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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Why Toyota And Honda Topped The 2002 J.D. Power Quality Study, Susan Lightle, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, John Talbott Dec 2003

Why Toyota And Honda Topped The 2002 J.D. Power Quality Study, Susan Lightle, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, John Talbott

Accounting Faculty Publications

Toyota again topped the annual J. D. Power and Associates quality study released in late May of 2002. Toyota scored the highest mark ever with l 07 defects per l 00 vehicles, while Honda came in second with 113 defects. The study was based on responses of approximately 65,000 new car owners queried during their first 90-days of ownership.

These results do not surprise us, as we have been fortunate to make numerous sojourns to the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, and observe the manufacturing processes. These trips were normally facilitated by a former Japanese student of ours, Minako Yanke, …


Microstructural Study Of Nanoprecipitates In Rra Treated Al-7075 T6 Using Afm/Ufm/Stem, Samuel J.M. Kuhr, Margaret Pinnell, Daniel Eylon Mar 2003

Microstructural Study Of Nanoprecipitates In Rra Treated Al-7075 T6 Using Afm/Ufm/Stem, Samuel J.M. Kuhr, Margaret Pinnell, Daniel Eylon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

7075 T651 aluminum alloy is frequently used in aircraft applications for its high strength to weight ratio. However, aircraft parts made of this alloy have been plagued by stress corrosion cracking (SCC). Retrogression and re-aging (RRA) is a post T651 two-stage heat treatment that provides improved SCC resistance with minimal loss in tensile strength. In this study, various forms of microscopy and mechanical testing are used to investigate how the RRA process affects the microstructure.

The microscopic observations in this paper show that the precipitates in the aluminum alloy coarsen and that the grain boundary regions are depleted of copper …


Power Characteristics Of Industrial Air Compressors, Chris Schmidt, J. Kelly Kissock Jan 2003

Power Characteristics Of Industrial Air Compressors, Chris Schmidt, J. Kelly Kissock

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The power draw characteristics of air compressors are primarily determined by the type of compressor control and the relationship between the compressor’s output capacity and the compressed air demand in the plant. In this paper, we review the most common types of compressor control for small reciprocating and rotary air compressors, and derive relations for estimating compressed air output as a function of the type of control and motor loading. Using these relations, we develop a method to estimate the ratio of compressed air output to energy input, which we call the average operating efficiency, based on input power to …