Employing the TRIZ problem solving technique, a hybrid-type center plate for the molten carbonate fuel cell(MCFC) was developed for the purpose of improving gas sealing and maintenance. The manufacturing method of the hybrid-type center plate was divided into a trimming operation and a two-step bending process. In the latter, a modified punch shape was used to reduce springback. Using finite element(FE) simulations, bending stresses in the thickness and the in-plane directions were computed and the bending conditions were optimized. The optimized results of the two-step bending process were used as a basis for the design of the trimming process of the hybrid-type center plate. Finally, the external manifold-type center plate and the hybrid-type center plate were fabricated using a die set that accounts for the optimized conditions. It was found that the numerical simulation results were in good agreement with the experiments.

Recently incremental sheet metal forming (ISF) has used widely in making prototypes and small-volume products in automotive industry etc. We apply the ISF to make a 1/4 sized automobile body-in-white. First, ISF tests for rectangular shaped cup have been performed to clarify the formability denoting the relationship between the component wall angle and maximum cup height of safe forming. Next, a CAD model for the automobile was designed and segmented into several components in order to accommodate the working space of the CNC machine we adopted and the formability of the sheet metal. Then, a CAM software was employed to generate the tool path for manufacturing wooden dies and all the small parts. Finally, the different parts were joined into a single component by laser welding after the ISF process. By using the ISF we successfully produced the 1/4 sized automobile body-in-white.

The front end bending(FEB) behavior of material that usually occurs in plate rolling is investigated. In this paper, a rollbite profile map approach that systematically predicts the FEB slope is presented. It is based on the concurrent use of shape factors and reduction ratios to ensure an accurate value of the FEB and its slope. In order to obtain the unit roll-bite profile map, the FEB slope model was decomposed into a temperature deviation component and a roll-velocity deviation component. By mapping the results of a series of finite element analyses to the unit functions of the roll-bite profile map, it was possible to obtain a realistic prediction of the FEB slope applicable to an actual plate rolling process. Thereby, the usefulness of the present approach is clearly demonstrated.

The injector housing has two functions, namely, positioning the injector and protecting it from coolant. The conventional manufacturing process of the injector housing by machining has some drawbacks such as considerable loss of material and environmental pollution caused by excessive use of cutting oil. In this paper, precision cold forging is proposed as a new manufacturing process in order to improve these issues. A numerical study was conducted to compute the metal flow, strain, load and other process variables using DEFORM-2D, a finite element analysis(FEA) code for metal forming. Two process methods were investigated and optimal conditions were computed with the FEA code. A prototype was manufactured from the optimal process method and the metal flow and hardness were obtained from the prototype.

The objective of this paper is to determine the effect of process parameters on the behavior of a 18Cr-10Mn-$0.44N_2$ nitrogen steel sample deformed by hot rolling. Compression tests were carried out at high temperatures to determine the flow stresses needed for a finite element(FE) analysis. The strain rate, ranging from 0.1 to $1.0s^{-1}$, significantly affected the flow stress at temperatures higher than $1,000^{\circ}C$. Non-isothermal rolling simulations and laboratory rolling tests were performed with plate specimens 14.5mm thick, 135mm wide and 226mm long. A rolling reduction of 15% per pass leading to a cumulative rolling reduction of 60% was determined as optimal. The extension ratio of 176.5% in the length direction was about 30.4 times greater than the extension ratio of 5.8% in the width direction. Isotropic properties for tensile strength, microstructure and grain size were measured after mock-up hot rolling tests. The results from the mockup tests were found to be in good agreement with those of the simulations.

Using a mechano-luminescent(ML) paint, which allows the visualization of fast propagating crack under conventional loading conditions, a catastrophic fracture mechanism associated to crack tip melting and wake bridging in bulk metallic glass, is described in this paper. Fracture occurs in two steps with, first, crack initiation from the mechanically machined sharp notch tip in a rectangular shaped compact tension specimen and melting of its tip due to intense shear deformation within very few deformation bands. Then, the crystalline phase in the glass matrix gradually converts the molten crack into a conventional bridged crack as it propagates.

The behavior of metallic materials at high strain rates shows different characteristics from those in quasi-static deformation. Therefore, the strain rate should be considered when simulating crash events. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the dynamic tensile characteristics of SPRC440 as a function of the volume fraction of phases. As-received SPRC440 is composed of ferrite and pearlite phases. However, ferrite and martensite phases were observed after heat treatment at $730^{\circ}C$ and $780^{\circ}C$ for 5 minutes, as expected by calculations based on the curves from dilatometry tests. High cross-head speed tensile tests were performed to acquire strain-stress curves at various strain rates ranging from 0.001 to $300\;s^{-1}$, which are typical in real vehicle crashes. It was observed that the flow stress increases with the strain rate and this trend was more pronounced in the as-received specimens consisting of ferrite and pearlite phases. It is speculated that the dislocation density in each phase has an influence on the strain rate sensitivity.

The hot curvature-forming of large aluminum thick plate using a grid-typed hybrid die is a process for the production of a spherical LNG tank. Many variables such as the initial die surface quality, grid size, grid thickness, size of blank plate and cooling line design, control the success of the process. In addition, the plate used in this process is generally larger than $10{\times}10m$ in size. Thus, it is very difficult to predict the surface characteristics of the plate during forming and to measure the different parameters due to the high cost of the experiments. In order to optimize the process design for the grid-type die, the development of an analytical method to predict the surface characteristics of the final product in hot curvature-forming is needed. This paper described the development of the method and procedures for FE simulations of the hot curvature-forming process, including hot forming, air flow, cooling, and thermal deformation analyses. An experiment for a small scale model of the process was conducted to check the validity of the numerical method. The results showed that the curvature of the plate in the analysis agrees well with that of the experiment within 0.037 and 0.016% tolerance margins for its side and corner, respectively.