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This article presents the results of investigations of the effect of heat treatment temperature on the content of the carbide phase of HS3-1-2 and HS6-5-2 low-alloy high-speed steel. Analysis of the phase composition of carbides is carried out using the diffraction method. It is determined that with increasing austenitising temperature, the intensification of dissolution of M6C carbide increases. As a result, an increase in the grain size of the austenite and the amount of retained austenite causes a significant reduction in the hardness of hardened steel HS3-1-2 to be observed. The results of diffraction investigations showed that M7C3 carbides containing mainly Cr and Fe carbides and M6C carbides containing mainly Mo and W carbides are dissolved during austenitisation. During austenitisation of HS3-1-2 steel, the silicon is transferred from the matrix to carbides, thus replacing carbide-forming elements. An increase in a degree of tempering leads to intensification of carbide separation and this process reduce the grindability of tested steels.

Ensuring the required quality of castings is an important part of the production process. The quality control should be carried out in a fast and accurate way. These requirements can be met by the use of an optical measuring system installed on the arm of an industrial robot. In the article a methodology for assessing the quality of robotic measurement system to control certain feature of the casting, based on the analysis of repeatability and reproducibility is presented. It was shown that industrial robots equipped with optical measuring systems have the accuracy allowing their use in the process of dimensional control of castings manufactured by lost-wax process, permanent-mould casting, and pressure die-casting.

Zdolność do przyjmowania odkształceń plastycznych podczas kształtowania blach zależy od ich właściwości mechanicz- nych Odkształcalność blach zależy od rodzaju materiału - a ponadto, materiał który wykazuje dobrą odkształcalność podczas kształtowania wytłoczki o określonej geometrii, może sprawiać trudności podczas kształtowania wytłoczki o innej konfiguracji. Z tego powodu prowadzone są liczne prace badawcze mające na celu określenie relacji pomiędzy odkształcalnością blach a wartością parametrów mechanicznych materiału. Przy ocenie odkształcalności blach najczęściej korzysta się z wyznacza- nia wartości wykładnika krzywej umocnienia odkształceniowego oraz współczynnika anizotropii właściwości plastycznych. Znajomość charakterystyk odkształcenie-naprężenie oraz wskaźników umocnienia odkształceniowego jest bardzo ważna przy określaniu odporności na lokalizację odkształcenia. Badania eksperymentalne blach z różnych materiałów wykazały zasadnicze różnice ich odkształcalności. określane jako "typu mosiądz” oraz "typu stal”, przejawiające się brakiem lub wyraźną zależnością poziomu odkształceń granicznych od stanu odkształcenia. W pracy zawarte są wyniki badania właściwości mechanicznych w próbie jednoosiowego rozciągania oraz KOG w teście wg Marciniaka z płaskim stemplem, dla blachy ze stopu AMS 5599. Przeprowadzono obliczenia przebiegu krzywej odkształcalności granicznej przy pomocy różnych metod - wyniki obliczeń porównano z wynikami eksperymentu.

