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Ultrasonic Testing (UT) is one of the most common types of nondestructive methods that is being used in various industries, especially in the automotive industry. In this paper, qualitative and quantitative control of resistance spot welds on three-sheet joints was studied. Initially, mathematical model of ultrasonic waves was extracted for triple sheet joints. Then, acoustic simulation of ultrasonic testing on spot welds was performed using Finite Element Method (FEM). Afterwards, A Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network was used to classify spot welds based on their diameter. There was a mean error of 20.9 % between peak amplitudes of numerical and theoretical models which the most reason was due to the dispersion effect. Also, theoretical formula for diameter calculation showed 14 % error. Results of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) had an error of 5.11 % on average which indicated capability of ANN to evaluate quality of spot welds. It was also found that diameter calculation using mathematical formulas are less accurate than estimation by ANN. Finally, the simulation and UT results of real samples were compared which indicated that ANN has over 90 % accuracy in identifying the state of spot welds.

Owing to the expensive and time-consuming nature of durability experiments, finite element based durability analysis is quite prevalent in the automotive industry. Numerical fatigue life analyses are typically divided into two different categories, the quasi-static methods which are faster and the dynamic methods which are more accurate. The aim of this paper is to compare the inertia relief and modal dynamic approaches in terms of formulation, accuracy and computation time. The chosen case study is the fatigue life of the vehicle body which is considered the main load-bearing component in a vehicle. By utilizing multi-body dynamics model and driving the vehicle on different standardized roads and by different velocities, the loadings, which act on the body are calculated and later used for the stress analysis. Then, by using the structural stress method, the fatigue life of the vehicle spot welds is calculated and the results are compared for both approaches. The findings reveal that the modal dynamic method is almost 37 times more time-consuming than the inertia relief approach, but if accuracy is desired, it can be up to 96% more accurate. Also as predicted, at low frequency loading, there is no major difference between the results of both methods.

It is vitally important to measure the brittle crack arrest properties of shipbuilding steels to ensure that accidental damage will not result in total structural failure. Wide-plate test methods allow for direct measurement of the crack arrest toughness but this kind of testing is incredibly expensive. Therefore, there is a need for cheaper and simpler test methods which are able to measure a material’s brittle crack arrest toughness. In this work, Compact Crack Arrest (CCA) testing, which is standardised in ASTM E1221, has been successfully used to measure the crack arrest toughness of thick sections of EH47 shipbuilding steel. The results from this study have been compared to small-scale test methods. It was found that instrumented Charpy testing gives an overprediction of the CCA results, and nil-ductility transition temperature (NDTT) from Pellini tests gives a conservative estimate. The results presented in this study are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the CCA test method for measurement of brittle crack arrest toughness and integrity assessment of large-scale structures.

This paper presents the influence of the severe shot peening process on the fatigue life of the laser-cladded Inconel 718 specimens which can be employed during refurbishment of components enduring high mechanical cyclic loads such as gas turbine components. In order to quantitatively evaluate the destructive effect of laser cladding on the fatigue endurance, fatigue tests are first performed on the as-received and laser-cladded specimens. Then, microstructural analysis by scanning electron microscope (SEM) is carried out to identify the root causes of the drawback of laser cladding. Moreover, by employing a comprehensive laser-cladding FE analysis considering cyclic plastic material modeling, the induced residual stress distribution is determined. To decrease the detrimental effects of laser cladding on the microstructure and residual stresses, the specimens are next subjected to severe shot peening treatment, and then, extra sets of fatigue tests are conducted on the specimens. The conducted experiments show that the laser cladding can cause the deterioration of the fatigue life of the specimens at about 40%, and the damaged fatigue life can be almost restored by the severe shot peening. The experiments also indicate that the clad-toe zone is the weakest area concerning fatigue issues in laser-cladded specimens with or without shot peening post-process. Hence, the clad-toe zone needs some special attention.

A thermo-mechanical finite element model is developed to accurately predict residual stresses of the multiple beads laser cladding process, incorporating the cyclic plasticity into the analysis by utilizing the nonlinear kinematic hardening behavior. Finite Element results are presented for Inconel 718, a material for which the laser cladding process is widely used. The FE results are compared with the results of incremental center hole drilling conducted on three specimens with different clad beads to evaluate the effect of cyclic plasticity modeling on the residual stresses. The results indicate that incorporating the nonlinear kinematic hardening model into the analysis can reduce the difference between its estimated residual stresses and the experimental results by about fifty percent comparing with the analyses without considering the kinematic hardening. The results also indicate that the nonlinear cyclic plasticity modeling provides the opportunity to capture important phenomena of hardening and stress relaxation in the laser cladding process.

