Engineering Mechanics Commons^™

Effect Of Complex Alloying Elements On Oxide Scale Formation And Water-Jet Descaling Performance On Continuously Cast Low-Carbon Steels, Tochukwu P. Ojiako, Tsvetkov Dmitry, Mario Buchely, Haiming Wen, Simon N. Lekakh, Ronald J. O'Malley

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The formation and evolution of oxide scale in contact with mold flux during continuous casting, subsequent reheating, and hydraulic descaling are strongly governed by steel chemistry. To elucidate the effect of complex alloying elements (Si, Mn, and Cr), two industrially produced continuously cast low-carbon steel grades for manufacturing stamped parts (a base and alloyed steel grade) were investigated. The objective was to determine how alloying elements influence oxidation behavior, scale morphology, interfacial adhesion, and water-jet descaling efficiency. Continuously cast slab specimens were subjected to controlled thermal and atmospheric oxidation cycles simulating multistage industrial practice. Three initial surface conditions (industrial as-cast, …

Process Optimization And Quality Control In Manufacturing Of Frp Composites By Vartm, Mohamed Emadeldin Omar Abdelhadi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Railroad tank cars, being one of the most used means of transportation of hazardous material across the country, have not been structurally upgraded for a long time. Thus, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) agency, released a rule for safer transportation of highly hazardous and flammable liquids by railroad to enhance the design specifications of both the new and existing tank cars in May 2015. A multifunctional composite jacket is proposed as a new material to structurally enhance the railroad tank cars to withstand any accidents that could happen en route. …

Expansion Limits Of Meshed Split-Thickness Skin Grafts, Haomin Yu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Split-thickness skin grafts are widely used to treat chronic wounds. Procedure design requires surgeons to predict how much a patch of the patient's own skin expands when it is meshed with rows of slits and stretched over a larger wound area. Accurate prediction of graft expansion remains a challenge, with current models overestimating the actual expansion, leading to suboptimal outcomes. Inspired by the principles of mechanical metamaterials, we developed a model that distinguishes between the kinematic rearrangement of structural elements and their stretching, providing a more accurate prediction of skin graft expansion. Our model was validated against extensive data …

Mae Enewsbrief July-Sept 2025, Department Of Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Techno-Economic Analysis Of Hybrid Pv-Wind-Diesel Generator Swarm Grid For Rural Electrification In Tanzania, Ibrahim Mwammenywa

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Remote, rural, and off-grid communities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), face significant challenges in securing reliable and affordable electricity. While solutions such as solar home systems (SHSs) and diesel generators (DGs) have been adopted by some individuals, their deployment is often not optimized to meet the full load demand. This study addresses this challenge by proposing a hybrid swarm grid (HSG) design that integrates photovoltaic (PV), wind energy, and diesel generators (DGs). Utilizing MATLAB/Simulink and HOMER, the HSG is modeled and optimized for a typical SSA village, incorporating real-world variables such as load demand profiles, solar irradiance, and wind patterns. …

Extraction Of Aluminum From Lunar Regolith Through Molten Salt Electrolysis, Jacob N. Ortega, Todd P. Sander, Jeffrey D. Smith, Fateme Rezaei, David J. Bayless, William Schonberg, Daniel S. Stutts, Frank D. Han

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents the methodology, development, and results of an end-to-end regolith-to-metal concept for producing aluminum in-situ on the lunar surface, namely, the Lunar In-Situ Aluminum Production through Molten Salt Electrolysis (LISAP-MSE) method. Using electrolytic reduction, aluminum oxide (i.e., alumina) can be reduced into aluminum and oxygen via electrolysis in a molten salt bath. A steady supply of hydrogen chloride could allow this in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) method to supply several necessary materials consumed in the electrolytic reduction step of the process to produce bulk aluminum metal, oxygen, water, and silica from anorthite abundant in lunar highland regions. In this …

Investigations On The Fatigue Strength Of Threads Produced By Different Fabrication Techniques, Philippe Du Maire, Jürgen Hoffmeister, Andreas Öchsner, Michael Johlitz

