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This thesis investigates the challenges and opportunities of recycling PA6-GF30, a glass-filled polyamide, to address the pressing environmental concerns surrounding polymer waste. Through a collaboration between Thule Group and Jönköping University, it aims to understand how the properties of recycled materials evolve over time and reprocessing cycles, proposing practical methods for their utilization in sustainable manufacturing practices. Thule Group's commitment to reducing emissions entails transitioning to sustainable materials, particularly through increased use of recycled engineering materials like PA6-GF30, to lower the carbon footprint of products, emphasizing the importance of maintaining product quality and safety while exploring the effects of recycled materials on mechanical properties. Through producing and testing post-industrial and post-consumer samples added to virgin PA6-GF30 with varying ratios, comparison with the commercially available polymers was conducted. In total, 15 different mixtures of pellets of different quantity and quality of recycled composites were investigated with tensile test and impact test, moreover the fibers of some batches were filtrated from the matrix and the fiber aspect ratio was examined with the help of an optical microscope. Results illustrated that recycled polymers generally showed more mechanical property degradation as the ratio of recycled polymers were increased. Furthermore, adding the same amount of post-consumer regrinds as opposed to post-industrial was more detrimental to the overall mechanical performance. Post-industrial composite regrinds performed 11,3% worse in UTS, meanwhile post-consumer regrinds dropped by 25,5% in the same characteristic when the samples made of 100% recycled materials were compared to the virgin composite.  The reason behind this phenomenon was investigated and supported by microscopy. One of them is the natural aging of the material that operates through chain scission, that slowly makes that polymer stiffer and weaker. The other and more dominant reason is the damage taken by the fibers, that create numerous stress concentration sites at fiber ends, within the structure, ultimately damaging the fiber-matrix interface.

Because of a very variable geological composition of the Czech Republic, there is a various scale of all genetic types of rocks that are used for the production of crushed stone. The most often used group of rocks are effusive magmatic rocks, which represent about 34 % of crushed stone marketed (Starý et al. 2010). These rocks are used for all kinds of construction purposes including roads. The experimental material of crushed stone used in this thesis was sampled from 40 active quarries in the Czech Republic. The studied volcanic rocks originated from Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic complexes of Barrandien, Carboniferous and Permian of Krkonose Piedmont Basin, Carboniferous and Permian of Intrasudetic basin, area of ordovician Železné Hory, from the main volcanic center of Bohemian Massif in the north-west Bohemia (České středohoří Mts. and Doupov Mts.), Neovolcanic area of Czech Cretaceous basin and area of Neovolcanic East and West Sudeten. Petrographic study was carried out in a form of standard petrographic analysis of thin sections and chemical analysis, which helped inclusion of rocks to a classified systems. The whole suite of volcanic rocks was separated to five petrographic-technologic subgroups defined as: (1) rhyolites / porphyres, (2) phonolites, (3) basalts s.l., (4) spilites and (5)...

