Automobile Applications Research Articles

Topology optimization of brake pad

Topology optimization is an advanced structural design process that was created to produce novel, lightweight, high-performance combinations that are challenging to achieve using traditional concepts. It is a method which uses finite element analysis to optimize the design, material distribution with optimum strength to weight ratio and better strain to weight ratio. It gives us the freedom to create efficient designs. The main objective of this comparative study is to validate the results of the topology optimization of brake pad obtained using three different software’s. This article reviews the obtained results to reduce weight without compromising the strength and performance to get optimum solutions. Structural Analysis of the existing brake pad is carried out before the topology optimization. Obtained results were analyzed in the respective software’s. This article serves as a resource for additional research in the field and automobile applications.

Low-Light Images In-the-Wild: A Novel Visibility Perception-Guided Blind Quality Indicator

Owing to the increasing deployment of CMOS camera modules, it is inevitable to take photographs under weak illumination. Therefore, low-light imaging quality is one of the most important factors affecting user experience as well as the product values of consumer electronics, automobile, surveillance, factory automation, and other industrial applications. Inspired by human vision, this article jointly considers visibility perception, luminosity cognition, and color sensation, and presents a new visibility perception-guided blind quality indicator for low-light images in-the-wild. To excavate effective descriptors for authentic distortions under weak illumination, we utilize maximum ignorable visible difference to characterize the reduced visibility, and employ the luminance statistical properties and color sensation characteristics to represent brightness and colorfulness distortions. Extensive experimental results on the benchmark dataset verify that the proposed blind quality indicator outperforms nine representative methods including general-purpose and distortion-specific methods.

Dual-Function Smart Windows Using Polymer Stabilized Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Driven with Interdigitated Electrodes.

In this study, we present an electrically switchable window that can dynamically transmit both visible light and infrared (IR) light. The window is based on polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLCs), which are placed between a top plate electrode substrate and a bottom interdigitated electrode substrate. By applying a vertical alternating current electric field between the top and bottom substrates, the transmittance of the entire visible light can be adjusted. The cholesteric liquid crystals (CLC) texture will switch to a scattering focal conic state. The corresponding transmittance decreases from 90% to less than 15% in the whole visible region. The reflection bandwidth in the IR region can be tuned by applying an in-plane interdigital direct current (DC) electric field. The non-uniform distribution of the in-plane electric field will lead to helix pitch distortion of the CLC, resulting in a broadband reflection. The IR reflection bandwidth can be dynamically adjusted from 158 to 478 nm. The electric field strength can be varied to regulate both the transmittance in the visible range and the IR reflection bandwidth. After removing the electric field, both features can be restored to their initial states. This appealing feature of the window enables on-demand indoor light and heat management, making it a promising addition to the current smart windows available. This technology has considerable potential for practical applications in green buildings and automobiles.

The Status of Representative Anode Materials for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Since the invention of lithium-ion batteries as a rechargeable energy storage system, it has uncommonly promoted the development of society. It has a wide variety of applications in electronic equipment, electric automobiles, hybrid vehicles, and aerospace. As an indispensable component of lithium-ion batteries, anode materials play an essential role in the electrochemical characteristics of lithium-ion batteries. In this review, we described the development from lithium-metal batteries to lithium-ion batteries in detail on the time axis as the first step; This was followed by an introduction to several commonly used anode materials, including graphite, silicon, and transition metal oxide with discussions the charge-discharge mechanism, challenges and corresponding strategies, and a collation of recent interesting work; Finally, three anode materials are summarized and prospected. Hopefully, this review can serve both the newcomers and the predecessors in the field.

Development and Optimization of 3D-Printed Flexible Electronic Coatings: A New Generation of Smart Heating Fabrics for Automobile Applications.

