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Metal matrix composites (MMCs) have become attractive in a variety of applications due to its advantage of having intermediate properties between metal and ceramic. This paper presents the investigation of the effect of sintering duration on mechanical properties of Al/SiC composites. In the present work, SiC particle reinforced Al matrix composites were produced via powder metallurgical processing. Pure aluminium powder with a particle size of 63 µm and silicon carbide powder with a particle size of 37µm were used. The range of sintering duration was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 h at a fixed temperature of 590 °C. The compressive, hardness and impact tests were performed on the sintered samples to characterize the mechanical properties. It was found that as the sintering duration increased from 1 to 6 hours, the mechanical properties of the samples were enhanced. Furthermore, microscopic observations showed that the porosity level decreased as the sintering duration was increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is to investigate the tensile strength of new palm oil based wax/HDPE/Palm oil fiber blends was investigated by using 2³ factorial design experiment. The palm oil based wax exhibits the potential of replacing the existing industrial blue wax which apply in prototype making. The industrial blue wax is widely used to produce part prototypes from the machining process. Hard and self-lubricating are the factors which this material are has been choosing in the industries and educational purposes. The. Hardness results has been taken to compare with the industrial blue wax. The result shows that the tensile strength of new palm oil based wax/HDPE/Palm oil fiber blend was obtained is higher compared to the existing industrial blue wax. However, since the cost of this new palm oil based wax is lower, it will be an attractive option to replace the existing industrial blue wax for prototype application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is to find the possibility of developing a new blend composite in order to produce a prototype for engineering application. The new palm oil based wax is a waste material produced from palm oil refining process. Recent prototyping activity, industrial blue wax is normally used to produce part prototypes from the machining process. Hence, the tensile strength of new palm oil based wax/LLDPE/Palm oil fiber blends was investigated. The result shows that the tensile strength of new palm oil based wax/LLDPE/Palm oil fiber blend was obtained is higher compared to the existing industrial blue wax. Machinability study covered surface roughness, chip formation characteristic, dimensional consistency and cutting tool wear. The higher tensile strength of the blend was selected to preceed for the machining test. The comparison results between LLDPE/palm oil based wax/ Palm oil fiber blends and Industrial blue wax were recorded. However, since the cost of this new palm oil based wax is lower, it will be an attractive option to replace the existing industrial blue wax for prototype application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milling is widely used metal removal process in manufacturing industry that involves generation of high cutting forces and temperature. Lubricants become important in order to reduce the cutting force and temperature for better machining processes and performances. Conventional cutting fluid has some limitations. The applications of conventional cutting fluid create some techno-environmental problems like environmental pollution, biological problems to operators and water pollution. Application of solid lubricant in milling has proved to be a feasible alternative to the conventional cutting fluids. The present work investigates the effect of boric acid as solid lubricant towards machining performances such as tool wear and surface roughness. The results indicate that boric acid can improve the cutting processes and performance compared to conventional cutting fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the investigation of the effect of sintering temperature on mechanical properties of Al/SiC composites. The composites were produced via conventional powder metallurgy processing. The particle size of Al and SiC powders are 63 µm and 37 µm respectively. The sintering temperatures exerted on the samples were 550, 570, 590, 610, 630 and 650°C at a fixed time of 1 h. The compressive, hardness and impact tests were performed on the sintered samples to characterize their mechanical properties. It was found that as the sintering temperature increase, the mechanical properties of the samples were also increased at earlier temperature and show a decrease trend thereafter. Similarly, this trend was also observed in the density test. Furthermore, microscopic observations showed that the porosity level decrease as the sintering temperature increase excluding at the temperature of 650°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays solid lubricant assisted machining had now become a new tendency, it seems to play its potential implementation to replace previously applied conventional coolant fluid assisted machining. However, the application of solid lubricant had been called into questions as whether it can perform better compared to conventional wet and dry machining, and which material serves the best candidate to be used as the lubricant. Hence, this project investigates the role of solid lubricant assisted machining with graphite powder extra pure on surface quality while machining AISI 1045 mild steel. There are four conditions of lubricants will be analyzed for this experiment. The conditions are fully ordinary coolant (MJS semi-synthetic coolant), and the mixture between ordinary coolant with 50 grams, 100 grams and 150 grams of graphite powder extra pure. The performance of solid lubricant assisted machining will be analyzed in measuring the surface roughness quality and compared with wet machining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project aims to design and fabricate an die for molding test press. Mold Test Press Machine uses the concept of Compression Molding/Hot Press Molding. This project will be handled from the beginning of the design until the mold goes through the trial process. The design will generate by using CATIA engineering software. The NC code for fabrication process will generate also by using CATIA software in prismatic mode. After the fabrication processes are completed, it will go through the test and trial procedures to make sure the design of the mold is able to make a specimen pot. It will use as a test specimen for mechanical testing in research and development programs and also for education purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project investigates the possibility of developing scheduling heuristic using bottleneck approach