A thermodynamically consistent phase field approach for fracture including surface stresses is presented. The surface stresses which are distributed inside a finite width layer at the crack surface are introduced as a result of employing some geometrical nonlinearities, i.e., by defining energy terms per unit volume at the current time and evaluating gradient of the order parameter in the current configuration. A double-well barrier term is included in the structure of the Helmholtz free energy which allows one to use the energy terms per unit volume at the current time when introducing the surface stresses in the current approach. Thus, the surface stresses are introduced in a similar way to the interfacial stresses in phase transformations. The differences in the modeling of crack growth with considering the surface stresses and without it are discussed. It is shown how the surface stresses affect the stress fields and consequently the crack nucleation and propagation. The finite element method is utilized to solve the coupled equations of mechanics and crack phase field. It is emphasized that the surface stresses affect the driving force for both the crack nucleation and propagation by disturbing the momentum balance. Thus, a different external loading is required in the presence of the surface stresses.

The critical strain energy release rate for crack initiation, Jci, was measured under mode I loading for SAC305 solder joints between two copper substrates. Fracture tests were performed using double cantilever beam specimens at a strain rate of 0.03 s−1. Different bond-line widths (i.e., joint size in the out-of-plane dimension) and thicknesses, were examined. The fracture force per unit width and Jci (the average value of four J-integral contours encircling the crack tip) were relatively insensitive to the width of the joint ranging from 8 mm to 21 mm. Variations in bond-line thickness (i.e., 150 μm, 250 μm and 450 μm) also had an insignificant influence on the fracture energy of solder joints. This behavior was explained in terms of stress distribution, crack-tip plastic zone area and triaxiality factor produced in the solder layer. Crack initiation in the specimens was then predicted using Jci as a property. Finally, a cohesive zone model was developed using a single set of parameters that was successfully used to predict the fracture loads of the joints with different sizes.

The phase field approach (PFA) for the interaction of fracture and martensitic phase transformation (PT) is developed, which includes the change in surface energy during PT and the effect of unexplored scale parameters proportional to the ratio of the widths of the crack surface and the phase interface, both at the nanometer scale. The variation of these two parameters causes unexpected qualitative and quantitative effects: shift of PT away from the crack tip, "wetting" of the crack surface by martensite, change in the structure and geometry of the transformed region, crack trajectory, and process of interfacial damage evolution, as well as transformation toughening. The results suggest additional parameters controlling coupled fracture and PTs.

A thermodynamically-consistent phase field approach for crack propagation which includes the following novel features is presented. (1) Scale dependency was included by relating the length scale to the number of cohesive interatomic planes at the crack tip. Because of this, the developed theory is applicable from the atomistic to the macroscopic scales. (2) The surface stresses (tension) are introduced by employing some geometrical nonlinearities even in small strain theory. They produce multiple contributions to the Ginzburg-Landau equation for crack propagation. (3) Crack propagation in the region with compressive closing stresses is eliminated by employing a stress-state-dependent kinetic coefficient in the Ginzburg-Landau equation. (4) The importance of analysis of the thermodynamic potential in terms of stress-strain curves is shown. The developed theory includes a broad spectrum of the shapes of stress-strain relationships. The finite element method is utilized to solve the complete system of crack phase field and mechanics equations. The effect of the above novel features is analyzed numerically for various model problems.

The main function of a fired heater in a petrochemical site is to produce supersaturated steam. Due to extremely difficult working conditions and high temperatures, there is a very high probability of failures in different parts of a fired heater. In the fired heater under study, tube guides are frequently damaged due to malfunctions and fractures in bolt connections. To investigate the nature of such fractures, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element (FE) method, Charpy impact test and fractography were used. To obtain the temperature of various components of the fired heater, a CFD analysis was carried out by considering the combustion process and modeling the central and side burners. Next, stress and displacement values in different components of the fire heater, particularly tube guides, were calculated using the uncoupled thermal-structural finite element analysis. It is found that when the dummy drain at the bottom of the tubes is stuck at the bottom of the fired heater, the expansion of tubes is impeded in addition to creating distortions in tube bundles and increasing the stress on the bolts of tube guides. Moreover, according to the performed tests, it is revealed that the increase in the stress of bolts leads to the activation of creep and Hydrogen embrittlement, causing the bolts to experience fractures in a considerably shorter amount of time.

Phase field theory for fracture is developed at large strains with an emphasis on a correct introduction of surface stresses. This is achieved by multiplying the cohesion and gradient energies by the local ratio of the crack surface areas in the deformed and undeformed configurations and with the gradient energy in terms of the gradient of the order parameter in the reference configuration. This results in an expression for the surface stresses which is consistent with the sharp surface approach. Namely, the structural part of the Cauchy surface stress represents an isotropic biaxial tension, with the magnitude of a force per unit length equal to the surface energy. The surface stresses are a result of the geometric nonlinearities, even when strains are infinitesimal. They make multiple contributions to the Ginzburg-Landau equation for damage evolution, both in the deformed and undeformed configurations. Important connections between material parameters are obtained using an analytical solution for two separating surfaces, as well as an analysis of the stress-strain curves for homogeneous tension for different degradation and interpolation functions. A complete system of equations is presented in the undeformed and deformed configurations. All the phase field parameters are obtained utilizing the existing first principle simulations for the uniaxial tension of Si crystal in the [100] and [111] directions.