This study aims to determine optimal forming parameters for Incremental Sheet Forming process Commercially Pure titanium Grade 2 sheets in terms of formability improvement, force reduction, and efficiency of forming. Based on the central composite design, data were collected during 20 runs and then variation analysis was performed. The experiments were performed on a 3 axis CNC milling machine equipped with a Kistler dynamometer plate. Subsequently, regression models have been developed to describe process responses by input factors. As crucial parameters, the relative velocity and step size of the tool that affect the forming force and the height of the fracture have been determined. Finally, the application of optimization algorithm has emerged optimal input factors in terms of selected multi-criteria goal. The results of this study suggest that there is a process window that allows the formation of 45° wall angle drawpieces of commercially pure titanium Grade 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of experimental research on the fabrication of thin-walled panels with longitudinal stiffening ribs by the single point incremental sheet forming technique. The bead-stiffened panels were made of Alclad 2024-T3 aluminium alloy sheets commonly used in aircraft structures. The influence of forming parameters and tool strategy on surface quality and the possibility of obtaining stiffening ribs with the required profile and depth was tested through experimental research. Two tool path strategies, spiral with continuous sinking and multi-step z-level contouring, were considered. The results of the experiments were used to verify the finite element-based numerical simulations of the incremental forming process. It was found that the main parameter which influences the formability of test sheets is the tool path strategy; the tool path strategy with multi-step z-level contouring allowed the rib to be formed to a depth of 3.53 mm without risk of cracking. However a greater depth of rib equal of 5.56 mm was achieved with the continuous tool path. The tool path strategy was also the main parameter influencing the surface finish of the drawpiece during the single point incremental forming process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refill Friction Stir Spot Welding (RFSSW) is a technology used for joining solid materials that was developed in Germany in 2002 by GKSS-GmbH as a variant of the conventional friction stir spot welding (FSSW) [1]. In the RFSSW technology, the welding tool consists of a fixed outer part and rotating inner parts, which are called a pin and a sleeve. The tool for RFSSW is designed to plasticize the material of the parts to be joined by means of a rotary movement. The design of the tool allows independent vertical movement of both elements of the welding tool. This allows obtaining spot welds without creating holes that could weaken the structure. The main advantage of RFSSW is the potential for replacing the technologies that add weight to the structure or create discontinuities, such as joining with screws or rivets. Thus, RFSSW has great potential in the automotive, shipbuilding and aviation industries. Furthermore, the technology can be used to join different materials that could not be connected using other joining methods. The main objective of this work is to understand the physical and mechanical aspects of the RFSSW method – including the residual stress state inside the weld and around the joint. The results of the investigations can help to determine optimal parameters that could increase the strength and fatigue performance of the joint and to prove the significant advantage of RFSSW connections over other types of joints. The work assumes the correlation of two mutually complementary investigation methods: numerical analyses and experimental studies carried out with diffraction methods. The comparison between numerical and experimental results makes potentially possible the determination of degree of fatigue degradation of the material by observing the macroscopic stress state and the broadening of the diffraction peak width (FWHM), which is an indicator of the existence of micro-stress related to the dislocation density and grain size.

The barium titanate material is the most intensively studied perovskite material due to its wide use in the ceramic industry. Barium titanate is also technologically important material owing to its ferroelectric behaviour at and above room temperature. The paper presents an effective implementation of boundary element multiscale method in analyzing of fracture of piezoelectric ceramics. This method can be easily used to get a better understanding of damage mechanism in the ceramic materials in order to improve the constitutive models and to support the future design of those materials. In this method the relation of boundary element method for obtaining traction is presented. The main advantage of boundary element method is the reduction of the dimensionality of the problem. Boundary element method becomes very attractive in cases of numerically complex problems that are computationally expensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of research on the determination of the coefficient of thermal conductivity and hot hardness of cutters made of selected grades of low-alloy high-speed steels, HS 6-5-2 and HS3-1-2. The investigations of hot hardness and yield stress values of HS6-5-2 steel at elevated temperatures have shown that the hot hardness value decreased to 650 - 700 HV (59 - 60 HRC) in the temperature range of 500 - 550 °C. However, the hardness of the samples preheated to the temperature of 500 - 550 °C and measured at room temperature does not change. A decrease of the hot hardness of the steel is correlated with decreasing yield stress at elevated temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the results of experimental and numerical studies on joining the thin fins to the thick base plate of a heat exchanger are presented. The elements of the heat exchanger were joined by using developed method of press forming. The joining technology consists in clamping the sheet metal into the channel of the base plate using a punch with specific geometry. The effect of different configurations of the punch geometry (shape, radius and distance between fin and punch) and the indentation depth on the depth of the interface between the fin and base plate is analysed. Furthermore, the effect of different combinations of fin-base plate materials has been numerically studied. The plate material was the AA2219 -T851 aluminium alloy, while the fins were made of the AA5251 aluminium alloy. The elastic-plastic numerical computations of the joining process have been carried out using the finite element-based MSC.Marc program. It was found that the area of the contact of the fin with the base plate can be optimised by choosing the right parameters of the tool geometry and technological parameters. Experimental research has shown that increasing the punch indentation causes the material to flow in the transverse direction to the punch and the indirect extrusion in the region between the punches.

This paper presents the methods of experimental determining the depth of the plastically deformed top layer in the roller burnishing process. Precise determination of the depth of the plastically deformed layer is difficult due to slight deformation at the boundary of the plastic and elastic zone, the lack of visible changes in the microstructure, and minimal changes in microhardness. The article shows the method of original measurement method that consists in determining the thickness of the deformed layer using rings. The method involves the profilographometric measurements of the disconnected rings (samples) which are flat-faced in the package on the mandrel. The rings material deforms plastically in the surface layer causing wrapping of the end face of the ring in the direction of the rolling tool movement. After dismantling the ring pack, measurements were made on the face of each ring along radial directions, and the thickness of the deformed layer was observed on the microscope. The method was verified by microhardness measurements in the cross-section and cross-section of the ring. The results of deformation depth measurements were verified by finite-element-based numerical simulation.

