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By C. Y. Tang, Z. H. Chen, T. C. Lee

"In sheet metal forming process, the forming limit and strain distribution are governed by plastic instability and fracture following strain localization. It has been proved that the temperature gradient caused by plastic deformation as well as friction is one of the crucial factors to induce the strain localization in high-speed metal forming processes. In this paper, a numerical simulation of the sheet metal extrusion process has been conducted by using thermal-mechanical coupling finite element method. An improved mixed finite element method has been used to solve the large deformation elasto-plastic problem. In thermal phase, the transient heat transfer finite element method together with the Crank-Nicholson algorithm has been employed to determine the temperature field. Both the numerical results and the experimental observations reveal that the temperature gradient plays an important role in inducing the strain localization, which eventually leads to fracture failure in the sheet metal extrusion process.IntroductionSheet metal extrusion is such a process where the extrusion punch penetrates into one surface of the sheet metal material to let it extrude and flow towards the outlet of the die. This process can be used to produce protruding parts on a strip material. In engineering applications, the quality of the product is affected by many factors such as stress state, loading speed, material properties and lubrication condition. The research on failure mechanisms and improvement of formability in sheet metal forming processes by exploitation of differential thermal conditions has been of great interest recently [1-3]. It has been proved that the temperature gradient caused by plastic deformation, heat transfer, and friction between sheet and tools is one of crucial factors to affect 'the formability in high speed sheet metal forming processes [4]. In our previous study of sheet metal extrusion, it has been observed that plastic deformation is highly localized and some specimens are subjected to fracture failure in the form of crack propagation [5]. To understand this failure phenomenon, the effects of temperature gradients must not be ignored."

Jan 1, 2001

By Federico Chavez

The process for recovering lead from battery residues used in several Mexican Plants include lead blast furnace and rotary furnaces. The formers are basically fed with recycled batteries together with the necessary additives to produce metallic lead. One of the by-products generated in the blast furnace is a dust mainly formed by lead sulfide. The rotary furnace is used to recover lead .from lead batteries, dross from the refining-alloying process and the leady fines produced in the blast furnace. This paper describes thennodynamic analysis made to the rotary furnace process to understand the effect that each component of the system has upon the lead recovery. In order to enhance the process, the influence of iron chips composition and excess coke on slag viscosity is discussed. A computer optimization program . has been developed to design the furnace charge based on material and energy balances, .together with the thennodynamic equilibrium calculation.

Jan 1, 1995

By Xuling Chen, Yi Wang, Xiaohui Fan

"The current control method of grate-kiln iron ore oxide pellet production is lack of accuracy and normalization due to the limited detection conditions. Therefore, mathematical models of grate-kiln temperature field are presented. With calculation of gas-particle heat transfer as well as enthalpy changes of moisture evaporation and magnetite oxidation, the thermal history of pellets throughout grate-kiln process can be acquired and used for production status estimation. Taking the calculated results as well as detected data in production as inputs, process parameters such as running speed, fan opening and coal injection rate as adjusting objects, expert system for grate-kiln pellet production is outlined. And the preheating section dominated control strategy is explained. Results of production application show that the stability rate of gas temperature in gas hood of preheating section is increased from 91.0% to 94.2%, compressive strength and first grade rate of pellet are increased by 3.62% and 2.36%, respectively, while FeO content is 18.18% lower. Control guidance of this expert system can solve production anomalies effectively, stabilize grate-kiln iron ore oxide pellet production and improve pellet quality.IntroductionSteel industry in China has developed rapidly in recent years. China’s crude steel production in 2010 is nearly 627 million, which is 44.2% of the world total production. Burden with higher quality is demanded by enlargement and modernization of blast furnaces. And oxide pellet production has become a growing concern. In 2010, the total production of pellet in China is 110 million, and about 60% is produced by grate-kiln process."

Jan 1, 2012

By Alicia E. Ares, Carlos E. Schvezov

In the present work it was observed the nucleation and growth of grains in the equiaxed zone of metal matrix composites (MMCs) samples directionally solidified wit the presence of columnarto- equiaxed transition (CET) in the samples. In order to do so, first, it was defined the difference between the real temperature at a given instant, which it is used in the analysis, its variation and furthermore, the variation in the solid fraction with time between the beginning and the end of solidification. It was determined a growth law assuming a lineal variation of equiaxed grain radius as a function of time, and also, it was expressed a law of grain density as a function of time, considering the presence of SiC and Al2O3 particles in the matrix. Finally, the results obtained were validated with measured values of grain density at each position of the thermocouples in the equiaxed zone of the solidified samples.

