Este trabalho procurou identificar o defeito que ocorria no teste de estanqueidade de uma peça e apresentar a correlação entre o nível de porosidade encontrado no produto fundido com a liga de alumínio A356 e os processos de fusão e de manutenção sob temperaturas controladas, o teor de hidrogênio, o sistema de enchimento e de alimentação, obedecendo ao princípio de solidificação direcional e o posicionamento do modelo em relação à linha de divisão. Foram efetuadas algumas experiências com diferentes tempos de introdução de nitrogênio para a purificação do metal, com a inversão do modelo em relação ao plano de partição do molde, com a modificação das dimensões do sistema de enchimento, com a substituição dos massalotes laterais por outros com luvas exotérmicas e utilizando-se resfriadores. Tentou-se verificar os benefícios que os filtros cerâmicos proporcionam aos fundidos, principalmente quanto à diminuição do nível de porosidade, menor turbulência e maior capacidade de reter as inclusões e parte dos filmes de óxidos. Para comprová-los, propôs-se a fundição de peças, em moldes confeccionados pelo processo de areia à verde, com diferentes tipos de filtros cerâmicos nos canais de distribuição. As amostras foram analisadas no Laboratório Metalográfico do Departamento de Engenharia Metalúrgica e de Materiais da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo e no Laboratório de Metalurgia e de Materiais Cerâmicos do Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas de São Paulo. Após a análise dos resultados em microscópio óptico, microscópio eletrônico de varredura e em espectrômetro por emissão de energia observou-se que o problema está relacionado principalmente com a alimentação e a solidificação direcional e não somente com o teor de hidrogênio. / The objective of this work is to study the type of defect identified during the pressure tightness test of aluminum parts and to establish a relationship between porosity level of an A356 aluminum alloy and the production processes, hydrogen level, feeding system, and directional solidification. Different nitrogen blowing times, inversion of the mould pattern, relative to the partition line, changing of the feeding system dimensions, replacement of the lateral feeding by exothermic gloves and the use of chills where tested. Ceramic filters were also tested, in order to evaluate their influence on the formation of porosities and on the porosity level, through a decrease of turbulence and an increase in the capacity of retaining non-metallic inclusions and part of the oxide films. Casting was performed by the green sand process using different ceramic filters. The obtained parts were metallographicaly analyzed through optical and scanning electronic microscopy using also EDS analysis. The results showed that porosity is related with the feeding conditions and directional solidification besides the hydrogen content of the alloys.

Este trabalho procurou identificar o defeito que ocorria no teste de estanqueidade de uma peça e apresentar a correlação entre o nível de porosidade encontrado no produto fundido com a liga de alumínio A356 e os processos de fusão e de manutenção sob temperaturas controladas, o teor de hidrogênio, o sistema de enchimento e de alimentação, obedecendo ao princípio de solidificação direcional e o posicionamento do modelo em relação à linha de divisão. Foram efetuadas algumas experiências com diferentes tempos de introdução de nitrogênio para a purificação do metal, com a inversão do modelo em relação ao plano de partição do molde, com a modificação das dimensões do sistema de enchimento, com a substituição dos massalotes laterais por outros com luvas exotérmicas e utilizando-se resfriadores. Tentou-se verificar os benefícios que os filtros cerâmicos proporcionam aos fundidos, principalmente quanto à diminuição do nível de porosidade, menor turbulência e maior capacidade de reter as inclusões e parte dos filmes de óxidos. Para comprová-los, propôs-se a fundição de peças, em moldes confeccionados pelo processo de areia à verde, com diferentes tipos de filtros cerâmicos nos canais de distribuição. As amostras foram analisadas no Laboratório Metalográfico do Departamento de Engenharia Metalúrgica e de Materiais da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo e no Laboratório de Metalurgia e de Materiais Cerâmicos do Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas de São Paulo. Após a análise dos resultados em microscópio óptico, microscópio eletrônico de varredura e em espectrômetro por emissão de energia observou-se que o problema está relacionado principalmente com a alimentação e a solidificação direcional e não somente com o teor de hidrogênio. / The objective of this work is to study the type of defect identified during the pressure tightness test of aluminum parts and to establish a relationship between porosity level of an A356 aluminum alloy and the production processes, hydrogen level, feeding system, and directional solidification. Different nitrogen blowing times, inversion of the mould pattern, relative to the partition line, changing of the feeding system dimensions, replacement of the lateral feeding by exothermic gloves and the use of chills where tested. Ceramic filters were also tested, in order to evaluate their influence on the formation of porosities and on the porosity level, through a decrease of turbulence and an increase in the capacity of retaining non-metallic inclusions and part of the oxide films. Casting was performed by the green sand process using different ceramic filters. The obtained parts were metallographicaly analyzed through optical and scanning electronic microscopy using also EDS analysis. The results showed that porosity is related with the feeding conditions and directional solidification besides the hydrogen content of the alloys.

