DIG-MAN: Integration of digital tools into product development and manufacturing education

General objectives of PRODEM education. Teaching of product development requires various digital tools. Nowadays, the digital tools usually use computers, which have become a standard element of manufacturing and teaching environments. In this context, an integration of computer-based technologies in manufacturing environments plays the crucial and main role, allowing to enrich, accelerate and integrate different production phases such as product development, design, manufacturing and inspection. Moreover, the digital tools play important role in management of production. According to Wdowik and Ratnayake (2019 paper: Open Access Digital Tool’s Application Potential in Technological Process Planning: SMMEs Perspective, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29996-5_36), the digital tools can be divided into several main groups such as: machine tools and technological equipment (MTE), devices (D), internet(intranet)-based tools (I), software (S). The groups are presented in Fig. 1.1. Machine tools and technological equipment group contains all existing machines and devices which are commonly used in manufacturing and inspection phase. The group is used in physical shaping of manufactured products, measurement tasks regarding tools and products, etc. The next group of devices (D) is proposed to separate the newest trends of using mobile and computer-based technologies such as smartphones or tablets and indicate the necessity of increased mobility within production sites. The similar need of separation is in the case of internet(intranet)-based tools which indicate the growing interest in network-based solutions. Hence, D and I groups are proposed in order to underline the significance of mobility and networking. These two groups of the digital tools should also be supported in the nearest future by the use of 5G networks. The last group of software (S) concerns computer software produced for the aims of manufacturing environments. There is also a possibility to assign the defined solutions (e.g. computer programs) to more than one group (e.g. program can be assigned to software and internet-based tools). The main role of tools allocated inside separate groups is to support employees, managers and customers of manufacturing firms focused on abovementioned production phases. The digital tools are being developed in order to increase efficiency of production, quality of manufactured products and accelerate innovation process as well as comfort of work. Nowadays, digital also means mobile. Universities (especially technical), which are focused on higher education and research, have been continuously developing their teaching programmes since the beginning of industry 3.0 era. They need to prepare their alumni for changing environments of manufacturing enterprises and new challenges such as Industry 4.0 era, digitalization, networking, remote work, etc. Most of the teaching environments nowadays, especially those in manufacturing engineering area, are equipped with many digital tools and meet various challenges regarding an adaptation, a maintenance and a final usage of the digital tools. The application of these tools in teaching needs a space, staff and supporting infrastructures. Universities adapt their equipment and infrastructures to local or national needs of enterprises and the teaching content is usually focused on currently used technologies. Furthermore, research activities support teaching process by newly developed innovations. Figure 1.2 presents how different digital tools are used in teaching environments. Teaching environments are divided into four groups: lecture rooms, computer laboratories, manufacturing laboratories and industrial environments. The three groups are characteristic in the case of universities’ infrastructure whilst the fourth one is used for the aims of internships of students or researchers. Nowadays lecture rooms are mainly used for lectures and presentations which require the direct communication and interaction between teachers and students. However, such teaching method could also be replaced by the use of remote teaching (e.g. by the use of e-learning platforms or internet communicators). Unfortunately, remote teaching leads to limited interaction between people. Nonverbal communication is hence limited. Computer laboratories (CLs) usually gather students who solve different problems by the use of software. Most of the CLs enable teachers to display instructions by using projectors. Physical gathering in one room enables verbal and nonverbal communication between teachers and students. Manufacturing laboratories are usually used as the demonstrators of real industrial environments. They are also perfect places for performing of experiments and building the proficiency in using of infrastructure. The role of manufacturing labs can be divided as: • places which demonstrate the real industrial environments, • research sites where new ideas can be developed, improved and tested. Industrial environment has a crucial role in teaching. It enables an enriched student experience by providing real industrial challenges and problems

Chromuoto plieno ciklinis patvarumas

In this research, fatigue strength of pyrolytic chromium-plated steel was studied. Depending on operating temperatures of pyrolytic chromium-plating process on the surface of steel specimens chromium coatings with homogeneous, horizontal-layered and columnar (dendritic) structures were formed. The speed of formation chromium coatings during pyrolytic chromium-plating process was 5 μm/min – 6 μm/min. The microhardness of formed chromium coatings was 10000 MPa – 20000 MPa. Rotating bending fatigue test results have shown that after pyrolytic chromium-plating the fatigue strength of steel can be improved as well as considerably worsened. It was determined, that chromium coatings having three different microstructures had different resistant to cyclic load. The chromium coatings with homogeneous or horizontal-layered structures are suitable for increasing of fatigue strength of investigated material

Anglinio plieno ilgaamžiškumo padidinimas sukietinant jo paviršių

Conditions of machine elements during exploitation, also durability and security of all construction depends a lot on the state of metals surface layer. Hardening of metals surface allows to change expensive metals to cheap ones. Improvement of surface quality allows to increase the durability of all construction. In this work the influence of various kinds of surface treatments (hardening with high frequency electric current, rolling by rollers, tempering) on fatigue strength of carbon steel specimens were investigated. Analysed technology of surface hardening greatly increases the fatigue strength and durability of specimens. It was estimated that hardening effect depends on the residual stresses introduced applying deformation and thermal treatment regimes. The optimal treatment of the analysed carbon steel is deformation up to 1 mm depth, hardening with high-frequency electric current and tempering for 2 hours at 200 ºC

Influence of nitriding temperature on surface structural characteristics and fatigue strength of steel

In this research the influence of nitriding temperature on surface structural characteristics and fatigue strength of plain carbon steel (C45) was investigated. The samples were gas nitrided at different temperatures at constant nitriding time. The influence of such surface structural characteristics as case depth, hardness of the compound layer and case hardness on fatigue behaviour of nitrided steel was investigated. Also, the fatigue fracture surfaces nitrided and nonnitrided samples were observed by a scanning electron microscope. It was determined that the hard compound layer and  high compressive residual stresses in the nitrided layer are the two major factors in improving the fatigue strength of plain carbon steel. However, the deep case depth is not necessary to improve fatigue strength of examined steel. Investigation of fatigue fracture surfaces showed that the samples have higher fatigue resistance when the fatigue crack begins to develop under the nitrided (hardened) sample surface at the central part of „fish eye“ from structural stress concentrator – nonmetallic inclusion