Jan 1, 2015

By M. Tamura, K. Fujita, K Shinozuka, H. Daimon, H. Esaka

"In-situ observation of unidirectional solidification using transparent substance has been performed to investigate the growth direction of solid phase. Cell or dendrite of which preferred growth direction is not parallel to the heat flow direction was observed with various solidification conditions. Dimensionless growth direction (p) changes from 0 to 1 with increasing growth velocity at a constant temperature gradient. Introducing the dimensionless growth velocity, the relation between p and growth condition could be correlated.IntroductionTransition in macroscopic solidified structure from chill to columnar zone which is found in normal castings takes place via grain selection1). Cast products such as turbine blades are unidirectionally solidified, grain selection plays an important role to choose suitable crystals which have reasonable orientation in the region called ""starter"", which is a very initial part of casting2). Therefore, grain selection is a very important process in the formation of casting structure. The present authors have been studying on the process of grain selection using succinonitrile, which is a transparent organic substance and have found that the growth distance necessary for grain selection depends upon the solidification condition3-5). When the solid/liquid interface is dendritic, the grain selection occurs quickly. On the other hand, when the solid/liquid interface is cellular, it occurs slowly. We supposed that the growth direction of dendrite is different from that of cell when the substance is unidirectionally solidified. Indeed, Kurz and Fisher wrote in their text book that dendrite grows along its preferred growth direction, <100>, regardless of heat flow direction and that cell grows along heat flow direction regardless of its preferred growth direction1). However, there is no quantitative description about the growth direction when the solid/liquid interfacial morphology is cellular. Furthermore, there have been little works6) to study the growth direction of cell and dendrite."

Jan 1, 2000

By A. De, J. S. Zuback, T. Mukherjee, T. DebRoy

For successful commercial applications of additive manufacturing, metallic parts need to be defect free, structurally sound and reliable. However, additively manufactured metallic parts are susceptible to distortion, lack of fusion defects and compositional changes. Methods to measure susceptibilities of various alloys to these defects are needed but not currently available. Here we show that the necessary theories can be developed based on a well-tested numerical heat transfer and fluid flow model and decades of research in the field of welding. The proposed theories are validated with experimental results reported in the literature.

Jan 1, 2016

By Jan Steinhoff

The design options of a gravity separator are still limited and rely on the study of settling behavior. A methodology will be presented where an experimentally given inlet droplet size distribution (DSD) is the basis for the calculation of the dispersion layer in a gravity separator. A pilot-scale continuous gravity separator is presented and CFD (computational fluid dynamic) results are validated. A transmitted light measurement technique for the determination of the DSD is presented up to a holdup of 15% dispersed phase. The resulting DSD was in the range of 20–2000 μm depending on flow rate and phase ratio. Furthermore, correlations of the real DSD with the settling behavior of the dispersion in a settling cell are discussed. The new approach to the description of gravity separators will be presented and the applied CFD methods showed good results with the system water/paraffin.

By D. M. Hausen

A refractory siliceous low-grade silver ore (265 g/t Ag) from a prospect in Sonora, Mexico was investigated mineralogically and metallurgically to evaluate extraction of the silver by conventional methods. Approximately half of the silver was recoverable, occurring as coarsely crystalline acanthite (70-300 Am) that was liberated in material crushed to minus 10 mesh. The remaining silver is refractory and occurs mostly as finely locked (-2 to 0.2 Am) acanthite in cherty quartz, and as minor amounts of finely disseminated stylotypite or freibergite in fluorite. The mineralogic data have thus served to explain the 50-60% recovery of silver by flotation and cyanidation.

Jan 1, 1991

By Minh H. Pham

This paper presents a technique for imaging the extent of solidification of molten metal flowing in a cooled pipe based on the concept of eddy currents. A 3D mathematical model, which relates the geometry of solidification to the scattered field induced in a solenoid external to the pipe, is derived. The model is described by a set of integral equations which are solved numerically using the moments method. An iterative algorithm is developed to reconstruct the solidification distribution image. Experimental measurements have shown that the eddy current technique is sufficiently sensitive for practical purposes.