The challenges of weight reduction and good strength in automotive industry have drawn considerable interest in thixocasting technologies. Joining of such components with conventional fusion welding creates voids, hot cracking, distortion in shape, and more importantly evolution of dendritic microstructure that ultimately would lead to inferior mechanical properties of the weld region. Thus, the purpose of making thixocast component is lost. The friction welding which is a solid state joining process can avoid defects associated with melting and solidification in a typical fusion weld and can be a promising alternative. This process produces a weld under compressive force at the contact of workpieces rotating or moving relative to one another to produce heat and plastically displacing material from the faying surfaces. Research on semisolid processing has its origin in the early 1970s. However, from the literature survey on semisolid processing it is clear that, till date, not much work has been done in field of joining of semisolid processed components. In the area of solid state welding, in particular, it is not at all explored. In view of this, the present work is focused on exploration of joining of Thixocast A356 Aluminium alloy component by friction welding and comparison of its performance with friction weld of conventionally cast sample of the same alloy. The study is carried out experimentally as well as numerically. Moreover, the material behaviour of thixocast component at elevated temperature in solid state is also described with the help of processing maps and constitutive modelling. The hot workability of thixocast and conventionally cast A356 alloy is evaluated with the help of processing maps developed on the basis of the dynamic materials model approach using the flow stress data obtained from the isothermal compression test in wide range of temperature (300-500℃) and strain rates (0.001s-1-10s-1). The domains of the processing map are interpreted in terms of the associated microstructural mechanism. On comparing the flow stress at elevated temperature of thixocast and conventionally cast A356 alloy samples, it is observed that the flow stress of the latter showed higher value at different strain level, temperature and strain rates. This indicates that the flow property of the thixocast alloy sample is better than that of the conventionally cast one (i.e. response to plastic flow is better for the former); while at room temperature thixocast sample has higher strength. Moreover to investigate the general nature of the influence of strain, strain rate and temperature on the compressive deformation characteristics of thixocast A356 and conventionally cast A356 aluminium alloy, a comprehensive model describing the relationship of the flow stress, strain rate and temperature of the alloys at elevated temperatures is proposed by hyperbolic-sine Arrhenius-type equation and Johnson-Cook model. The validity of descriptive results based on the proposed constitutive equation is also investigated and a comparison between two constitutive models is also made. In order to numerically model the friction welding process of a thixocast A356 aluminium alloy and conventionally cast alloy of same material using a finite element method (FEM), temperature dependent physical properties, mechanical properties as well as viscoplastic constitutive equations were used in the model. A two- dimensional axisymmetric finite element model has been developed. The modelling is based on a coupled thermomechanical approach. First, a nonlinear, transient two-dimensional heat transfer model is developed to determine the temperature fields. Later, the temperature fields are used as input for a nonlinear, two-dimensional structural model in order to predict the distortions and von Mises stress. The finite element models are parametrically built using APDL (ANSYS Parametric Design Language) provided by ANSYS. The validation of the model is carried out by comparing with the experiment. Once validated, the thermomechanical model was used to perform parametric studies in order to investigate effects of various process parameters on temperature and stress distribution in the workpieces. This helps in deciding the range of parameters for friction welding experiments in order to get good weld. Both thixocast and conventionally cast samples exhibited similar temperature distribution during the friction welding process, because of identical thermophysical properties. The magnitude of von Mises stress distribution during friction welding of thixocast A356 sample is found to be lower than that of the conventionally cast sample. It is because of their different constitutive behaviour at elevated temperature. Moreover, the developed