Numerical and experimental investigations of self-piercing riveting

Self-pierce riveting (SPR) is a new high-speed mechanical fastening technique which is suitable for point joining dissimilar sheet materials, as well as coated and pre-painted sheet materials. With increasing application of SPR in different industrial fields, the demand for a better understanding of the knowledge of static and dynamic characteristics of the SPR joints is required. In this paper, the SPR process has been numerically simulated using the commercial finite element (FE) software LS-Dyna. For validating the numerical simulation of the SPR process, experimental tests on specimens made of aluminium alloy have been carried out. The online window monitoring technique was introdu introdu ced in the tests for evaluating the quality of SPR joints. Good agreements between the simulations and the tests have been found, both with respect to the force-travel (time) curves as well as the deformed shape on the cross-section of SPR joint. Monotonic tensile tests were carried out to measure the ultimate tensile strengths for SPR joints with different material combinations. Deformation and failure of the SPR joints under monotonic tensile loading were studied. The normal hypothesis tests were performed to examine the rationality of the test data. This work was also aimed at evaluating experimentally and comparing the strength and energy absorption of SPR joints and SPR-bonded hybrid joints

Molecular Dynamics of Comminution in Ball Mills

We investigate autogenous fragmentation of dry granular material in rotating cylinders using two-dimensional molecular dynamics. By evaluation of spatial force distributions achieved numerically for various rotation velocities we argue that comminution occurs mainly due to the existence of force chains. A statistical analysis of theses force chains explains the spatial distribution of comminution efficiency in ball mills as measured experimentally by Rothkegel and Rolf. For animated sequences of our simulations see http://summa.physik.hu-berlin.de/~kies/Research/RotatingCylinder/rotatingcylind er.htmlComment: 15 pages, 13 figure

Measurement of B(Ds+ -->ell+ nu) and the Decay Constant fDs From 600/pb of e+e- Annihilation Data Near 4170 MeV

We examine e+e- --> Ds^-D_s^{*+} and Ds^{*-}Ds^{+} interactions at 4170 MeV using the CLEO-c detector in order to measure the decay constant fDs with good precision. Previously our measurements were substantially higher than the most precise lattice based QCD calculation of (241 +/- 3) MeV. Here we use the D_s^+ --> ell^+ nu channel, where the ell^+ designates either a mu^+ or a tau^+, when the tau^+ --> pi^+ anti-nu. Analyzing both modes independently, we determine B(D_s^+ --> mu^+ nu)= 0.565 +/- 0.045 +/- 0.017)%, and B(D_s^+ --> mu^+ nu)= (6.42 +/- 0.81 +/- 0.18)%. We also analyze them simultaneously to find an effective value of B^{eff}(D_s^+ --> mu^+ nu)= (0.591 +/- 0.037 +/- 0.018)% and fDs=(263.3 +/- 8.2 +/- 3.9) MeV. Combining with the CLEO-c value determined independently using D_s^+ --> tau^+ nu, tau^+ --> e^+ nu anti-nu decays, we extract fDs=(259.5 +/- 6.6 +/- 3.1) MeV. Combining with our previous determination of B(D^+ --> mu^+ nu), we extract the ratio fDs/fD+=1.26 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.02. No evidence is found for a CP asymmetry between Gamma(D_s^+ --> mu^+\nu) and \Gamma(D_s^- --> mu^- nu); specifically the fractional difference in rates is measured to be (4.8 +/- 6.1)%. Finally, we find B(D_s^+ --> e^+ nu) < 1.2x10^{-4} at 90% confidence level.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figure

Development of a device to simulate tooth mobility

Objectives: The testing of new materials under simulation of oral conditions is essential in medicine. For simulation of fracture strength different simulation devices are used for test set-up. The results of these in vitro tests differ because there is no standardization of tooth mobility in simulation devices. The aim of this study is to develop a simulation device that depicts the tooth mobility curve as accurately as possible and creates reproducible and scalable mobility curves. Materials and methods: With the aid of published literature and with the help of dentists, average forms of tooth classes were generated. Based on these tooth data, different abutment tooth shapes and different simulation devices were designed with a CAD system and were generated with a Rapid Prototyping system. Then, for all simulation devices the displacement curves were created with a universal testing machine and compared with the tooth mobility curve. With this new information, an improved adapted simulation device was constructed. Results: A simulations device that is able to simulate the mobility curve of natural teeth with high accuracy and where mobility is reproducible and scalable was developed