Search

Milling machines are widely used for producing a range of products used across various industries such as mold and dies, consumer products, automotive, etc. One of the main components of a milling machine is the spindle drive. The spindle essentially provides the rotational movement of the cutting tool and the power required for material cutting. Commonly, a servo or gearbox electric motor is used for powering the spindle. An alternative method is to use a hydraulic-powered motor. In this study, a hydraulic-powered spindle is developed and installed on a milling machine. Analysis of the milling process with the hydraulic spindle as well as the determination of machining parameters is compared with the conventional mechanical spindle. Mechanical spindles have disadvantages such as unstable spindle speeds under different operating conditions, mechanical impedance in gears, and thermal stress problems, which can have negative effects on part surface quality and cutting forces. On the other hand, the hydraulic spindle has advantages, such as higher stability, higher performance accuracy, and thermal stress removal, which may be the main factors in this study. Milling experiments were performed using AISI 304 stainless steel to compare the performance of the hydraulic spindle with the mechanical spindle in terms of surface roughness and cutting forces. Three factors including spindle rotational speed, feed rate, and depth of cut were selected as input parameters. The results showed that surface roughness and cutting force in hydraulic spindle milling improved significantly compared to that from the mechanical spindle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High accuracy in production parts and manufacturing quality are the requirements of production. Residual stress affects the surface quality and dimensional accuracy of manufactured parts. Production of parts with geometric tolerance, optimal residual stress, and suitable surface quality is always required by manufacturing industries. When machining parts, tensile residual stresses are created in them, which is one of the main reasons for the loss of geometric tolerances and distortion in the workpiece. This study investigated the effect of the ultrasonic-assisted vibration compared with conventional machining in various conditions of a 2024 aluminum workpiece on the surface quality, runout, straightness, and tensile residual stresses. In this article, the effects of geometric tolerance parameters, tensile residual stress, and surface roughness have been investigated simultaneously. A total of 18 experiments in different cutting speeds and feed rates in two machining states of conventional and ultrasonic vibration states were performed. The results showed that ultrasonic vibrations could be used to achieve 31% lower run out and 36% lower straightness in the parts. Also, the values of tensile residual stress in the ultrasonic vibration machining were 11% lower compared to conventional machining. Ultrasonic vibrations can also be used in most cases to achieve better surface quality, tolerance, and tensile residual stress according to machining parameters compared to conventional machining. The experimental results show that ultrasonic-assisted turning is a reliable method for machining, which can obtain lower tensile residual stress and improve the machined surface integrity and better tolerances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many developing countries, Iran faces air pollution, especially in its metropolises and industrial cities. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is one of the significant air pollutants; therefore, this study aims to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of NO2 using Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) sensor mounted on the Sentinel-5P (S5P) satellite and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform over Iran. In addition, we used ground truth data to assess the correlation between data acquired by this sensor and ground stations. The results show that there is a strong correlation between products of the TROPOMI sensor and data provided by the Air Quality Monitoring Organization of Iran. The results also display that the correlation coefficient (R) of NO2 between ground truth data and the TROPOMI sensor varies in the range of 0.4 to 0.92, over three years. Over an annual period (2018 to 2021) and wide area, these data can become valuable points of reference for NO2 monitoring. In addition, this study proved that the tropospheric NO2 concentrations are generally located over the northern part of Iran. According to the time and season, the concentration of the tropospheric NO2 column shows higher values during winter than in the summertime. The results show that a higher concentration of the tropospheric NO2 column is in winter while in some southern and central parts of the country more NO2 concentration can be seen in the summertime. This study indicates that these urban areas are highly polluted, which proves the impact of pollutants such as NO2 on the people living there. In other words, small parts of Iran are classified as high and very highly polluted areas, but these areas are the primary location of air pollution in Iran. We provide a code repository that allows spatiotemporal analysis of NO2 estimation using TROPOMI time-series images within GEE. This method can be applied to other regions of interest for NO2 mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was recently demonstrated that ultrasonic vibrations could result in lower forming forces and a better surface finish in a wide range of metal forming processes. The Nakazima stretch-forming test is a long-established experimental procedure for the formability evaluation of sheet metals. Today, the development of a standard test is critical for assessing sheet metals' formability enhancement due to ultrasonic vibrations, which can potentially unlock the material selection limit in various manufacturing applications. This study aims to present a method and apparatus for effectuating the forming limit diagram (FLD). At