15th International Conference on Shot Peening

The increasing importance of sustainability in engineering demands the development of long-lasting, high-performance components that reduce material and energy consumption over time. This study investigates how different thread manufacturing processes, i.e., cutting, rolling, and deep rolling, affect the fatigue strength of bolts made from 42CrMo4+QT steel. Cylindrical specimens with M12 threads were subjected to cyclic tensile loading with constant mean stress. Fatigue strength was evaluated using the staircase method, and supporting analyses included X-ray diffraction for residual stress, and full width half maximum examination and Vickers microhardness measurements. Results show that thread rolling significantly improves fatigue strength, achieving 113.8 MPa …

Numerical Assessment Of Shot Peening Contribution To The Fatigue Strength Of Gear Tooth Root, Gurutz Cortabitarte Laucirica, Xuban Telleria, Iñigo Llavori, Ibai Ulacia, Miren Larrañaga, Jon Ander Esnaola

15th International Conference on Shot Peening

Gears are commonly treated with shot peening (SP) and/or case hardening to enhance fatigue resistance. However, their effects are often conservatively assessed using standardized methods, which can limit their optimal application in industrial components. Particularly, the effect of SP over case-hardened gears remains insufficiently explored. Therefore, the present study evaluates the contribution of SP on single tooth bending fatigue (STBF) strength of raw and case-hardened spur gears, commonly used in automotive and heavy machinery industries. In the study four conditions are addressed: (i) untreated, (ii) case-hardened, (iii) shot-peened, and (iv) case-hardened and shot-peened. First, the residual stress field of the …

Expansion Of Laser Peening Application With A High-Power Microchip Laser On A Robotic Arm, Yuji Sano, Yoshio Mizuta, Satoshi Tamaki, Tomonao Hosokai, Tomoharu Kato, Yoshihiro Sakino, Volker Schneidau, Sebastian Holz, Jörg Behler

15th International Conference on Shot Peening

Laser peening (LP) introduces compressive residual stress (RS) onto the surface of metallic materials using nanosecond laser pulses irradiated through a water layer, thereby effectively suppressing fatigue crack initiation. However, conventional LP systems require large, stationary setups, restricting their use to indoor environments. To overcome this limitation, a portable LP device featuring a finger-sized microchip laser mounted on a collaborative robot arm has been developed. Equipped with a compact power supply and a water circulation/recovery system, the device can operate on-site with minimal setup. Successful processing across various materials has confirmed both compressive RS induction and fatigue life extension. Notably, …

Effects Of Laser Peening On Fatigue Properties Of Welded Aluminum Thin Plates, Kiyotaka Masaki, Yoshio Mizuta, Satoshi Tamaki, Yuji Sano

15th International Conference on Shot Peening

To improve the fatigue properties of welded aluminum alloy thin plates used in transportation machinery, handheld laser peening (HH-LP) was applied to 2 mm-thick A5083-O specimens prepared by bead-on TIG welding. Conventional laser peening often causes warping in thin plates, but the HH-LP treatment using low-energy laser pulses avoids this problem. The HH-LP treatment introduced compressive residual stresses of over 200 MPa on the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the welded specimens. Fatigue tests under plane bending conditions revealed that the HH-LP treatment significantly improved the fatigue strength of the welded specimens, achieving a level comparable to that of the base …

Experimental And Numerical Investigation On The Effect Of Projectile Mass And Apex Angle On Penetration Depth Into Sandy Soils, Abdul-Rahman K. Osman, Ahmed Elshesheny Dr, Mohamed S. Zahran Dr, Nabil M. Nagy Prof.

Journal of Engineering Research

Projectile penetration in granular soils remains a critical concern in defense engineering and ballistics research. This study presents an experimental and numerical investigation of rigid cone-tip projectile penetration into very dense sand, examining the influence of apex angle and projectile weight on penetration depth. Laboratory experiments were conducted using metallic projectiles with apex angles of 10°, 30°, 60°, and 90° and weights of 2.445, 3.87, 5.33, and 6.81 kg, dropped from a height of 4.295 m into a 500×500×500 mm wooden tank filled with sand to 400 mm height at 95% relative density. Through systematic testing, two empirical correlation …

Detection Of Bacterial Genomic Dna Fragments Using The Mxene Crispr-Cas9 Field-Effect Transistor, Jiaoli Li, Ali Taheri, Weijia Liu, Ying Zhuo, Pengfei Ma, Chenglin Wu