Residual stresses are inherent in parts manufactured using the wire + arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technique, resulting in unpredictable mechanical response and structural integrity (Colegrove et al.: J Mater Process Technol 213:1782-1791, 2013). An effective post-processing technique, which enhances the mechanical properties of WAAM parts, is rolling. This study investigates the vertical and pinch rolling effects on residual stress distribution in WAAM components. Initially, a WAAM model was created using a thermo-mechanical finite element modelling approach and validated against the experimental results. Subsequent to the validation of the model, the effect of the main parameters involved in vertical and pinch rolling processes, namely the rolling depth, the curvature depth of the roller, the roller shape, transversal displacement, rolling direction and roller thickness, was investigated. The results from this study show that the residual stress profile in the vertical rolling process applied on a WAAM wall can be enhanced by increasing the rolling depth and curvature depth of the roller. Moreover, it is shown that in the pinch rolling process, the residual stress profile is sensitive to the rolling direction and more compressive residual stresses can be induced into the wall by applying fewer passes of rolling using thicker rollers.

Abstract This study investigates and compares the effects of different shot peening treatments including conventional and severe shot peening on microstructure, mechanical properties, fatigue behavior, and residual stress relaxation of AISI 1060 steel. Shot peening treatments were applied with two Almen intensities of 17 and 21 A and a wide ranges of coverage (100%–1500%). Various microstructural observations were carried out to analyze the evolution of microstructure. Microhardness, residual stress and surface roughness measurements and also axial fatigue test were performed. Moreover, the extent of the residual stress relaxation during cyclic loading was investigated by means of XRD measurements. Furthermore, numerical simulation of residual stress relaxation due to fatigue loading was carried out and validated against experimental investigations. The comparison indicated a good agreement for the surface residual stress relaxation up to 100 cycles. The experimental results indicated the efficiency of severe shot peening processes in obtaining nanostructured surface layer and achieving superior mechanical properties and fatigue behavior. Also, residual stress measurements revealed that stress relaxation started with a high rate at the initial stages of loading and gradually increased at higher number of cycles which was lower in the case of severely shot peened samples compared to the conventionally treated ones. Graphic Abstract

In the present paper, a steering knuckle of a passenger car that serves as a highly critical component from the safety point of view, is considered to evaluate accuracy some of categories of the multiaxial fatigue criteria, through comparing their predictions with the experimental results. This component is subjected to the highest road- and steering-induced random and non-proportional loads that are exerted on several points of the component. The mechanical properties and fatigue strengths are determined experimentally and the fatigue life assessment tests are performed by the authors. Quantometric analyses and scanning electron microscope (SEM) have been employed to detect the failure surface of the test samples. The theoretical multiaxial fatigue life assessment of the steering knuckle has been fulfilled based on a special algorithm using the concept of cycle counting of the time history of the equivalent fatigue stresses even for fatigue criteria that have been proposed for checking the fatigue strength and not the fatigue life. Comparing the theoretical results with the experimental one reveals that the simple calibrated static-based failure criteria or linear critical-plane-type ones (e.g., von Mises, Carpinetri-Spagnoli, Findley, McDiarmid, and Dang Van) are not reliable in the very complicated situations. Furthermore, criteria using Drucker-Prager-type modifications, i.e., the regular Shariyat, Liu-Zener and especially, the Energy-based instant fatigue damage tracing proposed by Shariyat criteria (the later one, account for not only different means of the stress components but also their quite different individual frequencies and phase shifts) lead to the highest accuracies.

A thermodynamically consistent phase field model for crack propagation is analyzed. The thermodynamic driving force for the crack propagation is derived based on the laws of thermodynamics. The Helmholtz free energy satisfies the thermodynamic equilibrium and instability conditions for the crack propagation. Analytical solutions for the Ginzburg–Landau equation including the surface profile and the estimation of the kinetic coefficient are found. It is shown how kinetic coefficient affects the local stress field. The local critical stress for the crack propagation is calibrated with the theoretical strength which gives the value of the crack surface width. The finite element method is utilized to solve the complete system of crack phase field and mechanics equations. The analytical expressions for the crack surface profile and the crack tip velocity are verified with the numerical solutions. It is shown that under mode I cracking and proper calibration of parameters, phase field models always agree with Griffith’s theory.

Shot peening is the most common surface treatment employed to enhance the fatigue performance of structural metallic materials and often carried out after other surface treatments. This paper mainly focuses on the effects of initial conditions of surface such as initial stress filed and hardness profile on shot peening residual stress field. The residual stress distribution induced by shot peening is obtained using Hertzian contact theory and elastic–plastic evaluation after yielding occurred during impingement and rebound of shots. Elastic plastic calculations are performed using different hardening models considering Bauschinger effect. The present model is able to predict redistribution of residual stresses in shot peening process by considering the initial conditions of target surface. Initial stress distribution and yield stress variation produced by previous surface treatments are taken into account by measuring residual stresses and hardness profile at near surface layers. An analytical parametric study is performed to evaluate the influence of initial conditions induced by surface pretreatments on shot peening residual stress field. The results of analytical model are validated by experimental data obtained in the literature as well as by our own measurements. The analytical results generally agree with the experimental measurements.

