Dilatometry in the Gleeble: What did you really measure?

The Gleeble is an oft-used tool for welding metallurgy research. Besides producing synthetic weld specimens, it is used to determine phase transformation temperatures and kinetics via dilatometry. Experimental data and an FEM model are used to examine measured dilatation errors because of non-uniform heating of the dilatometer and other sources such as sample elastic and plastic deformation. Both isothermal and constant heating/cooling rate scenarios are considered. Further errors which may be introduced when the dilatation is incorrectly assumed to be linearly related to the volume fraction transformed are also discussed

An information model based weld schedule database

As part of a computerized system (SmartWeld) developed at Sandia National Laboratories to facilitate agile manufacturing of welded assemblies, a weld schedule database (WSDB) was also developed. SmartWeld`s overall goals are to shorten the design-to-product time frame and to promote right-the-first-time weldment design and manufacture by providing welding process selection guidance to component designers. The associated WSDB evolved into a substantial subproject by itself. At first, it was thought that the database would store perhaps 50 parameters about a weld schedule. This was a woeful underestimate: the current WSDB has over 500 parameters defined in 73 tables. This includes data bout the weld, the piece parts involved, the piece part geometry, and great detail about the schedule and intervals involved in performing the weld. This complex database was built using information modeling techniques. Information modeling is a process that creates a model of objects and their roles for a given domain (i.e. welding). The Natural-Language Information Analysis methodology (NIAM) technique was used, which is characterized by: (1) elementary facts being stated in natural language by the welding expert, (2) determinism (the resulting model is provably repeatable, i.e. it gives the same answer every time), and (3) extensibility (the model can be added to without changing existing structure). The information model produced a highly normalized relational schema that was translated to Oracle{trademark} Relational Database Management Systems for implementation

Boundary element method applied to a gas-fired pin-fin-enhanced heat pipe

The thermal conduction of a portion of an enhanced surface heat exchanger for a gas fired heat pipe solar receiver was modeled using the boundary element and finite element methods (BEM and FEM) to determine the effect of weld fillet size on performance of a stud welded pin fin. A process that could be utilized by others for designing the surface mesh on an object of interest, performing a conversion from the mesh into the input format utilized by the BEM code, obtaining output on the surface of the object, and displaying visual results was developed. It was determined that the weld fillet on the pin fin significantly enhanced the heat performance, improving the operating margin of the heat exchanger. The performance of the BEM program on the pin fin was measured (as computational time) and used as a performance comparison with the FEM model. Given similar surface element densities, the BEM method took longer to get a solution than the FEM method. The FEM method creates a sparse matrix that scales in storage and computation as the number of nodes (N), whereas the BEM method scales as N{sup 2} in storage and N{sup 3} in computation

Interfacial Debonding in Stainless Steel/glass-ceramic Seals

Advanced pyrotechnic and electronic components can be fabricated from Ni-based superalloys with hermetic seals to matched thermal expansion coefficient lithium-silicate glass ceramics (LSGC). Prior studies have characterized the interfacial reactions in these systems necessary for good chemical bonding. Similar interfacial reactions occur when LSGCs are bonded to 300-series stainless steel except that these seals debond on cooling to room temperature. We have found that Cr-depletion (from approximately 18 wt% to approximately 5 wt%) from the steel causes an fcc-to-bcc phase transition that expands the interfacial grains and decreases their thermal expansion coefficient, putting the LSGC into tension, causing the seal to fail. Linear elastic finite element calculations performed on a microcomputer suggest that the volume expansion associated with the phase transformation has a predominant effect compared with the difference in expansion coefficients

Interactions at glass-ceramic to metal interfaces

Advanced pyrotechnic components can be fabricated from Ni-based superalloys with hermetic seals to high expansion lithium-silicate glass ceramics (LSGC). Prior studies have characterized the interfacial reactions in these systems necessary for good chemical bonding. Similar reactions occur when LSGCs are bonded to 300-series stainless steel except that these seals debond on cooling to room temperature. Cr-depletion (from {approximately}18 wt % to {approximately}5 wt %) from the steel interface cases an fcc-to-bcc phase transition that expands the interfacial grains and decreases their thermal expansion coefficient, putting the LSGC into tension, causing the seal to fail. 9 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

Analysis and validation of laser spot weld-induced distortion

Laser spot welding is an ideal process for joining small parts with tight tolerances on weld size, location, and distortion, particularly those with near-by heat sensitive features. It is also key to understanding the overlapping laser spot seam welding process. Rather than attempting to simulate the laser beam-to-part coupling (particularly if a keyhole occurs), it was measured by calorimetry. This data was then used to calculate the thermal and structural response of a laser spot welded SS304 disk using the finite element method. Five combinations of process parameter values were studied. Calculations were compared to experimental data for temperature and distortion profiles measured by thermocouples and surface profiling. Results are discussed in terms of experimental and modeling factors. The authors then suggest appropriate parameters for laser spot welding