Springback phenomenon affects the dimensional and geometrical accuracy of the bent parts. The prediction of springback is a key problem in sheet metal forming. The aim of this paper is the numerical analysis of the possibility to predict the springback of anisotropic steel sheets. The experiments are conducted on 40 x 100 mm steel sheets. The mechanical properties of the sheet metals have been determined through uniaxial tensile tests of samples cut along three directions with respect to the rolling direction. The numerical model of air V-bending is built in finite element method (FEM) based ABAQUS/Standard 2016.HF2 (Dassault Systemes Simulia Corp., USA) program. The FEM results were verified by experimental investigations. The simulation model has taken into consideration material anisotropy and strain hardening phenomenon. The results of FEM simulations confirmed the ability of numerical prediction of springback amount. It was also found that the directional microstructure of the sheet metal resulted from rolling process affects the elastic-plastic deformation of the sheets through the sample width.

In addition to the traditional uses of plywood, such as furniture and construction, it is also widely used in areas that benefit from its special combination of strength and lightness, particularly as a construction material for the production of finishing elements of campervans and yachts. In light of the current need to reduce emissions of climate-damaging gases such as CO 2 , the use of lightweight construction materials is very important. In recent years, hybrid structures made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) and metals have attracted much attention in many industries. In contrast to hybrid metal/carbon fibre composites, research relating to laminates consisting of CFRPs and wood-based materials shows less interest. This article analyses the hybrid laminate resulting from bonding a CFRP panel to plywood in terms of strength and performance using a three-point bending test, a static tensile test and a dynamic analysis. Knowledge of the dynamic characteristics of carbon fibre-reinforced plywood allows for the adoption of such cutting parameters that will help prevent the occurrence of self-excited vibrations in the cutting process. Therefore, in this work, it was decided to determine the effect of using CFRP laminate on both the static and dynamic stiffness of the structure. Most studies in this field concern improving the strength of the structure without analysing the dynamic properties. This article proposes a simple and user-friendly methodology for determining the damping of a sandwich-type system. The results of strength tests were used to determine the modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, the position of the neutral axis and the frequency domain characteristics of the laminate obtained. The results show that the use of a CFRP-reinforced plywood panel not only improves the visual aspect but also improves the strength properties of such a hybrid material. In the case of a CFRP-reinforced plywood panel, the value of tensile stresses decreased by sixteen-fold (from 1.95 N/mm 2 to 0.12 N/mm 2 ), and the value of compressive stresses decreased by more than seven-fold (from 1.95 N/mm 2 to 0.27 N/mm 2 ) compared to unreinforced plywood. Based on the stress occurring at the tensile and compressive sides of the CFRP-reinforced plywood sample surface during a cantilever bending text, it was found that the value of modulus of rupture decreased by three-fold and the value of the modulus of elasticity decreased by more than five-fold compared to the unreinforced plywood sample. A dynamic analysis allowed us to determine that the frequency of natural vibrations of the CFRP-reinforced plywood panel increased by about 33% (from 30 Hz to 40 Hz) compared to the beam made only of plywood.

Friction is an unfavourable phenomenon in deep-drawing forming processes because it hinders the deformation processes and causes deterioration of the surface quality of drawpieces. One way to reduce the unfavourable effect of friction in deep-drawing processes is to use lubricants with the addition of hard particles. For this reason, this article presents the results of friction tests of dual-phase HCT600X+Z steel sheets using the flat die strip drawing test. Sunflower oil and rapeseed oil with the addition of 1, 5 and 10 wt.% of silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) particles were used as lubricants. Tests were also carried out in dry friction conditions and lubricated conditions using SiO 2 -modified oils and oils without the addition of particles, as a reference. Tests were carried out at different pressure values between 2 and 8 MPa. The effect of friction on the change in sheet surface roughness was also examined. For the entire range of pressures analysed, pure sunflower oil showed lower efficiency in reducing the coefficient of friction compared to pure rapeseed oil. In the pressure range of 4-8 MPa, the lubricants with 5 wt.% and 10 wt.% of particles were more effective in reducing friction than the biolubricant with the addition of 1 wt.% of SiO 2 . The lowest average roughness was observed for lubrication with sunflower oil containing 5 wt.% of particles. In relation to rapeseed oil, the addition of 10 wt.% of SiO 2 provided a sheet surface with the lowest average roughness.