O presente trabalho visou determinar a tenacidade à fratura dinâmica, KID, primeiramente pelos conceitos da Mecânica da Fratura Elástica Linear (MFEL) e posteriormente pela Mecânica da Fratura Elasto-Plástica (MFEP), JID, em materiais que em operação podem estar sujeitos a impactos em diferentes temperaturas. Os materiais estudados, de uso na indústria aeronáutica, foram uma liga de titânio Ti6Al4V (norma SAE AMS 4911), na condição recozida e uma liga de aço inoxidável PH 15-5 (norma SAE AMS 5659), na condição H1000. Os corpos de prova pré-trincados e entalhados foram retirados nas orientações L-T e L-S, a fim de que fossem determinadas e comparadas a relação tenacidade/densidade ou tenacidade específica dos materiais estudados. Em seguida os corpos de prova foram ensaiados sob condições de carga dinâmica em uma máquina de ensaio Charpy instrumentado, marca Instron-Wolpert PW30, conforme a norma ASTM-E23, com velocidade de carregamento de 5,52 m/s e nas temperaturas de 23 e 400ºC. Os valores das tenacidades, posteriormente comparados e correlacionados, foram obtidos de acordo com as expressões matemáticas mencionadas na literatura. A razão entre as energias estimadas de iniciação (Ei) e de propagação (Ep), (Ei/Ep), foi obtida a partir dos gráficos de carga-deslocamento x tempo. A determinação e caracterização dos aspectos macro e microscópicos da fratura foram realizadas através de microscopia ótica e de varredura. Em seguida, confrontaram-se os valores e os aspectos preponderantes dos mecanismos de fratura apresentados por cada material. / The present work aimed to evaluate the dynamic fracture toughness, KID, firstly using the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics parameter, (LEFM), and secondly using the Elasto-Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM), JID. The materials used in this work are from aeronautic grade and are subjected to in service impact loads and temperature variation. The materials are a titanium alloy Ti6Al4V (standard SAE AMS 4911), in the annealed condition and a PH 15-5 stainless steel (standard SAE AMS 5659), H1000 condition. Both precracked and notched specimens were taken in the L-T and L-S directions, for the evaluation and comparison of the toughness/density ratio, i. e., the specific dynamic fracture toughness of the materials studied. Therefore, the specimens were tested under dynamic load using an Instron-Wolpert PW30 Instrumented Charpy Equipment, following the ASTM-E23 standard, with load speed of 5,52 m/s at 23 and 400ºC. The fracture toughness values were compared using mathematical expression from literature. The ration between the initiation (Ei) and propagation (Ep) energies, (Ei/Ep), was obtained from the load-displacement x time. The characterization of the macro and microscopic aspects of the fracture mechanisms were carried out using optical microscope and scan electronic microscope. The fracture toughness values and the fractographic observations were correlated and compared for the two materials studied.

Ett företag som tillverkar hydrauliska snabbkopplingar har genom regelbundna kvalitetsprover upptäckt att vissa låskulor till snabbkopplingarnas låsmekanism plötsligt fått en bristande kvalité och spricker vid belastning. Låskulorna är gjorda av rostfritt stål och har en viktig funktion i låsmekanismen. Om de spricker vid användning kan det leda till konsekvenser med materiella skador eller personskador. Företaget vill förekomma eventuella kvalitetsproblem och måste därför säkerställa att låskulorna har rätt hållfasthet. Låskulorna köps in från en underleverantör och företaget vill därför utveckla en provmetod som provar låskulornas materialegenskaper när de levereras till fabriken. Arbetet i denna rapport syftar till att hjälpa företaget utveckla en sådan provmetod. Ett första steg är att undersöka orsaken till att låskulorna spricker. Materialanalyser utförs av ett materiallaboratorium för att fastställa vilka faktorer i materialet som orsakar brott i låskulorna. Analyserna visar att låskulorna sannolikt spricker på grund av en ökad sprödhet i materialet. Sprödheten beror på att martensiten i materialet är dåligt anlöpt samt en stor mängd karbider. Med orsaken till sprickorna fastställd undersöks befintliga metoder för materialprovning. En provmetod måste prova materialet i färdigtillverkade låskulor eftersom låskulornas tillverkningsprocess påverkar materialegenskaperna. Många av de standardiserade provmetoderna är dock svåra att tillämpa på låskulorna med anledning av låskulornas geometri och små dimensioner. En form av slagprov och pressprov utförs på låskulorna. Ett av syftena med proven är att undersöka om de är lämpliga att använda som provmetod. Genom proven framträder olika materialegenskaper för olika låskulor. Resultaten är dock inte jämförbara låskulorna emellan och proven anses inte vara lämpliga som provmetod. Även ett utmattningsprov utförs på låskulorna genom en upprepande belastning i en snabbkoppling. Detta prov är inte heller lämpligt att använda som provmetod då provet är mycket tidskrävande samt att det finns vissa osäkerheter kring provresultatet. I detta arbete undersöks även två nyligen framtagna provmetoder för kulor till kullager och möjligheten att tillämpa dessa provmetoder på låskulorna. I undersökningen jämförs de båda provmetoderna med avseende på utförande samt framtagning av provkropp. Även en spänningsanalys av en låskula belastad i en snabbkoppling utförs för att ta reda på i vilket område av låskulan de maximala spänningarna uppstår. Undersökningen ger att enbart en provmetod är intressant för fortsatt arbete.   