Inconel 718 is a Ni superalloy with superior mechanical properties, even at high temperatures. However, due to its high hardness and low thermal conductivity, it is considered a difficult-to-machine ...material. This material is widely used in applications that require good dimensional stability, making the milling process the most used in machining this alloy. The wear resulting from this process and the quality of the machined surface are still challenging factors when it comes to Inconel 718. TiAlN-based coating has been used on cutting tools with Yttrium as a doping element to improve the process performance. Based on this, this work evaluated the machined surface integrity and wear resistance of cutting tools coated using Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) HiPIMS with TiAlYN in the end milling of Inconel 718, varying the process parameters such as cutting speed (
), feed per tooth (
), and cutting length (
). It was verified that the
is the parameter that exerts the most significant influence since, even at small distances, Inconel 718 already generates high tool wear (TW). Furthermore, the main wear mechanisms were abrasive and adhesive wear, with the development of a built-up edge (BUE) under a125 m/min feed rate (
) and a
= 15 m. Chipping, cracking, and delamination of the coating were also observed, indicating a lack of adhesion between the coating and the substrate, suggesting the need for a good interlayer or the adjustment of the PVD parameters.
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Build-up-edge (BUE), high-temperature machining and tool wear (TW) are some of the problems associated with difficult-to-machine materials for high-temperature applications, contributing ...significantly to high-cost manufacturing and poor tool life (TL) management. A detailed review of non-traditional machining processes that ease the machinability of INCONEL
, decrease manufacturing costs and suppress assembly complications is thus of paramount significance. Progress taken within the field of INCONEL
non-conventional processes from 2016 to 2023, the most recent solutions found in the industry, and the prospects from researchers have been analysed and presented. In ensuing research, it was quickly noticeable that some techniques are yet to be intensely exploited. Non-conventional INCONEL
machining processes have characteristics that can effectively increase the mechanical properties of the produced components without tool-workpiece contact, posing significant advantages over traditional manufacturing.
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Injection moulds are crucial to produce plastic and lightweight metal components. One primary associated challenge is that these may suffer from different types of failures, such as wear and/or ...cracking, due to the extreme temperatures (T), thermal cycles, and pressures involved in the production process. According to the intended geometry and respective needs, mould manufacturing can be performed with conventional or non-conventional processes. This work focuses on three foremost alloys: AMPCO® (CuBe alloy), INVAR-36® (Fe-Ni alloys, Fe-Ni36), and heat-treated (HT) steels. An insight into the manufacturing processes’ limitations of these kinds of materials will be made, and solutions for more effective machining will be presented by reviewing other published works from the last decade. The main objective is to provide a concise and comprehensive review of the most recent investigations of these alloys’ manufacturing processes and present the machinability challenges from other authors, discovering the prospects for future work and contributing to the endeavours of the injection mould industry. This review highlighted the imperative for more extensive research and development in targeted domains.
With a view to maintaining the competitiveness required by the market, the automotive industry strongly encourages its suppliers to develop new production methods and technologies capable of reducing ...the costs of produced products, ensuring the necessary quality, and increasing flexibility, with a view to responding more easily to the customization of the products that the market increasingly demands. The main goal of this work was to increase the flexibility and productivity of equipment capable of producing the first subset that constitutes the product commonly known as the Bowden cable. To this end, the design science research methodology was used, which was understood as the most effective in describing scientific work related to the improvement of existing systems. Bowden cables are cables that activate various devices in the car, such as opening doors, moving window glasses, and adjusting some car seats, among others. The work consisted of integrating several operations usually carried out for the manufacture of the referred subset, reducing logistics operations and manual work, increasing operator safety, and increasing the production rate and flexibility of the equipment, by reducing the setup time. For this purpose, new mechanical concepts were developed, and automation was applied, which resulted in a completely new concept, able to fulfill all the objectives initially set. It should be noted here that the new equipment allowed a production rate of 1140 p/h, when the initial objective was 1100 p/h; it requires an investment of only around EUR 55,000 (easy return on investment), occupies only 11.6 m2, and has reinforced safety systems to avoid workers’ injuries, an aspect that is very important in this type of equipment, where operators deal with cutting systems and high temperatures. The dissemination of this concept could help other researchers to easily find solutions to certain problems that they face in the development of modern equipment. The main contributions of this paper are the novel concepts created to overcome some process difficulties, which can be used for a wide range of other processing situations with similar difficulties. The solutions proposed allow a decrease in the cycle time, present high flexibility, save workshop space, and are affordable in terms of global cost.
