Impact Performance of Advanced High Strength Steel Thin-Walled Columns
The crashworthiness performance of spot-welded columns fabricated with advanced high strength steels is evaluated using finite element (FE) analysis. A failure criterion for the spot-welds is implemented into the FE model to predict accurately the progressive axial collapse of the columns. The behavior of two Dual Phase (DP) steels and a High Strength Low Alloy (HSLA) steel are compared by examining the mean crushing force, peak load and crushed column length for single-hat and double-hat configurations, both experimentally and numerically. Numerical results of the developed FE model correlate favorably available experimental data for different impact conditions.
A study on an axial crush configuration response of thin-wall, steel box components: The quasi-static experiments
An experimental investigation was performed to study a specific axial crush configuration response of steel, square box components under quasi-static testing conditions. For a specific cross-sectional geometry/fabrication process, test specimens were obtained from commercially produced, welded tube lengths of ASTM A36 and ASTM A513 Type 1 plain low-carbon steels and AISI 316 and AISI 304 austenitic stainless steels. Removable grooved caps were used to constrain tube test specimen ends, and collapse initiators in the form of shallow machined grooves were used to control the initial transverse deformations of the test specimen sidewalls. The progressive plastic deformation for all of the test specimens was restricted to the prototype configuration response (fold formation process and the corresponding axial load-axial displacement curve shape) of the symmetric axial crush mode. Crush characteristics were evaluated and, for each material type, observed differences were less than 7% for maximum and minimum load magnitudes and less than 2% for energy absorption, displacement, and mean load quantities in both the initial phase and the secondary folding phase cycles. Overall, results of the study indicate that for a significant range of material strengths, a controlled and repeatable energy absorption process can be obtained for commercially produced steel box components undergoing symmetric axial crush response.
A New Vacuum Pressure Infiltration CFRP Method and Preparation Experimental Study of Composite
In order to prepare a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composite (CFRP) with ideal microstructure and properties, a new vacuum pressure infiltration CFRP method is proposed based on an analysis of existing CFRP preparation process methods. Research on composite material preparation systems was carried out by using this new method principle. The system mainly includes a fiber pre-forming module, a vacuum heating infiltration module, a hot-press curing molding module, and a data acquisition control module. Under the conditions of natural curing at 0 MPa + 6 h + 25 °C, vacuum heating curing at –0.05 MPa + 30 min + 80 °C, and hot-press curing at 0.7 MPa + 5 min + 50 °C, a two-dimensional (2D) CFRP with excellent microstructure and properties was successfully prepared. Observing the microstructure of the prepared composite material, it can be found that the inside of the composite material was sufficiently and uniformly infiltrated, and common preparation defects such as holes and delamination were effectively controlled. Through the performance test, the bending strength of the material reached 790 MPa.