Den provmetod som föreslås i detta arbete kallas "the notched ball test" (NBT). Provmetoden innebär att en djup och smal skåra bearbetas i en låskula som sedan belastas med en tryckande kraft vinkelrätt mot skåran tills brott uppstår. Den maximala spänningen som verkar vid brottet beräknas med en enkel ekvation och används som mått för låskulans hållfasthet. Provmetoden är lämplig då den går att utföra med befintlig utrustning på företaget, den provar materialet i färdigtillverkade låskulor samt i samma område som de maximala spänningarna i en låskula belastad i en snabbkoppling uppstår. NBT nyttjar även dragspänningar vilket är fördelaktigt när sprödhet ska upptäckas i ett material. För att fastställa hur olika materialegenskaper samt geometrier för provkroppen påverkar provresultaten utförs en djupare analys av provmetoden. Analysen ger även vilka geometrier som bör användas vid utförandet av NBT samt värdet för den konstant som används vid beräkning av brottspänningen. Praktiska prov av NBT utförs inte i detta arbete men rapporten innefattar slutsatser om provmetoden och rekommendationer till företaget hur ett fortsatt arbete med NBT kan utföras. / A company that manufactures hydraulic quick-couplings has discovered through regular quality checks that the quality of some of the locking balls for the locking mechanism in the quick couplings suddenly has become insufficient and the locking balls rupture under load. The locking balls are made of stainless steel and if they rupture during usage the consequences can be material damage or even personal injury. The company wants to prevent any quality problems and must therefore ensure that the strength of the locking balls is sufficient. The locking balls are purchased from a subcontractor and the company would therefore like to develop a method for strength testing locking balls delivered to the factory. This thesis aims to help the company in developing such a method.  A first step is to investigate the cause of the locking balls rupture. Material analyses are executed by a material laboratory in order to determine what features in the material that causes the ruptures. The analyses shows that rupture is probably caused by an increased brittleness in the material and the brittleness is a consequence of less tempered martensite and a high amount of carbides. With the cause of rupture determined, existing methods for testing material properties is studied. It is important that strength testing is carried out with test specimens prepared from the actual locking balls. Otherwise the influence of the locking balls manufacturing process on the material properties is not taking into account. Many of the standardized methods for testing material properties, however, are hard to apply to the locking balls due to the geometry and small dimensions of the locking balls. A kind of impact test and compression test is performed. One of the purposes with the tests is to investigate if they are adequate for strength testing the locking balls. The results of the tests, however, are not suitable for comparison. Also, a fatigue test of the locking balls is performed by a repetitive loading of a quick coupling. The fatigue test is, however, time consuming and there are uncertainties in the test results. None of these tests is considered suitable as a strength testing method. In this thesis, two recently developed methods for strength testing ceramic balls and the possibility to apply these methods on the locking balls is studied. The study includes an analysis of the stress distribution in a locking ball under load to determine in which region the highest stresses occur. The study provides that only one of the methods is suitable for the locking balls due to differences in preparing the test specimen and which region of the locking ball that is tested in each method. The strength testing method that is proposed in this thesis is called the notched ball test (NBT). In NBT a long and narrow notch is cut in a locking ball which is then loaded in compression perpendicular to the notch until rupture occurs. The maximum stress acting at the rupture is calculated and used to determine the strength of the locking ball. NBT is suitable because it can be performed with existing equipment at the company, the test specimen is prepared from actual locking balls and the test uses tensile stresses which is an advantage when brittleness is to be detected in a material. An analysis of NBT is performed to determine how material properties and different notch geometries is affecting the test results. The analysis also gives some recommendations for notch geometries that should be used when performing NBT as well as a constant that is used when calculating the maximum stress. Practical experiments of NBT are not carried out in this thesis. Instead, conclusions regarding NBT and recommendations for the company on how they should proceed with NBT are given.