Machining INCONEL® presents significant challenges in predicting its behaviour, and a comprehensive experimental assessment of its machinability is costly and unsustainable. Design of Experiments ...(DOE) can be conducted non-destructively through Finite Element Analysis (FEA). However, it is crucial to ascertain whether numerical and constitutive models can accurately predict INCONEL® machining. Therefore, a comprehensive review of FEA machining strategies is presented to systematically summarise and analyse the advancements in INCONEL® milling, turning, and drilling simulations through FEA from 2013 to 2023. Additionally, non-conventional manufacturing simulations are addressed. This review highlights the most recent modelling digital solutions, prospects, and limitations that researchers have proposed when tackling INCONEL® FEA machining. The genesis of this paper is owed to articles and books from diverse sources. Conducting simulations of INCONEL® machining through FEA can significantly enhance experimental analyses with the proper choice of damage and failure criteria. This approach not only enables a more precise calibration of parameters but also improves temperature (T) prediction during the machining process, accurate Tool Wear (TW) quantity and typology forecasts, and accurate surface quality assessment by evaluating Surface Roughness (SR) and the surface stress state. Additionally, it aids in making informed choices regarding the potential use of tool coatings.
Automotive industries require constant technological development and the capacity to adapt to market needs. Hence, component suppliers must be able to adapt to persistent trend changes and technical ...improvements, acting in response to customers’ expectations and developing their manufacturing methods to be as flexible as possible. Concepts such as layout flexibility, management of industrial facilities, and building information modeling (BIM) are becoming ever more addressed within the automotive industry in order to envision and select the necessary information exchanges. Given this question and based on the gap in the literature regarding this subject, this work proposes a solution, developing a novel tool that allows the monitoring and assignment of newer/relocated equipment to the switchboards within a given industrial plant. The solution intends to increase the flexibility of production lines through the assessment, analysis, improvement, and reorganization of the electrical load distribution to develop projects accurately implying layout changes. The tool is validated with an automotive manufacturer. With the implementation of this open-source tool, a detailed electrical flow management system is accomplished, and it has proven successful and essential in raising levels of organizational flexibility. This has guaranteed the company’s competitiveness with effective integrated administration methods and tools, such as a much easier study upon inserting new/relocated equipment without production line breaks.
A consistent evolution in materials developed for the industry and chip-start cutting processes has been acknowledged over the years. Cutting tool improvement through applying advanced coatings has ...proven very effective, enabling tool life (TL) extension while ensuring better surface quality. TiAlTaN coating enhances TL and surface quality in machining processes. However, only minimal research has been dedicated to comprehending the interaction between workpieces composed of Cu-Be and diamond tools. AMPCO®, a Cu-Be alloy, plays a crucial role in moulding inserts, offering high wear resistance and contributing to extended mould longevity and improved productivity. The main objective of this work is to assess, identify, and quantify tool wear (TW) mechanisms evaluation while machining AMPCO® with WC-Co uncoated tools and TiAlTaN-coated tools by physical vapour deposition (PVD). Evaluating tool performance while varying cutting length (Lcut) and feed rate (f) at three distinct levels and analysing the surface roughness (SR) produced in the machined surface were the primary purposes of this work. The results obtained with coated tools were distinct from those obtained with uncoated tools. While uncoated tools suffered from substrate abrasion and adhesion, the coated tools suffered mainly from delamination, followed by chipping. Furthermore, f and Lcut significantly influence the quality of the machined surface. TiAlTaN-coated tools performed significantly worse than uncoated tools, proving that the coating needs significant improvements to be considered as an alternative in milling Cu-Be alloys.