Fracture experiments with ball grid array (BGA) specimens having different adherend rigidities were performed under bending loads at intermediate strain rates (0.2–1 s−1) and a high strain rate of 30 s−1. A cohesive zone model (CZM) was established and the predictive capability of the model was assessed for the specimens with different rigidities. The predicted fracture loads were within 12% of the measured forces when the CZM parameters were obtained using specimens with a similar degree of constraint. This suggests that in many practical cases, the effect of adherend stiffness can be neglected in predicting the strength of BGA solder joints.

Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to investigate the friction behavior of nanocrystalline nickel (Ni) at low temperature. Grain sizes ranging from 4–11 nm are used to explore the behavior of nanocrystalline Ni near the Hall-Petch breakdown. Effects of grain size, grain morphology and scratch depth on coefficient of friction (COF) and deformation mechanism of nanocrystalline Ni are investigated. Reduction of the COF with the refinement of grain size in nanocrystalline nickel is observed, however, for a grain size of 5 nm this trend is observed to be reversed. It is also found that scratch depth can influence the estimation of friction behavior of nanocrystalline nickel.

It is vital to prevent brittle cracks in large structures. This is particularly important for a number of industry sectors including offshore wind, Oil & Gas, and shipbuilding where structural failure risks loss of human life and loss of expensive assets. Some modern steels exhibit high Charpy energy – i.e. high initiation fracture toughness, but poor resistance to crack propagation – i.e. low crack arrest toughness. The correlation between initiation and arrest toughness measured through small-scale testing is investigated in five different steels, which include S355 structural steel (with two different thicknesses), X65 pipeline steel, two high strength reactor pressure vessel steels and EH47 shipbuilding steel. Small scale mechanical tests were carried out to characterise the materials’ properties and were compared to the materials’ microstructures. A wide range of tests were carried out, including instrumented Charpy, drop weight Pellini, fracture toughness, tensile testing, and optical microscopy. Nil ductility transition temperature (NDTT) is used to characterise a material’s arrest properties. Initiation fracture toughness correlated with higher upper shelf Charpy energy and smaller average grain sizes, as expected, however none of these correlated well with the arrest toughness measured through NDTT. The NDTT correlated most strongly with the T27J temperature which indicates the start of lower shelf of the Charpy curve. This correlation held for all materials including those where the NDTT lies on the upper shelf of the Charpy curve. While initiation fracture toughness can be predicted through high Charpy toughness and operation temperatures on the upper shelf, crack arrest behaviour should be predicted from characteristics of the ductile to brittle transition temperature, for example by using the T4kN from instrumented Charpy tests or T27J.

Durability of the vehicle components needs special attention in the design step due to this fact that the loads on a vehicle are dynamic by their nature. Also, fatigue resistance of the vehicle body is quite important as it is the main load-bearing component among others. The main purpose of the present research is to simulate the spot weld failures of the vehicle body structure due to fatigue damage induced on the body during standardized maneuvers. This was accomplished by using a combination of multi-body dynamics and finite element analyses. To enhance the precision of the analysis, a thickness-dependent nugget diameter was utilized to model the spot welds. To validate the finite element simulations, three-sheet spot-welded specimens were tested and their fatigue lives were compared to numerical results. The findings of this study revealed that the damage to the vehicle body is not always proportional to the vehicle velocity and that depends on the degree of road roughness. Also, the results of simulations showed that the damage to the front part of the body is almost twice the rear part in terms of the number of spot weld failures. The effect of nugget diameter on the fatigue life of the spot welds was also investigated and it was found that the nugget diameter can change the fatigue life of the spot welds up to almost 100%.

Shot peening is one of the most effective surface treatments for improving the fatigue strength of machine elements. In this paper, a new finite element-based model to predict the effect of coverage on the surface state is proposed and critically discussed. By this model, the effects of Rayleigh damping, mesh size, and target dimensions on residual stress profile are investigated using a random impingement simulation of shot peening. Moreover, the model enables the realistic simulation of shot peening process with an affordable computational time with respect of present approaches without reducing the number of impacts and analysis accuracy: the computational time was reduced by 25% in comparison with the conventional finite element models using the proposed method. In addition, the required RAM capacity was reduced up to 80% while the calculated residual stresses and the resulting surface roughness are in good agreement with the experimental results.

This paper presents an analytical model to predict the residual stress distribution induced by Shot peening. The analytical approach is based on the work of Shen and Atluri (2006) [18] with some modifications. The modifications are related to the elasto-plastic unloading of shot impingements, friction coefficient effect and the fraction of kinetic energy transmitted to the treated material. In order to predict more realistic residual stresses, the elasto-plastic unloading phase of shot impacts is modeled using two nonlinear kinematic hardening models considering the Bauschinger effect. Moreover, the effect of the Coulomb friction between target surface and shots is evaluated. For this purpose, the interior stresses caused by tangential tractions of friction force are determined analytically. In this work, the effects of friction coefficient, hardening model in loading and unloading phases, the offset of determination of the yield points and the Bauschinger effect on the residual stress distribution are taken into account. Experiments are carried out on DIN 1.6582 medium carbon steel to validate the results obtained from the analytical model. The results of the comparison indicate that the analytical relations agree well with the experimental data.

Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to investigate material properties of nanocrystalline aluminum and nanocrystalline Al/Ni multilayers at low temperature. For this purpose, both single crystal and nanocrystalline multilayers with different grain sizes and grain morphology are used as the substrate. The results of the simulations show that hardness and elastic modulus decrease with refinement of grain size in nanocrystalline aluminum and refinement of grain size and layer thickness in nanocrystalline Al/Ni multilayers, regardless of grain morphology. Furthermore, the angle between two adjacent grains, which is directly connected to the grain boundary thickness, has a great influence on the hardness and elastic modulus in nanocrystalline single layer and multilayers. It is shown that for grain size between 4.5 and 9.5 nm and layer thickness less than 8 nm, hardness of nanocrystalline Al/Ni multilayer is more affected by the layer thickness rather than the grain size.

Shot peening is one of the most effective surface strengthening treatment technologies in which compressive residual stresses are induced beneath the specimen surface. Effects of various factors on the distribution of residual stress profile induced by shot peening have been investigated by many researchers. However, initial residual stresses are one of the important factors which affect the shot peening residual stress.This study is aimed to present comprehensive numerical and experimental study on the effect of initial residual stresses on the shot peened specimen. Initial residual stresses were induced using a four-point bending rig and grinding. Incremental center hole drilling (ICHD) technique was employed to measure residual stresses on bent, ground, shot peened, bent plus shot peened and ground plus shot peened specimens. Numerical analyses of these processes were performed to provide quantitative comparison of different combinations of residual stresses. The comparison with experimental results helped to have a better understanding on how shot peening residual stresses were redistributed. Furthermore, the surface hardness was measured for all specimens. Keywords: Shot peening, Residual stresses, Redistribution, Grinding, Finite element

The experimental observations indicate that the mechanical behavior of micro and nano scale structures is size-dependent. In this study, employing the modified couple stress theory the size-dependent strain energy release rate of notched Euler-Bernoulli beams made of functionally graded material (FGM) is formulated. The normalized energy release rate for the problem of three-point bending in notched FG beams is obtained using the procedure established by Kienzler and Herrmann [Kienzler R, Herrmann G, An elementary theory of defective beams. Acta Mech 1986; 62:37–46]. It is assumed that the material properties vary continuously along the beam thickness according to a power law distribution. In order to verification, the results of the present model for a homogenous beam are compared to the results of previous works. Also, a parametric study is performed to examine the influences of the material length scale parameter, elastic properties and power law index of the micro FG beam on the normalized strain energy release rate. The obtained results show that as the ratio of the length scale parameter to the beam thickness increases, the difference between the classical and non-classical results increases too, but for the small value of the length scale parameter, the difference diminishes. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Committee of 6th International Conference on Advanced Nano Materials.

In the present study, the out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue (OP-TMF) behavior of a cast aluminum-silicon-magnesium alloy, the A356.0 alloy which has been widely used in diesel engine cylinder heads, is compared to room-temperature and high-temperature low cycle fatigue (RT-, HT-LCF) behaviors. For this purpose, strain/temperature-controlled isothermal and non-isothermal fatigue tests were performed based on realistic loading conditions in cylinder heads. Fatigue tests results showed that the plastic strain increased during cycles under constant mechanical strain amplitude, while the specimen failed. Under LCF loadings, the cyclic hardening occurred at low temperatures for the A356.0 alloy and the cyclic softening occurred at high temperatures, as it was also observed in TMF tests. The radial and longitudinal temperature gradients during TMF tests were almost 2 and 3°C, respectively. Comparing stress-strain hysteresis loops, tensile stresses at minimum temperatures under TMF loadings were more than tensile stresses at LCF cases, due to the out-of-phase loading condition in TMF tests. In this state, maximum temperatures occurred within compressive regimes and minimum temperatures occurred at tensile loads. In general, TMF lifetimes were less than LCF ones due to severe conditions and the temperature deviation in TMF tests.

Laser shock peening (LSP) is one of the life enhancement processes by inducing compressive residual stresses into the material. The effects of repeating LSP pattern on the residual stress is investigated numerically in this study. A 3-D finite element model was developed to obtain residual stress field in the material. FEM results have shown that increasing the number of peening impacts increase the magnitude and depth of compressive residual stress. Also the average surface residual stress in the impact region increased from −291 after 1 impact to −326, −343 and −356 MPa after 2, 3 and 4 impacts respectively. Moreover, the effects of repeating LSP pattern on fatigue crack growth properties were investigated experimentally by performing tests on C(T) specimens made of 316L stainless steel. The test results have shown that the fatigue crack growth life is very sensitive to the number of peening impacts and increased from 84,380 cycles in untreated sample to 104,130 cycles in sample with 1 time LSP and 170,500 cycles to sample with 2 times LSP. Also the fatigue crack growth rates decreased by repeating LSP patterns on the test specimens.