FEM model can be successfully used to predict the residual stress at various locations for different set of parameters and geometry for friction welding of thixocast and conventionally cast A356 alloy. This helps in reducing time consuming and expensive experiments on residual stress measurement. The chosen experiments based on Taguchi L27 orthogonal array were conducted on the friction welding machine which works on the principles of continuous drive-mechanism. The experimental specimens were machined from thixocast A356 aluminium alloy connecting rods as well as conventionally cast A356 aluminium alloy ingot in the form of cylindrical bars of dimensions 85mm length and 20mm diameter. The parameters used for welding were friction pressure, rpm, forge pressure, burn-off, and upset pressure. The effects of welding parameters on performance characteristics (i.e. tensile strength and weld efficiency) were evaluated. Taguchi method was applied to investigate the influence of each parameter on strength of joints and evaluate the combination of parameters that leads to the highest weld strength. Accordingly optimum process parameters was identified which helps in achieving the tensile strength of more than parent material. The optimized process parameters for friction welding of thixocast A356 aluminium alloy are rpm = 500, friction pressure = 60, upset time = 5, upset pressure = 100 and burn off = 5. The empirical relationships were also developed to predict the tensile strength. The developed relationship can be effectively used to predict the tensile strength of welded joint with a correlation coefficient of 0.86, which indicates the strong positive relationship between predicted and experimental data. Friction welding of thixocast A356 aluminium alloy helps to achieve very fine eutectic silicon particles of the order of 0.4 at the interface due to severe plastic deformation taking place during welding. Obtaining such fine eutectic silicon particles is difficult to be achieved within few seconds of processing by any other method. The hardness variation of friction welded thixocast alloy shows higher value as compared to that of a conventionally cast sample in the heat affected zone, which indicates better weld strength of the former. This was also confirmed by the tensile strength studied and fatigue test. This indicates that weldability of cast alloys will get improved if the microstructure is modified to globular type.

"Tautologically, castability is a critical requirement in any casting process. The two most important factors impacting castability are the susceptibility of a metal to hot tearing and the degree of casting fluidity a material possesses. This work concerns itself with fluidity of molten metal. Since experimental investigations into casting fluidity began, researchers have sought to maximize fluidity through superheat, mold temperature, alloy chemistry, melt cleanliness, and mold design. Researchers who have examined the published results in the field have remarked on the difficulty of making quantitative comparisons and drawing conclusions from the data. Ragone developed a horizontal vacuum fluidity apparatus and an analytical expression for fluid length to help resolve these issues. This was expanded on by Flemings et al. Still, the comparison of results is complicated by experimental uncertainties and a plurality of experimental procedures. This work seeks to resolve these issues through an analysis of experimental uncertainties present in existing fluidity tests and the development of an improved test and procedure which is very precise, accurate, and reliable. Certain existing tests and software packages have been shown to be unsuitable for quantitative fluidity measurement. Expressions for experimental uncertainty in fluidity testing have been derived. The capability to predict variations in fluidity as a function of alloy chemistry and other variables whose range of values are intrinsic to the economics of the process will help to more accurately determine the superheat needed for successful castings and will in turn lead to a decrease in scrap rates. This will enable metal casters to more reliably cast thin sections, and to reduce cycle time or scrap rate to achieve productivity goals. Superheat was shown to remain the dominant factor in fluidity, but the test allowed investigation of alloy modifications within an alloy specification in this alloy system. Factors known to have negative effects on structural properties were found often to have neutral or positive impacts on fluidity. A deep understanding of variations in fluidity measurements is the next necessary step in a century-long quest to understand how best to make metal castings through the use of fluidity experiments."