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based field-effect transistor (FET) sensors provide a promising platform for highly specific and amplification-free nucleic acid detection. However, their direct application in identifying target sequences within intact genomic DNA remains underexplored. We developed a CRISPR-Cas9 FET sensor for detecting DNA sequences by immobilizing Cas9 onto a graphene-MXene sensing interface via (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) functionalization. The sensor targeted Stx1, a 440 bp laboratory-amplified fragment associated with Shiga toxin production in pathogenic E. coli. Gel electrophoresis confirmed the precise cleavage of Stx1, while the nontarget sequence Stx2 remained undetected. FET measurements further validated the sensor's specificity, showing …

Mae Enewsbrief Apr- June 2025, Department Of Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Electron Beam Irradiation Effects On Bulk Metals And High Entropy Alloys (Crmnv And Crmntiv) And The Synthesis And Characterization Of Irradiation-Induced Damage In Polycrystalline Metal And High Entropy Alloy Thin Films, Najmin Ara Sultana

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Accelerator beam exit windows are designed to withstand intense radiation and mechanical stress while preserving beam transmission and structural integrity. This dissertation explores the structural and mechanical responses of pure metals and high-entropy alloys (HEAs), in both bulk and thin-film forms, under high-dose electron beam (e-beam) irradiation to identify optimal materials for next-generation accelerator exit windows. Monte Carlo simulations using FLUKA, conducted at Jefferson Lab, revealed that amongst Ni, Ti, Cr, and V, Ni exhibits the highest power dissipation, while Ti depicts the lowest power dissipation, with Cr and V demonstrating intermediate characteristics. Bulk polycrystalline (PC) and single-crystalline (SC) samples …

Effects Of Cutting Conditions On Tool Temperature And Material Removal Rate In Turning Operations, Simon I. Marandu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Cutting conditions in manufacturing processes have effects on tool temperature and material removal rate. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of cutting conditions namely spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut and tool nose radius on tool temperature and material removal rate in turning operations. A total of 81 experiments were conducted to measure tool temperature and material removal rate in order to determine the effects of cutting conditions on tool temperature and material removal rate using ANOVA and regression analysis. The results show that tool nose radius, depth of cut, and spindle speed are significant …

Mae Enewsbrief Jan-Mar 2025, Department Of Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Mae Enewsbrief Oct-Dec 2024, Department Of Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Design And Optimization Of Aquaculture Gear: Development Of A Cage-Integrated Reeling Mechanism For Oyster Farming, Felicity Bryant

Honors Theses

This project encompasses the design, fabrication, and testing of a cage-integrated reeling system aimed at reducing the physical labor required in oyster aquaculture at Bama Bay Oyster Farm, the last operational oyster farm in Mobile Bay. The proposed system includes two primary components: lightweight, modular oyster cages and a dual-winch reeling device for automated retrieval. Three cage prototypes—rectangular, oval, and hexagonal—were evaluated for structural performance and fabrication feasibility. The oval design was ultimately excluded due to practical fabrication limitations. The rectangular and hexagonal designs were fabricated using recycled materials and tested under the most extreme environmental conditions derived from years …

Experimental And Theoretical Fracture Analysis Of Additively Manufactured Orthotropic V-Notches, Venkata Siva Sainath Bavapuram

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the fracture behavior of additively manufactured orthotropic V-notched components made of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) material. The research integrates both theoretical and finite element approaches to evaluate stress intensity factors (SIFs) in Modes-I and II, which are fundamental in characterizing stress field distributions around notches under applied loading conditions. Unlike isotropic materials, where stress fields depend only on geometry of the component, the anisotropic nature of 3D-printed ABS introduces a dependency on material properties that necessitate different approaches to include anisotropy of the material.

Tensile specimens are 3D-printed with specific material orientations to …

Cellulose Recovery From Waste Denim Fabrics Through Indigo Vat Dye Reduction And Spandex Dissolution, Tito N. Venance

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This study addresses environmental conservation by tackling end-of-life management for post-consumer denim garments through the recycling of cotton fibres from waste denim. The purification process involved dithionite reduction of vat dyes in the presence of an alkali followed by selective dissolution of spandex using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Optimal conditions for dye removal were determined at 90°C for 120 minutes with sodium hydroxide at 25 g/L, sodium dithionite at 6 g/L and PVP at 4.5 g/L, while spandex extraction was achieved using a 5% DMF solution at 70°C for 4 hours. Ultraviolet (UV)-vis spectrophotometric analysis indicated a significant increase in whiteness (DL*). …