Textile-based Joule heaters in combination with multifunctional materials, fabrication tactics, and optimized designs have changed the paradigm of futuristic intelligent clothing systems, particularly in the automobile field. In the design of heating systems integrated into a car seat, conductive coatings via 3D printing are expected to have further benefits over conventional rigid electrical elements such as a tailored shape and increased comfort, feasibility, stretchability, and compactness. In this regard, we report on a novel heating technique for car seat fabrics based on the use of smart conductive coatings. For easier processes and integration, an extrusion 3D printer is employed to achieve multilayered thin films coated on the surface of the fabric substrate. The developed heater device consists of two principal copper electrodes (so-called power buses) and three identical heating resistors made of carbon composites. Connections between the copper power bus and the carbon resistors are made by means of sub-divide the electrodes, which is critical for electrical-thermal coupling. Finite element models (FEM) are developed to predict the heating behavior of the tested substrates under different designs. It is pointed out that the most optimized design solves important drawbacks of the initial design in terms of temperature regularity and overheating. Full characterizations of the electrical and thermal properties, together with morphological analyses via SEM images, are conducted on different coated samples, making it possible to identify the relevant physical parameters of the materials as well as confirm the printing quality. It is discovered through a combination of FEM and experimental evaluations that the printed coating patterns have a crucial impact on the energy conversion and heating performance. Our first prototype, thanks to many design optimizations, entirely meets the specifications required by the automobile industry. Accordingly, multifunctional materials together with printing technology could offer an efficient heating method for the smart textile industry with significantly improved comfort for both the designer and user.

Phthalide cardo chain extended imine skeletal linked maleimido end capped nanotitania reinforced novel polybenzoxazine (nTiO2/PBZ) hybrid nanocomposites

A new class of nanotitania reinforced polybenzoxazine (nTiO2/PBZ) hybrid nanocomposites was synthesized using newly designed phthalide cardo chain extended imine skeletal linked maleimido end capped polybenzoxazine (PHM-PBZ) and nTiO2 through in-situ sol-gel method. The formation of hybrid nanocomposites was confirmed by NMR and FT-IR spectra. The structurally stable nTiO2 present in the nTiO2/PBZ hybrids accounted their exceptional thermal stability and good char yield. The restricted motion of flexible polymeric chain resulted from the inclusion of nTiO2 in the PBZ system increased the glass transition temperature ( T g) to a higher percentage than that of neat PBZ system. With the successive enhancement in the incorporation of nTiO2, the synthesized nanocomposites exhibited better thermal stability, higher flame retardancy and lesser water absorption behaviour than the of neat PBZ. The sequential increments in the loading level of nTiO2 onto the PBZ matrices caused the lower value of dielectric constant than that of neat PBZ. The homogeneity and successful dispersion of the nTiO2 fillers in the PBZ matrix were ascertained from the strong fluorescent emissions observed in the wavelength range of 300–550 nm through optical studies. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopic micrographs evidenced the successful incorporation of nTiO2 as can be seen from the different morphology at the nanoscale level in the PBZ matrix. This kind of structurally designed nTiO2/PBZ nanocomposites may find multifaceted applications in the form of adhesives, encapsulants, matrices and sealants and in the fields of automobile and microelectronics applications for better performance and longevity.

Vibration analysis of human body under seating posture: an automobile application

Vibration analysis of human body under seating posture: an automobile application

4D printing of polyamide 1212 based shape memory thermoplastic polyamide elastomers by selective laser sintering

4D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing technology for smart devices, offers a wide range of promising applications in aerospace, automobile, biomedical and soft robotics. However, there are only a limited number of commercialized elastomer materials for 3D printing which needs further development, especially smart elastomers. In this work, polyamide 1212 (PA1212) based thermoplastic polyamide elastomer (TPAE) was synthesized by one-pot melt polycondensation of 1,12-dodecanedioic acid (DA), 1,12-dodecanedioic amine (DN) and polyetheramine in a stainless steel reactor and then the TPAE powder for selective laser sintering (SLS) was obtained after freeze-crushing and sieving. Subsequently, the effects of sintering temperature, laser power, layer thickness, and scan spacing during SLS processing on the properties of the sintered parts were fully investigated. The tensile strength, elastic modulus and elongation at break of the sintered parts could reach 13.7 MPa, 124 MPa and 200 %, respectively, when the sintering temperature, laser power, layer thickness and scan spacing were set as 156 °C, 21 W, 0.10 mm and 0.10 mm, respectively. Moreover, PA1212-based TPAEs fabricated by SLS showed excellent and stable shape memory behavior. This work not only provides a designing strategy of 4D printable materials and referential SLS-processing parameters, but also broadens the application of polyamide-based elastomer materials into 4D printing fields.