the same time, high-frequency ultrasonic vibrations are combined with the movement of the forming tool. Taking St14 steel as an example, the mechanical and microstructural properties such as formability, Micro-Vickers hardness, and grain sizes were systematically investigated. Furthermore, the conventional FLD, as well as the novel "Ultrasonic-Assisted Forming Limit Diagram" (UA-FLD), were attained and compared with a nonlinear regression-based approach. The results have indicated that superimposing ultrasonic vibrations with the amplitude of 15µm at the frequency of 20 kHz to the tool would cause a notable enhancement in forming limit diagram, a maximum of 28% increase in hardness, and a 23% reduction in average grain size of the specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence concerning the impact of long-term exposure to fine Particulate Matter ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) on Cardio-Vascular Diseases (CVDs) for those people subject to ambient air pollution in developing countries remains relatively scant. This study assessed the relationship of 15-year PM2.5 exposure with cardiovascular incidence and mortality rate in Isfahan province, Iran.Methods: The cohort comprised 3081 participants over 35 years old who were free of CVDs. They were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling in Isfahan, Iran. PM2.5 exposure was determined separately for each individual via satellite-based spatiotemporal estimates according to their residential addresses. In this context, CVD is defined as either fatal and non-fatal Acute Myocardial Infarctions (AMI) or stroke and sudden cardiac death. The incidence risk for CVD and the ensuing mortality was calculated based on the average PM2.5 exposure within a study period of 15 years using the Cox proportional hazards frailty model upon adjusting individual risk factors. The mean annual rate of PM2.5 and the follow-up data of each residential area were combined.Results: Mean three-year PM2·5 exposure for the cohort was measured at 45.28 μg/m3, ranging from 20.01 to 69.80 μg/m3. The median time period for conducting necessary follow-ups was 12.3 years for the whole population. Notably, 105 cardiovascular and 241 all-cause deaths occurred among 393,786 person-months (27 and 61 per 100,000 person-months, respectively). In well-adjusted models, 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 corresponded to a 3% increase in the incidence rate of CVDs [0.95 CI = 1.016, 1.036] (in case of p = 0.000001 per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, the Hazard Ratio (HR) for AMI and Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) was 1.031 [0.95 CI = 1.005, 1.057] and 1.028 [0.95 CI = 1.017, 1.039]), respectively. No consistent association was observed between PM2.5 concentration and fatal CVD (fatal AMI, fatal stroke, SCD (Sudden Cardiac Death)) and all-cause mortality.Conclusions: Results from analyses suggest that the effect of PM2.5 on cardiovascular disease occurrence was stronger in the case of older people, smokers, and those with high blood pressure and diabetes. The final results revealed that long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 with high concentrations positively correlated with IHD incidence and its major subtypes, except for mortality. The outcome accentuates the need for better air quality in many countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turn-milling process has been paid attention in order to be used in multi-task machining processes. Moreover, looking for new machining techniques aimed at reducing cutting force is of important. Reducing cutting force in machining processes has the benefits of extending tool life and improving surface quality. One of the new concepts for reducing the cutting force is applying ultrasonic vibration. In this paper, effects of ultrasonic vibration under different machining parameters in turn-milling process of Al-7075 alloy will be investigated. In this order, a special mechanism was designed to apply ultrasonic vibration during machining process. Ultrasonic vibration exertion on the tool reduced cutting force and surface roughness up to 75% and 35%, respectively. Also tool rotational speed increment induced cutting force and surface roughness increment. In addition, tool feed rate and workpiece rotational speed increment caused cutting force and surface roughness increment. Although, feed rate was more influential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of the people with incomplete spinal cord injury lose their walking ability, due to the weakness of their muscle motors in providing torque. As a result, developing assistive devices to improve their conditionis of great importance. In this study, a combined application of the saddle-assistive device (S-AD) and mechanical medial linkage or thosis was evaluated to improve the walking ability in patients with spinal cord injury in the gait laboratory. This mobile assistive device is called the saddle-assistive device equipped with medial linkage or thosis (S-ADEM). In this device, a mechanical orthosis was used in a wheeled walker as previously done in the literature. Initially, for evaluation of the proposed assistive device, the experimental results related to the forces and torques exerted on the feet and upper limbs of a person with the incomplete Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) during walking usingthe standard walker were compared with an those obtained from using the S-ADEM on an able-bodied subject. It was found that using this combination of assistive devices decreases the vertical force and torque on the foot at the time of walking by 53% and 48%, respectively compared to a standard walker. Moreover, the hand-reaction force on the upper limb was negligible instanding and walking positions usingthe introduced device. The findings of this study revealed that the walking ability of the patients with incomplete SCI was improved using the proposed device, which is due to the bodyweight support and the motion technology used in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]