[Truncated abstract] Shipbuilding is fast becoming a priority industry in Australia. With increasing demands to build fast vessels of lighter weight, shipbuilders are more concerned with noise and vibration problems in ships than ever. The objective of this thesis is to study the vibration response of coupled structures, in the hope that the study may shed some light in understanding the general features of ship vibration. An important feature characterizing the vibration in complex structures is the input mobility, as it describes the capacity of structures in accepting vibration energy from sources. The input mobilities of finite ribbed plate and plate/plate coupled structures are investigated analytically and experimentally in this study. It is shown that the input mobility of a finite ribbed plate is bounded by the input mobilities of the uncoupled plate and beam(s) that form the ribbed plate and is dependent upon the distance between the source location and the stiffened beam(s). Off-neutral axis loading on the beam (point force applied on the beam but away from the beam’s neutral axis) affects the input power, kinetic energy distribution in the component plates of the ribbed plate and energy flow into the plates from the beam under direct excitation ... solutions were then used to examine the validity of statistical energy analysis (SEA) in the prediction of vibration response of an L-shaped plate due to deterministic force excitations. It was found that SEA can be utilized to predict the frequency averaged vibration response and energy flow of L-shaped plates under deterministic force (moment) excitations providing that the source location is more than a quarter of wavelength away from the plate edges. Furthermore, a simple experimental method was developed in this study to evaluate the frequency dependent stiffness and damping of rubber mounts by impact test. Finally, analytical methods developed in this study were applied in the prediction of vibration response of a ship structure. It was found that input mobilities of ship hull structures due to machinery excitations are governed by the stiffness of the supporting structure to which the engine is mounted. Their frequency averaged values can be estimated from those of the mounting structure of finite or infinite extents. It was also shown that wave propagation in ship hull structures at low frequencies could be attenuated by irregularities imposed to the periodic locations of the ship frames. The vibration at higher frequencies could be controlled by modifications of the supporting structure.

O presente trabalho visou determinar a tenacidade à fratura dinâmica, KID, primeiramente pelos conceitos da Mecânica da Fratura Elástica Linear (MFEL) e posteriormente pela Mecânica da Fratura Elasto-Plástica (MFEP), JID, em materiais que em operação podem estar sujeitos a impactos em diferentes temperaturas. Os materiais estudados, de uso na indústria aeronáutica, foram uma liga de titânio Ti6Al4V (norma SAE AMS 4911), na condição recozida e uma liga de aço inoxidável PH 15-5 (norma SAE AMS 5659), na condição H1000. Os corpos de prova pré-trincados e entalhados foram retirados nas orientações L-T e L-S, a fim de que fossem determinadas e comparadas a relação tenacidade/densidade ou tenacidade específica dos materiais estudados. Em seguida os corpos de prova foram ensaiados sob condições de carga dinâmica em uma máquina de ensaio Charpy instrumentado, marca Instron-Wolpert PW30, conforme a norma ASTM-E23, com velocidade de carregamento de 5,52 m/s e nas temperaturas de 23 e 400ºC. Os valores das tenacidades, posteriormente comparados e correlacionados, foram obtidos de acordo com as expressões matemáticas mencionadas na literatura. A razão entre as energias estimadas de iniciação (Ei) e de propagação (Ep), (Ei/Ep), foi obtida a partir dos gráficos de carga-deslocamento x tempo. A determinação e caracterização dos aspectos macro e microscópicos da fratura foram realizadas através de microscopia ótica e de varredura. Em seguida, confrontaram-se os valores e os aspectos preponderantes dos mecanismos de fratura apresentados por cada material. / The present work aimed to evaluate the dynamic fracture toughness, KID, firstly using the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics parameter, (LEFM), and secondly using the Elasto-Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM), JID. The materials used in this work are from aeronautic grade and are subjected to in service impact loads and temperature variation. The materials are a titanium alloy Ti6Al4V (standard SAE AMS 4911), in the annealed condition and a PH 15-5 stainless steel (standard SAE AMS 5659), H1000 condition. Both