Jan 1, 2001

By Satu Strömberg

A single-particle laminar-flow technique was used to study oxidation of two nickel concentrates and a granulated nickel matte (43 wt% of Ni). Experimental conditions were: reaction gas from N2 to N2 + 75 vol% O2; gas preheating temperatures ranging from 500 to 1100°C. The major nickel-bearing minerals in the two concentrates were pentlandite and violarite, respectively. Chemical analysis of the particles was used to determine the oxidation degree of the materials, and optical and scanning electron microscopy were used to detect their morphology and mineralogy. Total desulfurization of the nickel concentrates was achieved under the most oxidizing conditions, while the sulfur removal from the nickel matte was not as efficient, especially with the coarse size fraction. Pentlandite-based concentrate was found to be less reactive than the violarite-based.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. W. Matousek

In the flash smelting of copper sulfide concentrates, the course of reactions from the burner tip, through flame "burn-out" (the point of oxygen depletion), to settled matte and slag is of particular interest in understanding the mechanisms of the process. Numerous reaction sets can be proposed to describe the chemical changes that might be taking place, but from outside the furnace no one set offers an obvious advantage in explaining the actual processes involved. Only a combination of mathematical modeling and flame and bath sampling can achieve this result. This paper shows that flash smelting, while still reasonably orderly, is a more complex process than suggested by the technical literature.

Jan 1, 1993

By A. Valenzuela

During the last years, Chile has been the largest copper producer, either as concentrates or cathodes. Copper obtained via pyrometallurgy is produced by seven smelters, which have carried out modernization plans to increase smelting capacity or to achieve environmental regulations established in the Chilean legislation. Thus, the present work updates technological innovations in smelters, environmental regulations and presents solutions for S02 handling, particulate matter and arsenic. Also, the authors emphasize the important role of CODELCO Chile, the most important state-owned copper company, in developing technologies such as El Teniente Converter and El Teniente Slag Cleaning Furnace.

Jan 1, 2003

By J. McKelliget, J. Szekely, Oreper. G. M.

"1. INTRODUCTIONThis paper is concerned with heat and fluid flow phenomena in arc welding operations. Fig. 1 shows a schematic sketch of a typical arc welding arrangement. It is seen that an arc is being struck between an inert electrode and a metal surface and that the resultant current and energy flow will case the formation of a molten weldpool.It is clearly appreciated that the weldpool shape and the nature of circulation in the weldpool may play an important part in determining the ultimate weld quality. It is known, furthermore,· that the weldpool behavior in turn will be affected by the spatial distribution of the current and the heat flux it receives from the arc. Indeed, the inherent coupling between the arc and the weldpool is a key feature of welding operations.Up to the present useful work has been done on the modelling of heat transfer and melt circulation in weldpools (1,2,3,4) and also on the description of arcs, including welding arcs (5,6,7,8). However, the coupling between these two sets of phenomena is relatively unexplored in a qualitative sense. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the interaction between welding arcs and weldpools. The actual material will be presented under the following headings:"

Jan 1, 1986

By G. Brooks, J. Naser, M. A. Sattar

CFD models have been developed and numerical simulations have been carried out to predict the formation of foam in oxygen steelmaking. Foam was considered as a separate phase comprising a mixture of gas and liquid. Bubble break up and coalescence models have also been incorporated in a CFD model to predict the number density of individual bubble classes. A population balance equation was used to track the number density of each bubble class. Decarburization with heat generation from chemical reactions was integrated in the process. User subroutines were written in FORTRAN to incorporate the foam formation, the bubble break up and coalescence rate and decarburisation in the main program. The model predicted the foam height, bubble number density, velocity of phases, decarburization, and turbulence. The result from the model has been compared with available data from literature and found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental and plant data.

Jan 1, 2014

By Shekhar Bhansali, Shyam Aravamudhan

"This paper reports on the design and simulation results of a silicon bulk-micromachined diaphragm-type piezoresistive pressure sensor capable of operating linearly over a wide dynamic range (0-1000 meters of water). The piezoresistor elements of the sensor are arranged in a wheat stone bridge configuration to achieve a higher output response. Simulation results (output voltage and sensitivity analysis) obtained using coupled MemPZR-MemMech module of the CoventorWare2003 Finite Element tool are presented. The effect of diaphragm size, diaphragm thickness and thickness of the piezos on output sensitivity were analyzed and optimized to get a linear response over the wide dynamic range.IntroductionThe physical and biological processes in the ocean are critically influenced by ocean parameters (pressure, salinity and temperature). Thus there is a need to develop inexpensive and reliable sensors to continuously measure large volumes of sea-space over long time spans. A key component in any such system will be a pressure/depth sensor. This sensor is routinely employed in marine applications such as wave and tide gauges, tsunami detection, platform leveling etc. More significantly, pressure measurement is needed for depth determination. Depth sensors are vital for remote operated vehicles (ROVs), profiling instruments and towed arrays.Several techniques have been routinely used in the past to measure pressure in the marine environment [1-3]. In general, the pressure sensor design is based on a flexible membrane as the spring element for the sensing pressure [4]. The deflection of the membrane, induced by the applied pressure, is converted into an electrical output through a component that is sensitive to diaphragm deflection (capacitive coupling) or associated stresses (piezoresistors, strain gauges). The temperature compensated pressure measurement can be readily converted to depth using"