Optimal performance assessment of intelligent controllers used in solar-powered electric vehicle

Introduction. Increasing vehicle numbers, coupled with their increased consumption of fossil fuels, have drawn great concern about their detrimental environmental impacts. Alternative energy sources have been the subject of extensive research and development. Due to its high energy density, zero emissions, and use of sustainable fuels, the battery is widely considered one of the most promising solutions for automobile applications. A major obstacle to its commercialization is the battery's high cost and low power density. Purpose. Implementing a control system is the primary objective of this work, which is employed to change the energy sources in hybrid energy storage system about the load applied to the drive. Novelty. To meet the control objective, a speed condition-based controller is designed by considering four separate math functions and is programmed based on different speed ranges. On the other hand, the conventional/intelligent controller is also considered to develop the switching signals related to the DC-DC converter’s output and applied the actual value. Methods. According to the proposed control strategy, the adopted speed condition based controller is a combined conventional/intelligent controller to meet the control object. Practical value. In this work, three different hybrid controllers adopted speed condition based controller with artificial neural network controller, adopted speed condition based controller with fuzzy logic controller, and adopted speed condition based controller with proportional-integral derivative controller are designed and applied separately and obtain the results at different load conditions in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Three hybrid controller’s execution is assessed based on time-domain specifications.

Tribological behavior of eutectic Al–12Si alloy manufactured by selective laser melting

Al–Si alloys have been extensively used to make complex-shaped components for automobile and aerospace applications. However, the Si coarse-flakes in conventionally casted alloys can initiate cracks and result in poor mechanical properties. Therefore, it is important to discover an ultra-fine grain structure that can provide desirable properties to fulfill the ever-growing application demands. The present study aims to manufacture a eutectic Al–12Si (wt.%) alloy by using an additive manufacturing process based on the selective laser melting (SLM) mechanism and compare the structure, tribological behavior, worn subsurface morphologies and mechanical properties with the conventionally casted eutectic Al–Si alloy. Structural analysis revealed that the SLMed Al–Si alloy has nanoscale spherical Si-phase in a supersaturated Al matrix, whereas that made by the traditional casting method is of microscale Si coarse-flakes. This structural refinement remarkably improves the mechanical properties to 80.8% hardness, 17.3% elastic modulus, more than twice of the tensile strength and creep behavior compared to the traditionally casted alloy. The tribological and subsurface structural evaluation confirms that the SLMed Al–Si alloy can significantly reduce the wear rate in both directions without any substantial worn subsurface damages. It is clear that the wear mechanism of the traditionally casted Al–Si alloy mainly involves the primary Si coarse-flakes crushing-delamination-pull out with severe subsurface damages. However, the nano-sized Si particles in the SLMed Al–Si alloy produce only inlays into the Al-matrix without significant subsurface damage. Thus, the refinement of the grain structure and nanoscale Si phase are the key factors for the improvement of the mechanical properties and tribological behavior of the SLMed Al–Si alloy.

Abrasive water jet machining of pineapple fibre epoxy composite at high transverse speed

Recently, research has been undergoing in the area of natural fibre-reinforced composite as an alternative for metals and plastics in automobile applications. It is mainly because of its strength and lighter weight. Literature shows that tribological studies are made in large numbers to evaluate these composite's strength, corrosion and wear behaviour. The machinability of these natural fibres is to be studied to understand the further scope of these materials in their respective application. In this research machinability of pineapple fibre is studied under the abrasive water jet machining process at a higher transverse speed. The material removal rate is chosen as a tool for evaluating the machinability of these composites. The Taguchi-based approach is used for planning and optimising the experiments. The optimal parameter for maximising the material removal rate is done using the signal-to-noise ratio analysis. Also, an Artificial neural network algorithm is developed to predict the responses. The results of the ANN model show that the model predicts the response with an accuracy of 94.9%. This ANN prediction model of machining study could be helpful when these composites are imposed in automobile and aerospace applications.