Resistance spot-welded joints are crucial parts in contemporary manufacturing technology due to their ubiquitous use in the automobile industry. The necessity of improving manufacturing efficiency and quality at an affordable cost requires deep knowledge of the resistance spot welding (RSW) process and the development of artificial neural network (ANN)- and machine learning (ML)-based modelling techniques, apt for providing essential tools for design, planning, and incorporation in the welding process. Tensile shear force and nugget diameter are the most crucial outputs for evaluating the quality of a resistance spot-welded specimen. This study uses ML and ANN models to predict shear force and nugget diameter responses to RSW parameters. The RSW analysis was executed on similar and dissimilar AISI 304 and grade 2 titanium alloy joints with equal and unequal thicknesses. The input parameters included welding current, pressure, welding duration, squeezing time, holding time, pulse welding, and sheet thickness. Linear regression, Decision tree, Support vector machine (SVM), Random forest (RF), Gradient-boosting, CatBoost, K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Ridge, Lasso, and ElasticNet machine learning algorithms, along with two different structures of Multilayer Perceptron, were utilized for studying the impact of the RSW parameters on the shear force and nugget diameter. Different validation metrics were applied to assess each model's quality. Two equations were developed to determine the shear force and nugget diameter based on the investigation parameters. The current research also presents a prediction of the Relative Importance (RI) of RSW factors. Shear force and nugget diameter predictions were examined using SHapley (SHAP) Additive Explanations for the first time in the RSW field. Trainbr as the training function and Logsig as the transfer function delivered the best ANN model for predicting shear force in a one-output structure. Trainrp with Tansig made the most accurate predictions for nugget diameter in a one-output structure and for shear force and diameter in a two-output structure. Depending on validation metrics, the Random forest model outperformed the other ML algorithms in predicting shear force or nugget diameter in a one-output model, while the Decision tree model gave the best prediction using a two-output structure. Linear regression made the worst ML predictions for shear force, while ElasticNet made the worst nugget diameter forecasts in a one-output model. However, in two-output models, Lasso made the worst predictions.

This paper presents the results of a pilot application of Powder-Bed Fusion of Metals Using a Laser (PBF-LB/M) for the fabrication of M300 (1.2709) maraging steel sheet metal bending tools. S235 steel was used as a substrate for the fabrication of bending punches. The main goal of the research was to determine the usability of such tools without heat treatment, which would contribute to the increase in the cost of tool production. Industrial tests of tools were conducted during the forming of Inconel 625 and AW-6061 T0 aluminium alloy sheets. The punches were subjected to tests of surface roughness, hardness, microstructure, porosity, and geometric quality in order to verify the quality and accuracy of tools made by the PBF-LB/M technique before and after experimental investigations in industrial conditions in a selected manufacturing company. It was found that tools with an M300 steel working layer after the PBF-LB/M process without heat treatment show suitability for bending sheet metal in a certain range of force parameters, ensuring obtaining elements after bending from Inconel 625 and AW-6061 T0 aluminium alloy sheets of the required geometric quality.

The use of a composite welded joint consisting of titanium and austenitic stainless steel metals is evidently a favourable selection for industrial applications employing the resistance spot welding (RSW) operation. Nevertheless, achieving a high-quality welded joint proved challenging owing to the properties of the diverse range of materials' used. To improve the quality of dissimilar welded joints, the welding parameters should be selected precisely. With that in mind, the current research endeavoured to figure out the ideal RSW parameters for a dissimilar resistance spot-welded joint between grade 2 titanium alloy (Ti) and AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel (ASS) with equal and unequal thicknesses of 0.5 and 1 mm. The RSW cases based on the selected thickness were referred to as the following: similar thickness of 1 mm for Ti and ASS as case E, dissimilar thickness of 0.5 mm for Ti and 1 mm for ASS as case F, dissimilar thickness of 0.5 mm for ASS and 1 mm for Ti as case I, and similar thickness of 0.5 mm as case J. Tensile shear force, failure mode, and micro-hardness were the metrics used to assess the dissimilar joint's soundness. The RSW variables utilized in the scope of the present investigation were "welding current, pressure, welding time, squeeze time, holding time, and pulse welding". Models from gradient boosting, CatBoost, and random forest machine learning (ML) algorithms were used to guarantee an accurate analysis, along with the artificial neural network regressions. Therefore, the ML and artificial neural network (ANN) models were trained using real data collected from 100 experimental RSW samples conducted under different RSW process parameters. Various transfer and training functions were applied with the multilayer perceptron employing the feed-forward-back propagation approach when building the ANN models. Also, for the first time in the RSW field, an estimation of the relative importance of the RSW variables regarding the predicted shear force is presented in the current study. Evaluating the experimental findings demonstrated that the highest shear force was 2.183, 2.589, 1.708, and 1.851 kN for cases E, F, I, and J. The micro-hardness data indicated that the nugget zone had a much higher hardness than the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and base metal (BM) zones, wherein case F showed the peak nugget hardness in comparison to the other cases. The best prediction model was found to be the ANN model when training the conjugate gradient with the Polak-Ribiere updates (Traincgp) training function with the hyperbolic tangent sigmoid transfer function (Tansig) with the mean squared error (MSE) and correlation coefficient (R 2 ) values recorded as 0.01886 and 0.94973, respectively. However, the random forest algorithm gave the second best prediction of the MSE while the CatBoost and gradient boosting algorithms were third and fourth, respectively. The automotive and aerospace sectors are anticipated to benefit from the present research in applications associated with body component production that result in a superior strength-to-weight ratio., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Authors.)