precracked and notched specimens were taken in the L-T and L-S directions, for the evaluation and comparison of the toughness/density ratio, i. e., the specific dynamic fracture toughness of the materials studied. Therefore, the specimens were tested under dynamic load using an Instron-Wolpert PW30 Instrumented Charpy Equipment, following the ASTM-E23 standard, with load speed of 5,52 m/s at 23 and 400ºC. The fracture toughness values were compared using mathematical expression from literature. The ration between the initiation (Ei) and propagation (Ep) energies, (Ei/Ep), was obtained from the load-displacement x time. The characterization of the macro and microscopic aspects of the fracture mechanisms were carried out using optical microscope and scan electronic microscope. The fracture toughness values and the fractographic observations were correlated and compared for the two materials studied.

Evaluation of the performance of a product and its components under impact loading is one of the key considerations in design. In order to assess resistance to damage or ability to absorb energy through plastic deformation of a structural component, impact testing is often carried out to obtain the 'Force - Displacement' response of the deformed component. In this context, it may be noted that load cells and accelerometers are commonly used as sensors for capturing impact responses. A drop-weight impact testing set-up consisting of a moving impactor head with a lightweight piezoresistive accelerometer and a strain gage based compression load cell mounted on it is used to carry out the impact tests. The basic objective of the present study is to assess the accuracy of responses recorded by the said transducers, when these are mounted on a moving impactor head. In the present work, a novel approach of theoretically evaluating the responses obtained from this drop-weight impact testing set-up for different axially loaded specimen has been executed with the formulation of an equivalent lumped parameter model (LPM) of the test set-up. For the most common configuration of a moving impactor head mounted load cell system in which dynamic load is transferred from the impactor head to the load cell, a quantitative assessment is made of the possible discrepancy that can result in load cell response. Initially, a 3-DOF (degrees-of-freedom) LPM is considered to represent a given impact testing set-up with the test specimen represented with a nonlinear spring. Both the load cell and the accelerometer are represented with linear springs, while the impacting unit comprising an impactor head (hammer) and a main body with the load cell in between are modelled as rigid masses. An experimentally obtained force-displacement response is assumed to be a nearly true behaviour of a specimen. By specifying an impact velocity to the rigid masses as an initial condition, numerical solution of the governing differential equations is obtained using Implicit (Newmark-beta) and Explicit (Central difference) time integration techniques. It can be seen that the model accurately reproduces the input load-displacement behaviour of the nonlinear spring corresponding to the tested component, ensuring the accuracy of these numerical methods. The nonlinear spring representing the test specimen is approximated in a piecewise linear manner and the solution strategy adopted and implemented in the form of a MATLAB script is shown to yield excellent reproduction of the assumed load-displacement behaviour of the test specimen. This prediction also establishes the accuracy of the numerical approach employed in solving the LPM system. However, the spring representing the load cell yields a response that qualitatively matches the assumed input load-displacement response of the test specimen with a lower magnitude of peak load. The accelerometer, it appears, may be capable of predicting more closely the load experienced by a specimen provided an appropriate mass of the impactor system i.e. impacting unit, is chosen as the multiplier for the acceleration response. Error between input and computed (simulated) responses is quantified in terms of root mean square error (RMSE). The present study additionally throws light on the dependence of time step of integration on numerical results. For obtaining consistent results, estimation of critical time step (increment) is crucial in conditionally stable central difference method. The effect of the parameters of the impact testing set-up on the accuracy of the predicted responses has been studied for different combinations of main impactor mass and load cell stiffness. It has been found that the load cell response is oscillatory in nature