Effect of Zinc on electrochemical corrosion behaviour of Mg-1Sn alloy as anode for Mg batteries

Magnesium and its alloys are widely used for various aerospace, biomedical, energy storage, and automobile applications. Magnesium alloys are favored due to their high specific strength. Now a days Magnesium act as a promising material for energy storage. Magnesium possesses high energy density than lithium. So, Mg can also be used as an anode for batteries. But corrosion resistance is the major drawback of Mg batteries. The deficiency can be overcome by alloying or coating with various metals. Different metals like Zinc and Tin act as promising alloy elements against corrosion resistance and also Zinc increases the ductility of the Mg. In this study, Zn is added to Mg-1Sn to analyze the corrosion characteristics between Mg-1Sn and Mg-1Sn-1Zn samples. Electrochemical tests like Potentiostatic Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Tafel were conducted to study the difference between the two alloys in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The results conclude that adding zinc with Mg-1Sn improves the anodic efficiency and shows a comparatively high Corrosion Potential [Ecorr] and the Mg-1Sn-1Zn alloys have a lower corrosion rate than Mg-1Sn.

Dielectric and conductance of biochar-based PVA flexible nanocomposite film

In various applications, heat energy is derived from electromagnetic energy, especially in microwave appliances. The heat is generated by electromagnetic induction hence understanding the properties of the material used in this application are much required. Also increase in biological awareness shifts the researchers toward the biodegradable material. The objective of this research is to investigate the dielectric and conductance of Polyvinyl alcohol-based nano-bagasse biochar. The network analyzer with a probe is used for the analysis of the dielectric property. The impedance analyzer is used to measure the conductance of the biochar. According to the results of the experiment, Biochar exhibits outstanding conductivity at 10 wt% and 15 wt% concentrations, with 1.46* 10-2 S and 3.87 *10-2 S, respectively. The dielectric loss is decreased at BIA 1200, implying that the nanocomposite at BIA 1200 has superior dielectric performance with less loss. The tangential loss factor and dielectric loss are both low for the BIA1200 combination. These high dielectric loss and constant improved composites could be used in many engineering applications such as defence, aerospace and automobile applications.

A review on additive manufacturing of SS-Ni multi-material fabrication

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging technology used to fabricate complex and near net shape components with minimum tooling and material wastage. This technology has found its application in biomedical, aerospace, automobile and structural elements. Multi material additive manufacturing (MMAM) process is able to manufacture components built with a combination of different materials like metals, ceramics, and reinforced materials to achieve the desired properties at a specific location. Many multi-material combinations have been fabricated through MMAM such as Al-Fe, Al-Cu, SS-Ni, Ni-Ti, Ti-SS, diamond-W-Cu etc. The most common combination among these discussed materials are SS-Ni multi-material for its wide range of applications in gas turbine parts, energy industry, petrochemical industry, marine industry, nuclear fission reactors, aerospace structure and aerospace engines. The processing of SS-Ni multi-material using LPBF, DED and WAAM has been found to provide superior properties such as high strength at extreme temperature environment, corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance, higher toughness at low cost when compared with conventional manufacturing methods thereby, motivating the present review on SS-Ni multi-material AM. This review aims to summarize the various methods used for the fabrication of SS-Ni multi-material AM, different combination strategies and its effect on the quality of fabrication, their microstructure variations, property enhancement, challenges and applications.

Study and Application of Remote Control Crawler Drilling Car for Mine Roadway

With the rapid development of mining technology in coal mines, the technical requirements for safe production in coal mines are constantly improving. In addition, it is affected by the geological conditions of the coal mine, the section of the roadway and the manpower reduction. There is an increasing demand for automatic and intelligent equipment for coal mine. A crawler-type double-arm rock drilling car which can be operated by wireless remote control is developed. It can be operated by remote control and adjusted manually. It can not only drill small diameter ordinary boreholes, but also drill large boreholes with diameter of 100-120 mm. It can effectively solve the problem of larger free surface in straight-hole cutting blasting. It is safe in operation and high in excavation efficiency.