The working conditions of tools during plastic working operations are determined by, among other things, temperature, loads, loading method, and processing speed. In sheet metal forming processes, additionally, lubricant and tool surface roughness play a key role in changing the surface topography of the drawpieces. This article presents the results of friction analysis on the edge of the punch in a deep drawing process using the bending under tension test. A DC04 steel sheet was used as the test material. The influence of various types of titanium nitride and titanium coatings applied on the surface of countersamples made of 145Cr6 cold-work tool steel was tested by means of high-intensity plasma pulses, magnetron sputtering, and electron pulse irradiation. The influence of the type of tool coating on the evolution of the coefficient of friction, the change in the sheet surface topography, and the temperature in the contact zone is presented in this paper. An increase in the coefficient of friction with sample elongation was observed. Countersamples modified with protective coatings provided a more stable coefficient value during the entire friction test compared to dry friction conditions. The electron pulse irradiated countersample provided the highest stability of the coefficient of friction in the entire range of sample elongation until fracture. The skewness Ssk of the sheet metal tested against the coated countersamples was characterized by negative value, which indicates a plateau-like shape of their surface. The highest temperature in the contact zone during friction with all types of countersamples was observed for the uncoated countersample.

The results of experimental and numerical studies of plastic forming of sheets made of the difficult-to-deform Hastelloy X, a nickel-based alloy with a thickness of 1 mm, using layered elastomeric punches and steel dies, are presented in this publication. The elastomeric punches were characterized by hardness in the range of 50-90 Shore A, while the dies were made of 90MnCrV8 steel with a hardness of over 60 HRC. The principle of operating the stamping die was based on the Guerin method. The finite-element-based numerical modeling of the forming process for various configurations of polyurethane inserts was also carried out. The results obtained from numerical modeling were confirmed by the results of experimental tests. The drawpieces obtained through sheet forming were subjected to geometry tests using optical 3D scanning. The results confirmed that in the case of forming difficult-to-deform Hastelloy X, Ni-based alloy sheets, the hardness of the polyurethane inserts significantly affected the geometric quality of the obtained drawpieces. Significant nonuniform sheet metal deformations were also found, which may pose a problem in the process of designing forming tools and the technology of the plastic forming of Hastelloy X, Ni-based alloy sheets.

This article presents the results of testing the suitability of X-ray computed tomography for the quality control of the casting moulds used for producing turbine blades. The research was focused on the analysis of cross-sectional images, spatial models and the porosity of moulds using a Phoenix L 450 microtomograph. The research material consisted of samples from three mixtures of ceramic materials and binders intended for producing casting moulds using the lost wax method. Various configurations of filling materials (Molochite and quartz flours) and binder (Remasol, Ludox PX 30 and hydrolysed ethyl silicate) mixtures were considered. X-ray computed tomography enabled the detection of a number of defects in the ceramic mass related to the distribution of mass components, porosity concentration and defects resulting from the specificity of the mould production. It was found that casting mould quality control on cross-sectional tomographic images is faster and as accurate as the analysis of three-dimensional models and allows for the detection of a whole range of ceramic defects, but the usefulness of the images is greatest only when the cross-sections are taken at an appropriate angle relative to the object being examined.