The reliability analysis of defective pipes, which operate under creep-fatigue loading conditions has been studied. An austenitic stainless steel pipe containing an axially external semi-elliptical surface crack, subjected to variable internal pressure at elevated temperature has been considered as the benchmark problem. Different parameters in material behavior, geometry parameters, and operational condition have been assumed as random variables in the probabilistic assessments. The reliability of the cracked pipes have been evaluated at various operation times, using different reliability methods. Sensitivity analyses have been conducted to investigate the importance measure of the random variables involved in the problem. Moreover, the effects of reducing the scattering of the random variables on the variations of the reliability index, β, has been examined.

The crack growth process in columnar nanocrystalline samples is simulated using the molecular dynamics method. The effects of grain size, grain boundary, crystallographic orientation and crack tip position on the crack growth behavior are investigated. Different sets of samples with mean grain sizes ranging from 4 nm to 14 nm are prepared. Samples with a similar number of grains and identical dimensions are considered for examining the impact of grain boundary and crystallographic orientation. To assess the effect of the grain boundary, no constraint is considered on the position and orientation of grains, while only the grain orientations are changed to examine the effect of crystallographic orientation. Also, samples with scaled dimensions are created to study the effect of grain size on the crack growth process. In such samples, the relative position of seeds and crystallographic orientation of grains remain constant. The results show that as the mean grain size is reduced, a higher level of stress is required for the initiation of crack growth. Moreover, the reduction of grain size from 14.24 nm to 11.65 nm increases the critical stress intensity factor. Further reduction of grain size decreases the critical stress intensity factor. For grain sizes smaller than 11.65 nm, the volume of stacking fault in the grains near the crack-tip is not significant. Grain size and grain boundary volume have a simultaneous impact on the initial slope which can be observed around the grain size of 11.65 nm. As a result, in nanocrystals with mean grain sizes of less than 11.65 nm, the crack grows in a brittle manner to reach the grain boundary, then progresses intergranularly with high speed. Consequently, grain boundaries and crystallographic orientations are not effective on the crack growth mechanism in nanocrystals with grain sizes less than 11.65 nm, whereas these factors can blunt or arrest the crack in nanocrystals with mean grain sizes of larger than 11.65 nm.

Fretting fatigue occurs in engineering applications where two interacting surfaces are subjected to fluctuating forces. The fluctuating forces occasionally act as a combined loading condition. The present paper investigates fretting fatigue behaviour of 316L stainless steel under such combined (i.e. tensile and bending) loading conditions. A new fixture was developed in order to apply bending and tensile loads simultaneously. Using this fixture, the effect of different bending-to-tension ratios was investigated. The results showed that increasing the contribution of bending load improves fretting fatigue life. On the other hand, increasing grain size decreases fretting fatigue life. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis based on Taguchi method revealed that fretting fatigue life is more sensitive to the increment of bending force contribution. The cyclic behavior of the specimens was assessed and finite element simulation was utilized to study the main contact parameters, including contact pressure, shear stress, and relative slip. Whilst confirming the experimental results, the simulation further showed that increasing the contribution of bending force reduces the concentration behavior at the contact edges.

Study of the wheel and rail wear phenomenon can provide the optimal use of wheel profile which results cost efficiency, dynamic stability, travel comfort, and safety to prevent the derailment especially in curves. In this paper, the experimental data is recorded in the from the field measurements worn wheels of a passenger wagon in the “Southern line” of Iran’s railway system and is combined with the dynamic simulations to study the effects of severe wheel flange wear on the dynamics of wagon. The results show that the amount of wheel wear (especially the wheel flange) directly impacts the dynamic behavior of the wagon in curves. In addition, based on the history of wear index and the peak derailment ratio, the appropriate range of the wheel flange thickness in order to repair or replace the worn wheels is suggested in the range of 25 to 27 mm.

In this article, a novel energy-based lifetime prediction model has been presented for uncoated and coated aluminum alloys, subjected to thermal and mechanical fatigue loadings. For this objective, isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue tests were performed on the A356.0 alloy, with and without thermal barrier coating systems. This model, which was based on the plastic strain energy, had three correction factors including temperature, strain and mean stress effects. The predicted lifetime showed a proper agreement with experimental data. By the present model, higher accuracy was obtained in comparison to other existed approaches. Besides, the present model had lower number of material constants.

This paper presents the out-of-phase thermo-mechanical stress analysis of thermal barrier coating (TBC) system in real working conditions used as thermal barrier in diesel engine cylinder heads. The coating system in this research comprises 350 μm zirconium oxide top coat (TC) and 150 μm metallic bond coat (BC). These layers were deposited on the substrate, aluminum A356 alloy, by the aid of air plasma spray (APS) method. Afterwards, the specimen was subjected to thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) loadings. Based on the experimental conditions, FE simulations were performed by both time-independent and time-dependent substrate material properties in ABAQUS software. Simulation results related to heat transfer analysis demonstrate only about 10.5% comparative error compared to experimental results. Moreover, defining time-dependent properties, which were obtained from two-layer visco-plastic model, yields results with 15% less comparative error in comparison to the results based on time-independent material properties. In addition, the effects of roughness and porosity in coating layers and substrate were studied on three different models by the aid of a scanning electron microscopy image. Obtained results based on real geometry illustrate that consideration of porosity in TC layer has an effective role in the stress distribution of this layer. However, BC layer stress distribution is much more dependent on interface morphology.