which points out to the need for suitable filtering for obtaining the necessary smooth variation of axial impact load with respect to time as well as deformation. Accelerometer response also shows undulations which can similarly be observed in the experimental results as well. An appropriate standard SAE-J211 filter which is a low-pass Butterworth filter has been used to remove oscillations from the computed responses. A load cell is quite capable of predicting the nature of transient response of an impacted specimen when it is part of the impacting unit, but it may substantially under-predict the magnitudes of peak loads. All the above mentioned analysis for a 3 DOF model have been performed for thin-walled tubular specimens made of mild steel (hat-section), an aluminium alloy (square cross-section) and a glass fibre-reinforced composite (circular cross-section), thus confirming the generality of the inferences drawn on the computed responses. Further, results obtained using explicit and implicit methodologies are compared for three specimens, to find the effect, if any, on numerical solution procedure on the conclusions drawn. The present study has been further used for investigating the effects of input parameters (i.e. stiffness and mass of the system components, and impact velocity) on the computed results of transducers. Such an investigation can be beneficial in designing an impact testing set-up as well as transducers for recording impact responses. Next, the previous 3 DOF model representing the impact testing set-up has been extended to a 5 DOF model to show that additional refinement of the original 3 DOF model does not substantially alter the inferences drawn based on it. In the end, oscillations observed in computed load cell responses are analysed by computing natural frequencies for the 3 DOF lumped parameter model. To conclude the present study, a 2 DOF LPM of the given impact testing set-up with no load cell has been investigated and the frequency of oscillations in the accelerometer response is seen to increase corresponding to the mounting resonance frequency of the accelerometer. In order to explore the merits of alternative impact testing set-ups, LPMs have been formulated to idealize test configurations in which the load cell is arranged to come into direct contact with the specimen under impact, although the accelerometer is still mounted on the moving impactor head. One such arrangement is to have the load cell mounted stationary on the base under the specimen and another is to mount the load cell on the moving impactor head such that the load cell directly impacts the specimen. It is once again observed that both these models accurately reproduce the input load-displacement behaviour of the nonlinear spring corresponding to the tested component confirming the validity of the model. In contrast to the previous set-up which included a moving load cell not coming into contact with the specimen, the spring representing the load cell in these present cases yields a response that more closely matches the assumed input load-displacement response of a test specimen suggesting that the load cell coming into direct contact with the specimen can result in a more reliable measurement of the actual dynamic response. However, in practice, direct contact of the load cell with the specimen under impact loading is likely to damage the transducer, and hence needs to be mounted on the moving head, resulting in a loss of accuracy, which can be theoretically estimated and corrected by the methodology investigated in this work.

The diploma thesis is aimed to assesment of the influence of the specimen orientation during the Small Punch Tests (SPT). Steel ČSN 41 0214, or its equivalent steel RFe80, W.-Nr. 1.104 was chosen for experiments. Resulting records from SPT were evaluated using already known correlations which are reported in literature. The correlation values were compared with values obtained by the standard tests like Charpy impact test and tensile test. The influence of axial, radial and tangential test specimens orientation is discussed in relation to Ductile-to-Brittle fracture behaviour of the steel.

This thesis is focused on application samples with the inner insert used for Charpy impact test. This insert is welded to additional material by electron beam with pre-selected welded parameters. These parameters were chosen from data of performed experiments on homogenous welds. Resulting heterogenous weld was performed of evaluation of the microstructure, chemical composition and microhardness. Experimental materials were used austenitic steel 17 240 and ferritic steel 17 153 used on high-temperature applications.