Correct design of the sheet metal forming process requires knowledge of the friction phenomenon occurring in various areas of the drawpiece. Additionally, the friction at the drawbead is decisive to ensure that the sheet flows in the desired direction. This article presents the results of experimental tests enabling the determination of the coefficient of friction at the drawbead and using a specially designed tribometer. The test material was a DC04 carbon steel sheet. The tests were carried out for different orientations of the samples in relation to the sheet rolling direction, different drawbead heights, different lubrication conditions and different average roughnesses of the countersamples. According to the aim of this work, the Features Importance analysis, conducted using the Gradient-Boosted Regression Trees algorithm, was used to find the influence of several parameter features on the coefficient of friction. The advantage of gradient-boosted decision trees is their ability to analyze complex relationships in the data and protect against overfitting. Another advantage is that there is no need for prior data processing. According to the best of the authors' knowledge, the effectiveness of gradient-boosted decision trees in analyzing the friction occurring in the drawbead in sheet metal forming has not been previously studied. To improve the accuracy of the model, five MinLeafs were applied to the regression tree, together with 500 ensembles utilized for learning the previously learned nodes, noting that the MinLeaf indicates the minimum number of leaf node observations. The least-squares-boosting technique, often known as LSBoost, is used to train a group of regression trees. Features Importance analysis has shown that the friction conditions (dry friction of lubricated conditions) had the most significant influence on the coefficient of friction, at 56.98%, followed by the drawbead height, at 23.41%, and the sample width, at 11.95%. The average surface roughness of rollers and sample orientation have the smallest impact on the value of the coefficient of friction at 6.09% and 1.57%, respectively. The dispersion and deviation observed for the testing dataset from the experimental data indicate the model's ability to predict the values of the coefficient of friction at a coefficient of determination of R 2 = 0.972 and a mean-squared error of MSE = 0.000048. It was qualitatively found that in order to ensure the optimal (the lowest) coefficient of friction, it is necessary to control the friction conditions (use of lubricant) and the drawbead height.

The aim of this article is to provide an analysis of the influence of the type of hard anti-wear coatings on the friction behaviour of DC01 deep-drawing steel sheets. DC01 steel sheets exhibit high formability, and they are widely used in sheet metal forming operations. The tribological properties of the tool surface, especially the coating used, determine the friction conditions in sheet metal forming. In order to carry out the research, this study developed and manufactured a special bending-under-tension (BUT) friction tribometer that models the friction phenomenon on the rounded edges of tools in the deep-drawing process. The rationale for building the tribotester was that there are no commercial tribotesters available that can be used to model the phenomenon of friction on the rounded edges of tools in sheet forming processes. The influence of the type of coating and sheet deformation on the coefficient of friction (CoF) and the change in the topography of the sheet surface were analysed. Countersamples with surfaces prepared using titanium + nitrogen ion implantation, nitrogen ion implantation and electron beam remelting were tested. The tests were carried out in conditions of dry friction and lubrication with oils with different kinematic viscosities. Under dry friction conditions, a clear increase in the CoF value, with the elongation of the samples for all analysed types of countersamples, was observed. Under lubricated conditions, the uncoated countersample showed the most favourable friction conditions. Furthermore, oil with a lower viscosity provided more favourable conditions for reducing the coefficient of friction. Within the entire range of sample elongation, the most favourable conditions for reducing the CoF were provided by uncoated samples and lubrication with S100+ oil. During the friction process, the average roughness decreased as a result of flattening the phenomenon. Under dry friction conditions, the value of the Sa parameter during the BUT test decreased by 20.3-30.2%, depending on the type of countersample. As a result of the friction process, the kurtosis and skewness increased and decreased, respectively, compared to as-received sheet metal.

In this article, an attempt was made to join DP600 steel and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy sheets by resistance spot-welding (RSW) using an interlayer in the form of Cu and Au layers fabricated through the cold-spraying process. The welded joints obtained by RSW without an interlayer were also considered. The influence of Cu and Au as an interlayer on the resulting microstructure as well as mechanical properties (shear force and microhardness) of the joints were determined. A typical type of failure of Ti6Al4V/DP600 joints produced without the use of an interlayer is brittle fracture. The microstructure of the resulting joint consisted mainly of the intermetallic phases FeTi and Fe 2 Ti. The microstructure of the Ti6Al4V/Au/DP600 joint contained the intermetallic phases Ti 3 Au, TiAu, and TiAu4. The intermetallic phases TiCu and FeCu were found in the microstructure of the Ti6Al4V/Cu/DP600 joint. The maximum tensile/shear stress was 109.46 MPa, which is more than three times higher than for a welded joint fabricated without the use of Cu or Au interlayers. It has been observed that some alloying elements, such as Fe, can lower the martensitic transformation temperature, and some, such as Au, can increase the martensitic transformation temperature.

