premoderated configurations, encapsulation, slab, and interstitial, were evaluated using MCNP6.3® simulations with ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data. The effects of the Be TSL was quantified by comparing decay constants from simulations with and without 𝑆(𝛼,𝛽) treatments for both beryllium and HDPE. The results show that premoderation enables the use of as little as 5.20% of the beryllium volume required for an unreflected geometry, achieving uncertainties below 0.5% and reducing run time by up to 72.2% in the studied configurations. The interstitial configuration achieved the best balance between low statistical uncertainty and high TSL sensitivity, outperforming the slab and encapsulation designs. These findings demonstrate that carefully optimized premoderation can significantly enhance the efficiency, feasibility, and precision of PNDA experiments for Be TSL validation.