Beryllium copper/palladium alloy electron beam welded sliding contacts
The advantages and process limitations of the latest generation of electron-beam-welded materials are reviewed. The study of metallurgical properties in the weld zone utilizes scanning electron microscopy and metallographic techniques. Various material and weld parameters are evaluated at they relate to final mechanical properties. The relationships of design criteria to metallurgical characteristics and to the effects of heat treatment are discussed.<<ETX>>
Electron-Beam Technology in Switch Contacts
The original concept was to develop a composite strip of material for switch contacts, such that the silver portion is suitably bonded to the base metal such as copper, phosphor bronze, or beryllium copper. The requirements were a metallurgically sound reproducible-nonporous uniform ductile bond. Electron-beam welding technology meets these requirements for joining switch contact materials. Fine silver, coin silver, silver cadmium oxide, and other wrought contact materials can be continuously electron-beam welded to the base metal switchblade member and then subsequently stamped and formed to the necessary switch configuration. This manufacturing technique is an improvement over the alternate joining methods of resistance welding, brazing, tungsten inert gas welding, thermocompression bonding, and the more recent laser welding.
Numerical analysis of surface crack propagation in flexible pavements using XFEM and cohesive zone model
Surface initiated (top-down) cracking in the longitudinal direction of pavements has become a predominant mode of failure in thick asphalt pavements. Most previous researchers studied crack propagation using the traditional Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) method by calculating the stress intensity factor around the crack tip. In this paper, Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was used to study the key factors causing surface initiated crack propagation under surface tension and/or shear. A two-dimensional (2-D) finite element (FE) model for a two-lane flexible pavement was built to predict pavement responses and crack propagation potential under various scenarios. It was found that surface tension is the major driving force for crack propagation when the crack is at some distance away from tire loading. The results show that the distance from the location of crack to tire loading, the depth and direction of the crack, and the modulus ratio between the hot-mix asphalt (HMA) layer and the base layer have significant influences on crack propagation under surface tension. On the other hand, this study shows that shear stress can induce surface initiated crack propagation near the loading area as the shear resistance of material becomes low at the high temperature.