for a three machine flow shop scheduling with the tendency of dominant machine at the first process. Due to the re-entrant and permutation nature of the process routing, the actual bottlenecks were identified as M3 and it utilized makespan algorithms to identify bottleneck categories. Using these conditions, a new bottleneck based heuristic which called BB is developed and tested using Macro Programming in Microsoft Excel. The main objective of this project is to evaluate the performance of M3 bottleneck-based heuristic for M1M2M3 flow shop problems. A total of 3000 simulations were conducted using randomly data in order to evaluate the accuracy of the heuristic. The heuristic performance was evaluated for six and ten job problems. The dominance level groups are divided into levels of weak, medium and strong dominance. For each job problem, the BB results were compared against the results of complete enumeration and lower bound analysis. The results suggested that BB heuristic is very effective in solving scheduling problems within the strong P3 dominance level range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed to identify and solve the problem faced by S. Y. Chong Foundry. A project has been assigned on this two wheel tractor. One of the problems has been found which is located on Rotavator Cover of Two Wheel Tractor that needs to take action. The issue is that the performance of the Bracket Assy. Design is not good enough causing the bolt can't withstand the force applied and lastly breakdown. The actions are based on PDCA technique and will start by identifying the root cause by using several methods which is brainstorming, Fishbone diagram, FMEA, Why-why method and structure analysis. Once all the problems are clearly understood, the following step is to come a new design. 5 ideas of new Bracket Assembly Tail Wheel generated to improve the performance of the part. Next, all the ideas will be analyzed and the collect data will be used for comparison among the idea. Lastly, using screening and scoring method to choose the best idea and propose to the owner of the foundry. The studies will end by proposing some further activity study that can be done for quality improvement on this Bracket Assembly, Tail Wheel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project investigates the possibility of developing scheduling heuristic using bottleneck approach for a four machine permutation re-entrant flow shop with the process routing of M1,M2,M3,M4,M3,M4 where M1 and M4 have high tendency of being dominant machine. Due to the re-entrant and permutation nature of the process routing, the actual bottlenecks were identified as M1 and combinations of M4+M3+M4 and it utilized two makespan algorithms to identify bottleneck categories. Each algorithm was only valid under several conditions identified as absolute bottleneck conditions. Using these conditions, a new bottleneck based heuristic which called NH is developed and tested using Macro Programming in Microsoft Excel. A total of 3000 simulations were conducted using randomly data in order to evaluate the accuracy of the heuristic. The heuristic performance was evaluated for six and ten job problems. The dominance level groups are divided into levels of weak, medium and strong dominance. For each job problem, the NH results were compared with previously developed absolute bottleneck adjacent matching (ABAM) heuristic. For six job problems, it was shown that the NH performances at medium dominance level are better than ABAM. For ten job problems, the result indicated that NH only produced better result than ABAM at the strong dominance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern machining process took the machining tool life span and product quality at highest priority in order to obtained optimum cost effectiveness. In achieving this quality, the consideration of cutting parameters level are the most important part should be engaged. Hence this study investigates the effect of four cutting parameters which are cutting speed, depth of cut, feed rate, and tool nose run off onto JIS S45C steel turning process. The turning process is using uncoated tungsten carbide as cutting tool insert and been computationally simulated using DEFORM software. Three outputs which are cutting load, cutting tool temperature, and tool effective stress will be analyze for this research. The characteristics performance the optimal cutting parameters of the JIS S45C steel turning process is analyzed based on Taguchi method and ANOVA analysis. It is obviously shown us that the feed rate and cutting speed give huge impact on cutting tool temperature change and directly contribute to the tool wear and surface roughness changes. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of this approach. Throughout this study the main cutting parameters that affect the cutting performance in turning operations and the best combination are classified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was conducted to study the thermal stability of cooking palm oil when subjected to heat in an attempt to study its ability as viscosity index improver. Four samples of mixture of Shell Rimula X SAE 40 engine oil and cooking oil at different compositions were heated over a three-hour cooking period, to provide a time course of changes in mixed oil temperature, vapor temperature, and mass of mixed oil. The significant data change of the temperature and mass over time proposes that the thermally stable cooking oil is a suitable viscosity index improver. The effect of heat on mixed oil temperature, vapor temperature, and mass are evaluated to analyze the reliability of cooking oil as Viscosity Index Improvement (VII) based on thermal stability. The Shell Rimula X SAE 40, after being added with fresh cooking palm oil, is expected to exhibit a stable viscosity-temperature curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to evaluate the comfort level of an air-conditioned classroom at the School of Manufacturing Engineering campus using objective measurement, subjective assessment and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. CFD software namely FLUENT was used to simulate the comfort parameter such as temperature and air velocity. Corroboration between results from objective measurement, subjective assessment and CFD modeling was conducted. The results obtained showed that measured temperature and relative humidity were within the standard comfort condition by ISO EN7730 (1994) while air velocity exceeded the standard limit by ISO EN7730 (1994). The overall comfort vote, Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) indices shows that occupants are comfortable and satisfied with the classroom comfort level. In addition, some recommendations were made to improve the comfort level and also to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration built up in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]