In this article, simulations of the stress–strain behavior in aluminum alloys were investigated under cyclic loadings at various strain rates. Four plasticity approaches were applied to simulate cyclic behaviors. To validate obtained results, strain-controlled tensile-compressive fatigue tests were performed in the low cycle fatigue regime. Isothermal fatigue experiments were conducted at various strain rates. Thermo-mechanical fatigue experiments were carried out at different rates of cooling and heating processes. Numerical results demonstrated a good agreement with experimental data at the mid-life cycle of the material. Material constants for different models were also presented for aluminum alloys, at various strain rates.

In this research, a finite element model was developed in order to simulate the two-step residual stress distribution of a thermal barrier coating system, considered to be used in diesel engine cylinder head, with a real roughness and real porosity. Two steps including the bond coat and the top coat deposition processes were taken into account. The real geometry of coating layers, including the roughness and the porosity, was also considered based on a scanning electron microscopy image. Then, effects of the convective heat transfer coefficient and initial substrate and substrate/bond coat preheating temperatures on the residual stress were studied. Obtained results illustrate that the residual stress, regarding the two steps of coating processes, are different, particularly in the substrate. Numerical results indicate that while the convective heat transfer coefficient in BC deposition had no striking effect, it was an influential factor in the residual stress distribution when TC was deposited. Moreover, preheating temperature for depositions of the bond coat layer and the top coat layer has a pivotal role in stress distribution of all layers. In addition, consideration of the porosity in the top coat layer causes remarkable decrease in axial stress distribution in substrate and much more local stress concentrations in TC layer compared to those of BC layer due to larger and more irregular pores.

In this study, the stress relaxation has been measured experimentally and has been also calculated numerically by the finite element method in the A356·0 aluminium–silicon–magnesium alloy, under out-of-phase thermomechanical cyclic loadings. To get this objective, strain based thermomechanical fatigue tests were performed on cylindrical specimens, at an out-of-phase condition. In this loading condition, when the temperature was maximum, the mechanical strain was compressive and vice versa. These fatigue experiments were repeated at various dwell times, in which the temperature was held at the maximum temperature. This hold time was considered as 5, 30, 60 and 180 s and then the stress relaxation was measured during the mid-life cycle of each test. Besides, the finite element analysis was also conducted on the material to simulate the stress relaxation numerically. A two-layer visco-plastic model was applied to simulate the high temperature cyclic behavior of the material. Finite element results sh...

This article presents the cyclic behavior of the A356.0 aluminum alloy under low-cycle fatigue (or isothermal) and thermo-mechanical fatigue loadings. Since the thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) test is time consuming and has high costs in comparison to low-cycle fatigue (LCF) tests, the purpose of this research is to use LCF test results to predict the TMF behavior of the material. A time-independent model, considering the combined nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening law, was used to predict the TMF behavior of the material. Material constants of this model were calibrated based on room-temperature and high-temperature low-cycle fatigue tests. The nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening law could accurately estimate the stress–strain hysteresis loop for the LCF condition; however, for the out-of-phase TMF, the condition could not predict properly the stress value due to the strain rate effect. Therefore, a two-layer visco-plastic model and also the Johnson–Cook law were applied to improve the estimation of the stress–strain hysteresis loop. Related finite element results based on the two-layer visco-plastic model demonstrated a good agreement with experimental TMF data of the A356.0 alloy.

In this article, numerical simulations of cyclic behaviors in light alloys are conducted under isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue loadings. For this purpose, an aluminum alloy (A356) which is widely used in cylinder heads and a magnesium alloy (AZ91) which can be applicable in cylinder heads are considered to study their stress–strain hysteresis loops. Two plasticity approaches including the Chaboche’s hardening model and the Nagode’s spring-slider model are applied to simulate cyclic behaviors. To validate obtained results, strain-controlled fatigue tests are performed under low cycle and thermo-mechanical fatigue loadings. Numerical results demonstrate a good agreement with experimental data at the mid-life cycle of fatigue tests in light alloys. Calibrated material constants based on low cycle fatigue tests at various temperatures are applied to models to estimate the thermo-mechanical behavior of light alloys. The reason is to reduce costs and the testing time by performing isothermal fatigue experiments at higher strain rates.

Coverage is one of the most important parameters which is always used in practice to characterize a shot peening process. At the same time however, it is the most missing parameter in the finite element simulations of this process. This study aims to relate shot peening simulation to the actual coverage that is developed during the process. Accordingly, two important models from literature are re-simulated and their capability to predict an actual coverage is assessed. Results of this study illustrate that full coverage situation is not captured by these models. Thereafter, a random finite element simulation along with a step by step examination of the treated surface is adopted in order to present an actual coverage evolution. Application of Avrami equation in order to adopt an appropriate number of impingements in simulation to achieve a given coverage for a given target area is examined. According to the result, application of this equation in simulation leads to an overestimation of impingement numbers at full coverage level unless the radius of treated are is at least ten times of the radius of a single indentation.