Merit pay refers to the awarding of differential amounts of financial rewards to deserving employees based on their individual performances as measured by Performance appraisal and Rating. The idea is that such a practice would act as a spur to all employees -- both deserving and undeserving-- to improve their productivity to earn the extra pay. The systemic effect would be enhanced organizational productivity and effectiveness. Although it has fallen in and out of favor over the years, as its long history in the public sector shows, interest in the concept endures. So has the controversy surrounding its efficacy or the lack thereof. This dissertation is an attempt to further our understanding of the potential of merit pay in the public sector. To this end, it makes a critical assessment of the efficacy or the lack thereof of merit pay programs in the public sector. This has been done by integrating the findings of thirty-six empirical studies that examined such programs. Twenty-nine of these studies elicited from employees their perceptions affected of how merit pay in their organizations has employee motivation, productivity, and organizational effectiveness. The remaining seven represent authors' (non-respondent) conclusions regarding the effect of merit pay on the above variables in the organizations they examined. Taking all in all, the findings of this study show that merit pay has not significantly enhanced employee motivation, productivity, or organizational effectiveness. In addition, virtually all of the shortcomings and organizational behavioral problems identified in the literature with regard to the implementation of merit pay were found to have plagued the merit pay programs examined in these empirical studies. These problems seem to be ubiquitous and endemic. However, the goal-setting aspect of the merit pay process was found to have led to improvement in employee performance. Two main recommendations are made. First, organizations should use goal-setting. It can yield beneficial results without the headaches of merit pay. Second, and more desirably, efforts at enduring motivation and productivity improvement should be directed toward promoting teamwork in the workplace and creating a culture that fosters commitment to organizational purposes and cooperation among persons and units within the organization. / Ph. D.

In this work, the Bauschinger effect is shown to be intimately tied not only to plasticity but to damage as well. The plasticity-damage effect on the Bauschinger effect is demonstrated by employing different definitions (Bauschinger Stress Parameter, Bauschinger Effect Parameter, the Ratio of Forward-to-Reverse Yield, and the Ratio of Kinematic-to-Isotropic Hardening) for two differently processed aluminum alloys (rolled and cast) in which specimens were tested to different prestrain levels under tension and compression. Damage progression from second phase particles and inclusions that were generally equiaxed for the cast A356-T6 aluminum alloy and elongated for the rolled 7075 aluminum alloy was quantified from interrupted experiments. Observations showed that the Bauschinger effect had larger values for compression prestrains when compared to tension. The Bauschinger effect was also found to be a function of damage to particles/inclusions, dislocation/particle interaction, the work hardening rate, and the Bauschinger effect definition.