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is becoming more and more widely used in the metal industry due to its high production flexibility and the possibility of obtaining larger material deformations than during conventional sheet metal forming processes. This paper presents the results of the numerical modeling of friction stir rotation-assisted SPIF of commercially pure 0.4 mm-thick titanium sheets. The aim of this research was to build a reliable finite element-based thermo-mechanical model of the warm forming process of titanium sheets. Finite element-based simulations were conducted in Abaqus/Explicit software (version 2019). The formability of sheet metal when forming conical cones with a slope angle of 45° was analyzed. The numerical model assumes complex thermal interactions between the forming tool, the sheet metal and the surroundings. The heat generation capability was used to heat generation caused by frictional sliding. Mesh sensitivity analysis showed that a 1 mm mesh provides the best agreement with the experimental results of total forming force (prediction error 3%). It was observed that the higher the size of finite elements (2 mm and 4 mm), the greater the fluctuation of the total forming force. The maximum temperature recorded in the contact zone using the FLIR T400 infrared camera was 157 °C, while the FE-based model predicted this value with an error of 1.3%. The thinning detected by measuring the drawpiece with the ARGUS non-contact strain measuring system and predicted by the FEM model showed a uniform thickness in the drawpiece wall zone. The FE-based model overestimated the minimum and maximum wall thicknesses by 3.7 and 5.9%, respectively.

This study addresses the critical need for efficient and recyclable photocatalysts for water treatment applications by presenting a novel approach for the synthesis and characterization of copper (I) oxide (Cu 2 O) nanoparticles modified with ascorbic acid (Cu 2 O/AA). The motivation for this research stems from the increasing concern about environmental pollution caused by organic pollutants, such as Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB), and the necessity for sustainable solutions to mitigate this issue. Through comprehensive characterization techniques including Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), zeta potential measurements, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, we demonstrate a significant modification to the electronic structure, enhancing the photocatalytic activity of Cu 2 O/AA. BET analysis revealed a mesoporous structure with a specific surface area of 2.7247 m 2 /g for Cu 2 O/AA, further emphasizing its potential for enhanced catalytic performance. The photocatalytic degradation studies showcased remarkable efficiency improvements, with degradation coefficients of 30.8% and 73.12% for Cu 2 O NPs and Cu 2 O/AA NC, respectively, within a 120 min timeframe. Additionally, recyclability experiments indicated sustained efficiency over five consecutive cycles, with both catalysts retaining crystalline integrity. These findings underscore the promising potential of Cu 2 O/AA nanoparticles as highly efficient and recyclable photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants, offering superior performance compared to pure Cu 2 O NPs and addressing the pressing need for sustainable water treatment solutions.

The automobile industry relies primarily on spot welding operations, particularly resistance spot welding (RSW). The performance and durability of the resistance spot-welded joints are significantly impacted by the welding quality outputs, such as the shear force, nugget diameter, failure mode, and the hardness of the welded joints. In light of this, the present study sought to determine how the aforementioned welding quality outputs of 0.5 and 1 mm thick austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 were affected by RSW parameters, such as welding current, welding time, pressure, holding time, squeezing time, and pulse welding. In order to guarantee precise evaluation and experimental analysis, it is essential that they are supported by a numerical model using an intelligent model. The primary objective of this research is to develop and enhance an intelligent model employing artificial neural network (ANN) models. This model aims to provide deeper knowledge of how the RSW parameters affect the quality of optimum joint behavior. The proposed neural network (NN) models were executed using different ANN structures with various training and transfer functions based on the feedforward backpropagation approach to find the optimal model. The performance of the ANN models was evaluated in accordance with validation metrics, like the mean squared error (MSE) and correlation coefficient (R 2 ). Assessing the experimental findings revealed the maximum shear force and nugget diameter emerged to be 8.6 kN and 5.4 mm for the case of 1-1 mm, 3.298 kN and 4.1 mm for the case of 0.5-0.5 mm, and 4.031 kN and 4.9 mm for the case of 0.5-1 mm. Based on the results of the Pareto charts generated by the Minitab program, the most important parameter for the 1-1 mm case was the welding current; for the 0.5-0.5 mm case, it was pulse welding; and for the 0.5-1 mm case, it was holding time. When looking at the hardness results, it is clear that the nugget zone is much higher than the heat-affected zone (HZ) and base metal (BM) in all three cases. The ANN models showed that the one-output shear force model gave the best prediction, relating to the highest R and the lowest MSE compared to the one-output nugget diameter model and two-output structure. However, the Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation (Trainlm) training function with the log sigmoid transfer function recorded the best prediction results of both ANN structures.