Jan 1, 2004

By Zhaohui Xie, Bin Xu, Qian Li, Yongbin Yang, Tao Jiang

A high carbon low-grade gold ore, in which gold mainly occurs in carbonaceous matters, is a typical refractory gold ore whose conventional cyanide leaching extraction is only 12.9 %. In this paper, by the process of flotation-roasting-leaching, gold was effectively enriched and extracted. The flotation results showed that the enrichment ratio of gold was relevant to that of carbon, indicating that gold occurred in close association with carbon. A concentrate containing gold 7.26 g/t and carbon 12.37 % was obtained, with gold recovery 83.10 % and carbon recovery 90.24 %. Subsequently, the roasting of flotation concentrate favorably made the removal rates of carbon and sulfur reach 99.81% and 98.79%, respectively. After roasting, the gold in the roasted product was further enriched to 29.70 g/t and the optimal gold cyanide leaching extraction reached 93.66%.

Jan 1, 2015

By Peng Lv, Shiqian Liu, Bin Xu, Qian Li, Yongbin Yang, Tao Jiang

The treatment process of a low-grade refractory gold ore containing sulfide minerals and carbonaceous matters was studied in this work. The gold extraction of this ore by all-sliming cyanidation was only 11.75%. Hence, a pretreatment was necessary. In this paper, a flotation-preoxidation-cyanide leaching process was developed. The concentrate from the flotation procedure was processed using different preoxidation methods. A concentrate containing 34.08g/t of gold with the gold recovery ratio of 81.20% was obtained by flotation. After roasting, microwave heating or alkaline pressure oxidation, the gold cyanidation ratio reached 82.37%, 81.26% and 71.09% respectively. Roasting was an effective, reliable and mature technique to oxidize sulfide minerals and carbonaceous matters. Roasting and microwave heating both produced dangerous environmental pollutants while alkaline pressure oxidation was eco-friendly.

Jan 1, 2015

By C. M. Antony

The galvanizing process involves the use of accessory equipment in a series of aggressive environments including zinc ammonium chloride flux, molten zinc at 45S°C (850°F), and acid for stripping of adherent zinc. An Fe-Ni-Cr-Co alloy has been identified which combines excellent strength and resistance to molten zinc and acid attack making it suitable for accessory equipment. The alloy was field tested by a commercial galvanizer as basket material and was found to provide improved life compared to original low-alloy steel baskets while cross-section thickness was reduced 44%. Additionally, other associated processing cost savings were realized.

Jan 1, 1992

By R. Gampala

The consolidation of mom matrix composite monotapes occurs by the plastic (time independant) and creep deformation of monotape asperities. Past models of the process used seperate micromechanical analyses of the contact deformation by (rate independent) plasticity and power law creep (i.e steady state creep). These models are now used to simulate consolidation and to optimize/control consolidation process cycles so that the composite&apos;s microstructure is "steered" to, a user defined goal state. However, the models do not incorporate the sometimes dominant transient creep process and the instantaneous response of the plasticity mechanism causes finite discontinuities in the microstructure state vector field and therefore eliminates the possibility of using the powerful array of trajectory optimization schemes that all require continuous vector field for optimization and control. To overcome this problem, a inified creep/plasticity constitutive model that results in a continuous state vector field is used to rederive the contact deformation response during monotape consolidation. The contact blunting of a laterally constrained hemispherical asperity is first analyzed and its response represented by two coefficients; one relating the contact area to the blunting strain (C), the second, the mean contact pressure to the blunting rate (F).The C and F coefficients for this unified blunting problem are then obtained by finite element analysis, and detailed results presented for two composite matri-ces of topical interest (Ti-24A1-11Nb and Ti-6Al-4V).

Jan 1, 1996

The paper describes the propensity of tin to form intermetallic compounds with microalloying elements such as Nb, Ti and aluminium, which are commonly used as additions to achieve particular combination of strength and toughness. Two series of alloys were prepared by arc melting under an argon atmosphere. Each series was based on Fe, Sn and A1 with either Nb or Ti additions. The microstructures were studied using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and microprobe analysis. It was found that the level of Nb addition has an effect on the formation of Sn-rich compounds. For small Nb additions, no Sn containing compounds were found, whereas in higher Nb alloy, a Laves phase (FezNb, hexagonal, a = 0.4830 nm and c = 0.7879 nm) containing about 1 at % Sn was found. A FezNb3 phase (cubic, a = 1.1261 nm) associated with the formation of alumina was also found but did not contain tin. No Sn containing compounds were found with Ti additions. The experimental observations have been compared with thermodynamic calculations performed using MTDATA.

Jan 1, 1999