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The automotive manufacturing industry is facing an interesting period of trial when a lot of improvement is expected of them in a short period of time to contribute to a cleaner planet by applying technologies that will reduce fossil fuel consumption. Electrification was good, but this must be accompanied by substantial curb weight reduction, which was provided by alloys such as A365, Aural 5 (AlSi8MnMg), Aural 2 (AlSi10MnMg), and Mercalloy 367 (AlSi9MgMnSr) for making structural parts. The use of these Al alloys is accompanied with extensive heat treatment which on its own involves fossil fuel consumption. In this research, test plates were made utilizing high vacuum high pressure die casting (HVHPDC) and a unique Al-Fe based eutectic alloy with Zn and Mg as precipitation strengtheners. Experimental results demonstrated that they age naturally, with their mechanical properties rising to the industry requirement within three days. DSC experiments carried out at various ages gave further experimental evidence to this natural ageing phenomenon. A portion of the samples was then given an experimental "paint bake" treatment at different ages. This is typical on an assembly line where the coated parts are baked at a temperature range of 120 - 200oC for thirty minutes. It was evidently defensible that samples of various ages respond to the treatment in different ways. The mechanical characteristics of the samples decreased after treatment to same value and progressively increased to match the values of the control samples. During the duration of the experiment, some samples rose quickly while others remained "nearly dead" in the state of low mechanical characteristics or climbed sluggishly to catch up with the natural ageing curve. The poorest results were seen in samples handled at the early stage when the initial clusters are forming indicating that it might not be a good idea to interfere with the NA process at those times. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Fueled by the desire to produce an Al alloy with good mechanical properties arising from natural ageing, high vacuum high pressure die casting (HVHPDC) was used in making castings of this alloy which contains Fe for improvement on its castability and recyclability, contains Zn and Mg which act as the precipitating strengtheners driving the natural ageing phenomenon. Tests and experiments like uniaxial tensile tests, differential scanning calorimetry and electrical conductivity tests were carried out to ascertain its suitability to be used for structural automotive parts without heat treatment. The results showed that the new Nemalloy HE700 met with the minimum industry requirements for mechanical properties of materials for structural automotive applications within 3 days of natural ageing. The alloy was then subjected to experimental paint bake treatment to observe its reaction to paint bake process and the results were able to show when to do paint bake for best outcome.

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<p> Tool life during the precision stamping of stainless steel sheet (AISI 301) has been studied with particular emphasis on reduction in the punch diameter and part hole size due to tool wear. Two analytical models for predicting tool life in terms of number of quality parts that could be stamped between two re-grindings have been proposed using a combination of Archard's wear model and punching force. The proposed tool life models have been verified by experiment trials with a round M2 punch and die. The trials were carried out on a precision progressive die in an industrial environment.</p> <p> The first tool life model calculates the pierced hole diameter variation for a given tool from sheet material properties and gives an estimation of number of parts that could be stamped for a given tolerance on a hole size. The second tool life model calculates number of parts with respect to the allowed burr height. Both of the proposed models are derived using sheet material properties such as sheet thickness, strength coefficient (K), strain hardening index (n) and material elongation (A); process parameters such as die clearance and friction coefficient; punch characteristics such as normalized wear rate, punch diameter and punch edge radius. Finite element analysis was also employed to simulate the hole piercing process to predict burr height. The results from the proposed tool life models, FE modeling and the experiments are in good agreement.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Aluminum alloys have increasing applications in construction and transportation industries. Both 5xxx-series (Al-Mg) and 6xxx-series (Al-Mg) alloys are frequently used in marine construction because of their light weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance. One of the major concerns regarding the marine application of aluminum alloys is their mechanical performance in fire scenarios. The material strength may be degraded due to both thermal and mechanical damage during fire exposure. This work emphasizes the stress-induced mechanical (physical) damage and its impact on the residual (post-fire) performance of 5083-H116 and 6061-T651 aluminum alloy. Thermo-mechanical tests were performed at various temperatures and stresses to study the stress-induced damage at induced plastic creep strain levels. Unstressed thermally exposed and thermo-mechanically damaged samples were examined to separate the stress-induced microstructural damage. The stress-induced microstructural damage primarily manifests itself as dynamic recovery at low creep temperatures, while cavitation, dynamic recrystallization and dynamic precipitation (in Al6061) are the types of damage developed in the high creep strains at high exposure temperatures. Different creep mechanisms are also studied for both Al5083 and Al6061. The post-fire mechanical response at room temperature after thermo-mechanical damage was investigated with reference to the damaged microstructure present in the material. Residual material strengths based on deformed cross sectional area after the creep test were calculated to provide insight into how microstructural damage affects the post-fire material performance. The competing effects of strength degradation caused by cavitation and strengthening due to grain elongation and subgrain refinement were investigated. Engineering residual material strengths calculated based on the original cross sectional area prior to creep tests were also studied to provide guidance for structural design. / Ph. D.