The modified couple stress theory is employed in this paper in order to formulate the size-dependent strain energy release rate of Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko notched beams. As a case study, the normalized energy release rate of the aforementioned beams has been developed for three-point bending as a function of the ratio of material length scale parameter to the beam depth. The results of the current model are compared to the experimental data. The good agreement between the present results and the experimental values indicates that the current model can be successfully applied to evaluate size dependent energy release rate of structures.

In this article, out-of-phase thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) behaviours of light alloys were investigated in comparison to their high temperature low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviours. For this objective, strain based fatigue tests were performed on the A356 aluminium alloy and on the AZ91 magnesium alloy. Besides, TMF tests were carried out, where both strain and temperature changed. The fatigue lifetime comparison demonstrated that the TMF lifetime was less than that one under LCF loadings at elevated temperatures for both light alloys. The reason was due to severe conditions in TMF tests in comparison to LCF tests. The temperature varied in TMF test but it was constant under LCF loadings. As the other reason, the tensile mean stress occurred under TMF loadings, in comparison to the compressive mean stress under LCF loadings. At high temperatures, the cyclic hardening behaviour occurred in the AZ91 alloy and the A356 alloy had the cyclic softening behaviour.

In the present paper, thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) and low cycle fatigue (LCF) or isothermal fatigue (IF) lifetimes of a cast magnesium alloy (the AZ91 alloy) were studied. In addition to a heat treatment process (T6), several rare elements were added to the alloy to improve the material strength in the first step. Then, the cyclic behavior of the AZ91 was investigated. For this objective, strain-controlled tension–compression fatigue tests were carried out. The temperature varied between 50 and 200 °C in the out-of-phase (OP) TMF tests. The constraint factor which was defined as the ratio of the mechanical strain to the thermal strain, was set to 75%, 100% and 125%. For LCF tests, mechanical strain amplitudes of 0.20%, 0.25% and 0.30% were considered at constant temperatures of 25 and 200 °C. Experimental fatigue results showed that the cyclic hardening behavior occurred at the room temperature in the AZ91 alloy. At higher temperatures, this alloy had a brittle fracture. But also, it was not significantly clear that the cyclic hardening or the cyclic softening behavior would be occurred in the material. Then, the high temperature LCF lifetime was more than that at the room temperature. The OP-TMF lifetime was the least value in comparison to that of LCF tests. At the end of this article, two energy-based models were applied to predict the fatigue lifetime of this magnesium alloy.

In the present paper, an improvement in high temperature fatigue properties of the AZ91 magnesium alloy with rare earth elements has been obtained by a typical heat treatment, denoted by T6. For this objective, out-of-phase thermo-mechanical fatigue, room temperature and high temperature low cycle fatigue tests are performed to compare lifetimes. Several rare earth elements are initially added to the AZ91 alloy during a gravity casting process in permanent molds. Also, the type of the heat treatment is examined. Results of specimens with only the solution (the T4 heat treatment) and the solution with the ageing process (the T6 heat treatment) are compared under isothermal fatigue loadings. Microstructural investigations are carried out, before and after fatigue experiments to demonstrate the heat treatment effect. Results showed that both low cycle fatigue and thermo-mechanical fatigue of the alloy at high temperatures increases tremendously after the T6 heat treatment. This behavior attributes to the variation of the ductility, which was a result of microstructural changes during the heat treatment and the varying temperature in fatigue tests.

In this paper, a new fatigue lifetime prediction model is presented for the aluminium–silicon–magnesium alloy, A356.0. This model is based on the plastic strain energy density per cycle including two correction factors in order to consider the effect of the mean stress and the maximum temperature. The thermal term considers creep and oxidation damages in A356.0 alloy. To calibrate the model, isothermal fatigue and out-of-phase thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) tests were conducted on the A356.0 alloy. Results showed an improvement in predicting fatigue lifetimes by the present model in comparison with classical theories and also the plastic strain energy density (without any correction factors). Therefore, this model is applicable for TMF, low cycle fatigue (LCF) and both TMF/LCF lifetimes of the A356.0 alloy. Furthermore, this model can be easily used for the estimation of thermo-mechanical conditions in components such as cylinder heads.

In the present paper, an optimization of thermal barrier coating parameters is performed for diesel engine applications. The substrate is A356.0-T7, a cast aluminum alloy which has a vast application in diesel engines, and the alloy is coated by plasma sprayed ZrO2-8 wt.% Y2O3. Parameters including the feed rate of coating powders, the nozzle distance to specimen surfaces, and the coating thickness are optimized by thermal shock fatigue tests and bending tests. Optimum values of the feed rate and the nozzle distance are 30 g/min and 80 mm, respectively, when the objective is considered as maximizing the bending strength. Thermal shock tests demonstrate that lower thickness of coating layers has a better lifetime. By increasing the coating thickness, the thermal fatigue lifetime decreases. The reason is due to higher order of stresses near the interface of the substrate and the bond coat layer, calculated by a finite element simulation. One suggestion to improve the lifetime is to use multiple layers of coatings.