The fact is that hundreds of holes are drilled in the assembly process of furniture sets, so intelligent drilling is a key element in maximizing efficiency. Increasing the feed rate or the cutting speed in materials characterized by a higher machinability index is necessary. Smart drilling, that is, the real-time adjustment of the cutting parameters, requires the evolution of cutting process variables. In addition, it is necessary to control and adjust the processing parameters in real time. Machinability is one of the most important technological properties in the machining process, enabling the determination of the material's susceptibility to machining. One of the machinability indicators is the unit cutting resistance. This article proposes a method of material identification using the short-time Fourier transform in order to automatically adjust cutting parameters during drilling based on force signals, cutting torque and acceleration signals. In the tests, four types of wood-based materials were used as the processed material: medium-density fiberboard, chipboard, plywood board and high-pressure laminate. Holes with a diameter of 10 mm were drilled in the test materials, with variable feed rate, cutting speed and thickness of cutting layer. An innovative method for determining the value of unit cutting resistance was proposed. The results obtained were used to determine the machinability index. Based on the test results, it was shown that both the selected signal measures in the time and frequency domains and the unit cutting resistance are constant for a given material of a workpiece and do not depend on the drilling process parameters. In this article, the methodology is proposed, which can be used as an intelligent technique to support the drilling process to detect the material being machined using data from sensors installed on the machine tool. The work proposes the fundamentals for material identification based on the analysis of force signals and the magnitude of force derivatives. The proposed methodology shows effectiveness, which proves that it can be used in intelligent drilling processes. Hybrid wood-based material structures consisting of different materials are becoming more and more common in building structures for strength, economic and environmental reasons. Due to the difference in the machinability of interconnected materials, cutting parameters must be optimized in real time during machining. Currently, with the rapid development of Industry 4.0, the on-line identification of parameters is becoming necessary to improve the process flow in industrial reality. The proposed methodology can be used as an intelligent technique to support the drilling process in order to detect the material being processed using data from sensors installed on the machine tool.

To ensure the high reliability of aircraft structures, the Refill Friction Stir Spot Welding (RFSSW) process must be characterized by a high load capacity of the welds and a small standard deviation of the load capacity spread. This allows us to obtain uniform functional properties in the connections, ensuring the high quality of the process. This work aims to select the most favorable technological parameters for the welding process of EN AW-7075-T6 Alclad aluminum alloy sheets, which are used for the production of aircraft structures. The best networks were calculated using the Statistica 13.3 program. The obtained results were compared with the results of previous investigations. It has been shown that a model using neural networks allows for the determination of connection parameters with much greater accuracy than the classical model. The maximum error in estimating the load capacity of the connection for the mathematical model was 6.13%, and the standard deviation was 14.51%. In the case of neural networks, the maximum error value did not exceed 1.55%, and the standard deviation was 3.74%. It was shown that, based on the neural model, it is possible to determine the process parameters that ensure the required quality capacity of the process, ensuring a probability of obtaining the required load capacity of the connections amounting to P = 0.999935 with a defect rate of 0.0065%. This possibility is not provided by the classical model due to its large error in estimating the process spread and the high sensitivity of the process input parameters to the output parameters.

This article proposes as a novelty the differentiation of shielding-gas flow rates from both sides of the tungsten inert gas (TIG)-welded butt joints of commercially pure (CP) grade 1 titanium tubes. Such an approach is aimed at economically reducing the amount of protective gas used in TIG closed butt welding. The effect of the shielding-gas flow rate on the properties of CP grade 1 titanium butt-welded joints made using the tungsten inert gas (TIG)-welding method. Butt-welded joints were made for different values of the shielding-gas flow from the side of the root of the weld. Argon 5.0 was used as the shielding gas in the welding process. As part of the research, the welded joints obtained were analysed using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The microstructural characteristics of the joints were examined using an optical microscope, and the mechanical properties were determined using hardness and tensile tests. It was observed that as the flow of the shielding gas decreases, the hardness of the weld material increases and its brittleness also increases. A similar trend related to the amount of gas flow was also noticeable for the tensile strength of the joints. The increase in the hardness of the weld and the heat-affected zone compared to the base metal is mainly related to the increase in the amount of acicular structure (α' phase). The optimal gas flow rates from the side of the root of weld were found at the values of 12 dm 3 /min.