<p>This work is an experimental approach to understand the effect of the microstructure on large strain deformation behavior of A356 alloy (with various additions of titanium and strontium) under uniaxial tensile, compressive and V-bend loading conditions. The studies were carried out on unmodified and Sr-modified A356 Al alloy, where Sr was added to refine the morphology of the eutectic Si phase particles. The two variants were then used to study the effect of size and shape distributions of Si eutectic phase particles within the material on the deformation behavior under uniaxial tension, compression and V-bending conditions. The alloy with a modified and refined eutectic Si phase particles showed significant improvement in ductility and bendability, whereas the differences in compression were not appreciable. In addition to Sr addition, Ti was also added as a grain refiner to the alloys at three different levels to obtain microstructures with different grain sizes. The results in the form of full field strain maps show that the larger grained alloy exhibits extensive strain inhomogeneity, whereas the grain refined alloy shows a more homogenous loading pattern.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The mechanisms of strata deformation due to underground mining were analyzed in an effort to better understand immediate roof behavior and surface displacements. Strata deformation characteristics above longwall and room-and-pillar mines in the eastern U.S. coalfields were evaluated and a numerical procedure was developed for calculating surface displacements. The model, based on the well-known finite element method, utilized empirical indices associated with subsidence engineering in order to incorporate the site-specific characteristics into the formulation. Different material behavior models and failure criteria were employed in an attempt to determine the areas highly deformed by underground excavation. Additionally, the method was sensitive to the ratios of the elastic moduli used to describe different rocks and/ or rock conditions, and not to the magnitude of the elastic properties. Thus, the use of arbitrary reduction factors to convert laboratory to in situ property values was completely avoided and scaling of the calculated surface displacements was based on, the empirically predicted, regional or local parameters. The use of fixed displacement nodes around an opening to induce failure overcame the roof-floor overlap problem encountered in other formulations. The successful implementation of the proposed methodology for modeling surface deformations complements and enhances existing prediction techniques, which are primarily based on empirical approaches, by allowing parametric analysis for different excavation geometrics, roof convergence curves and overburden properties. / Ph. D.

Gradientes térmicos induzidos no interior de componentes sujeitos a variações de temperatura durante o período de funcionamento podem provocar a ocorrência de tensões e deformações internas. A repetição destes ciclos térmicos pode causar a nucleação e a propagação de trincas por um processo denominado fadiga termomecânica. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre o comportamento da liga de alumínio A356-T6, processada nas condições fundida e tixoextrudada, sob fadiga isotérmica e termomecânica. Foram realizados ensaios de fadiga de baixo ciclo isotérmica para as temperaturas de 120 e 280°C, e ensaios de fadiga termomecânica em-fase e fora-de-fase para a faixa de temperatura de 120 a 280°C. O material tixoextrudado apresentou melhor desempenho em fadiga nas condições isotérmica e anisotérmica (termomecânica) devido a uma microestrutura globular com menor nível de porosidade. / Thermal gradients induced in components during service under temperature changes can cause internal stresses and strains. This cyclic thermal behavior can cause crack nucleation and propagation under a process denominated thermomechanical fatigue. Permanent mold casting and tixoextruded A356-T6 aluminum alloy behavior under isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue was study in this work. Isothermal low cycle fatigue tests were performed in temperatures of 120 and 280°C. In-phase and out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue tests were carried out in temperature range from 120 to 280°C. The tixoextruded material presented better isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue performance due to a globular microstructure and lower porosity level.

Gradientes térmicos induzidos no interior de componentes sujeitos a variações de temperatura durante o período de funcionamento podem provocar a ocorrência de tensões e deformações internas. A repetição destes ciclos térmicos pode causar a nucleação e a propagação de trincas por um processo denominado fadiga termomecânica. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre o comportamento da liga de alumínio A356-T6, processada nas condições fundida e tixoextrudada, sob fadiga isotérmica e termomecânica. Foram realizados ensaios de fadiga de baixo ciclo isotérmica para as temperaturas de 120 e 280°C, e ensaios de fadiga termomecânica em-fase e fora-de-fase para a faixa de temperatura de 120 a 280°C. O material tixoextrudado apresentou melhor desempenho em fadiga nas condições isotérmica e anisotérmica (termomecânica) devido a uma microestrutura globular com menor nível de porosidade. / Thermal gradients induced in components during service under temperature changes can cause internal stresses and strains. This cyclic thermal behavior can cause crack nucleation and propagation under a process denominated thermomechanical fatigue. Permanent mold casting and tixoextruded A356-T6 aluminum alloy behavior under isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue was study in this work. Isothermal low cycle fatigue tests were performed in temperatures of 120 and 280°C. In-phase and out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue tests were carried out in temperature range from 120 to 280°C. The tixoextruded material presented better isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue performance due to a globular microstructure and lower porosity level.