The use of coatings on cutting tools offers several advantages from the point of view of wear resistance. A recent technique with great coating deposition potential is PVD HiPIMS. TiAlN-based ...coatings have good resistance to oxidation due to the oxide layer that is formed on their surface. However, by adding doping elements such as Vanadium, it is expected that the wear resistance will be improved, as well as its adhesion to the substrate surface. INCONEL® 718 is a nickel superalloy with superior mechanical properties, which makes it a difficult-to-machine material. Milling, due to its flexibility, is the most suitable technique for machining this alloy. Based on this, in this work, the influence of milling parameters, such as cutting speed (Vc), feed per tooth (fz), and cutting length (Lcut), on the surface integrity and wear resistance of TiAlVN-coated tools in the milling of INCONEL® 718 was evaluated. The cutting length has a great influence on the process, with the main wear mechanisms being material adhesion, abrasion, and coating delamination. Furthermore, it was noted that delamination occurred due to low adhesion of the film to the substrate, as well as low resistance to crack propagation. It was also observed that using a higher cutting speed resulted in increased wear. Moreover, in general, by increasing the milling parameters, machined surface roughness also increased.
The present study aimed to investigate whether different lines of a composite breed (5/8 Charolais × 3/8 Zebu), formed at different times, and genetically improved, would result in differences in ...animal performance, enteric methane emissions, and carcass traits. Forty-six Canchim steers (15 months, 280 ± 33 kg liveweight) from three different lines were used: old, new, and their cross. These three breed lines were considered the treatments (arranged in four randomized blocks based on initial liveweight) and were evaluated under grazing and feedlot conditions in relation to the performance and emission of enteric methane. During the grazing period, the new line was found to be superior to the old only in relation to the average daily liveweight gain (0.692 vs. 0.547 kg/day), and with no differences in relation to the cross line (0.692 vs. 0.620). In the feedlot finishing phase, only the average daily liveweight gain was significantly higher in the new line compared to the cross and old line (1.44 vs. 1.32 and 1.23 kg/day). The new and cross lines demonstrated higher dry matter intake when compared to the old line (10.25 and 10.42 vs. 9.11 kg/day), with the crossline animals demonstrating the best feed conversion. The new line showed higher enteric methane emissions compared to the old line (178 vs. 156 g/day). The line had an effect on the carcass dressing of the animals, with greater fat thickness in carcasses from the new and cross lines than the old line (4.4 and 3.8 vs. 3.2 mm). Canchim cattle selected for improved productive performance characteristics does not guarantee animals with lower methane emissions under grazing conditions; while in feedlots, can lead to increased daily feed consumption, and hence, to higher emissions of methane.
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Abstract
Increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from anthropogenic activities have contributed to global warming and consequently to climate change. Among all sources of emissions, the ...agricultural sector accounts for just under a quarter, mainly because of the intensification of food production systems necessary to supply the growing demand of the population. As ruminal fermentation is the largest source of methane emission in the livestock industry, emission by cattle has become the focus of studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate enteric methane emission and emission intensities of Nellore cattle at different ages submitted to levels of intensification of the grazing system. Twenty-four animals per cycle (age of 21.8 and 13.1 mo in cycles 1 and 2, respectively) were randomly distributed across different grazing systems: irrigated pasture with a high stocking rate (IHS), dryland pasture with a high stocking rate (DHS), recovering dryland pasture with a moderate stocking rate (DMS), and degraded pasture with a low stocking rate (DP). Methane emission was measured using the sulfur hexafluoride technique in each season of the cycle. Intensive systems provided higher yields of good-quality forage as well as superior animal performance when compared with DP. Methane yields were different between seasons and cycles. Methane emissions per average daily weight gain and dry matter digestible intake were different between treatments. Differences in the results were observed when they were analyzed per hectare, with the highest gain yield (P = 0.0134), stocking rate, weight gain, carcass production, and total methane emission (P < 0.0001) being found for the intensive systems. There were no differences in emissions per weight gain or carcass production between production systems, while a difference was observed between cycles (P = 0.0189 and P = 0.0255, respectively), resulting in lower emission intensities for younger animals. We conclude that more intensive systems resulted in a higher kilograms production of carcass per hectare; however, animals at 19 mo of age raised in the IHS and DMS systems had a lower emission intensity in kilogram of CO2-eq. per kilogram of carcass. Moderate intensification (DMS) using animals at about 19 mo of age might be an effective strategy to mitigate GHG emissions from Brazilian tropical pastures. Further studies are needed to understand the relationship between increasing productivity and decreasing environmental impacts, especially methane emission from ruminants.