Design of Brush Plating Repair Device for Big Hole of Connecting Rod of Automobile

Brush plating technology has been applied to the surface repair and strengthening of parts and achieved remarkable benefits, so it can be used as a part remanufacturing method. This graduation project aims to design a brush plating repair device for the big end hole of an automobile connecting rod in the field of automobile technology application, including brush plating power supply, electroplating pen, plating solution, and brush plating auxiliary equipment, so as to realize the clamping and rotation of the workpiece, the clamping of plating pen and the axial and radial movement of plating pen relative to the workpiece. The three-dimensional models of parts and parts are established by modeling software and installed. The equipment can greatly improve the maintenance efficiency and product quality of vehicle connecting rods, obtain a safer production process, and is suitable for mass reproduction of vehicle connecting rods.

Enhanced flexural properties of bionic carbon fiber sandwiches inspired by the coconut shell

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP)/metal foam sandwiches with high strength-to-weight ratios are in growing demand for applications in architecture, automobile, and aerospace. However, most of the sandwiches have low mechanical properties due to the weak metal foam cores and the low interfacial bond strength between cores and skins. In this study, inspired by the natural coconut shell, novel sandwich structures containing magnesium syntactic foam (MSF) cores were designed to improve flexural properties. The CFRP skins were selected to mimic the high strength and multilayer structure of the exocarp and mesocarp, and two types of MSF cores (PMSF with low density and SMSF with high density) were used to mimic the hierarchical cellular structure of the endocarp. The cores with different structures will significantly affect the failure mechanisms and flexural properties of the corresponding sandwich structures. Compared with conventional CFRP/MF, the peak load and flexural stiffness of bionic CFRP/PMSF and CFRP/SMSF are significantly improved due to the hierarchical cellular structure of MSF cores. The enhanced skin-core debonding resistance allows bionic CFRP/PMSF to have better structural integrity under bending loads. Therefore, the CFRP/PMSF exhibits the highest specific flexural strength and specific energy absorption capacity, though the PMSF core has the lowest specific flexural properties. This result confirms that the reasonable matching between the PMSF core and the CFRP skin transfers the load more effectively and improves the strength-to-weight ratio of the sandwich structure. The proposed bio-inspired design method is expected to supply an effective way to enhance the mechanical properties of conventional CFRP/MF sandwich structures in a wide range of engineering applications.

Performance analysis of hybrid bio-composites developed through different processing routes for automobile application

The performance of polymer composites strongly depends upon the constituents and the processing method of composite fabrication. The present study investigates the effect of fabrication processes (hand lay-up process, compression molding and resin transfer molding (RTM)) on the physical and mechanical properties of the developed bio-composites having different combinations of uni-directional sisal and uni-directional ramie fiber mat reinforcement in unsaturated polyester matrix. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) were used to study the failure behavior of composite constituents under various loading conditions. Results indicate that composites fabricated by RTM process showed 5%–15% voids (percentage density change) while hand lay-up showed 30%–45% voids (percentage density change). Longitudinal and transverse flexural modulus of composites fabricated by RTM and compression molding are 2–3 times higher than composites developed by hand lay-up process. The study concludes that processing of composites through different routes and varying the reinforcement have significant effect on mechanical properties of the developed bio-composites.

Influence of single or multi-factor coupling of temperature, humidity and load on the aging failure of adhesively bonded CFRP / aluminum alloy composite joints for automobile applications

Applying materials such as CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics) and aluminum alloys to automobiles is an effective way to accomplish lightweight design, thereby bringing energy conservation and emission reduction. Bonding structure is the key joining technology for dissimilar materials, but it will degrade during the automotive service by environmental temperature, humidity and load. Scholars mainly carry out accelerated aging tests by increasing the temperature or humidity, but it is hard to compare the degree of influence of temperature, humidity and load owing to the aging environments and adhesive materials are various and different. In this study, to comprehensively compare the effects of various aging environments coupled with load that may be experienced during the service life of an automobile on the aging failure of composite bonded joints, seven typical aging environments were selected, namely room temperature (RT), high temperature (HT), low temperature (LT), high/low temperature cycle (TC), immersed in water at room temperature (IRT), high temperature and high humidity (HTHH), and hygrothermal cycles (HC). Aging environments were coupled with static load to form single or multi-factor aging conditions of temperature, humidity and load. Accelerated aging tests were conducted to analyze the failure strength, failure mode and SEM microscopic fracture surface of bonded joints made of aluminum alloy and CFRP. The degree of influence of single or multi-factor coupling of temperature, humidity and load on the aging failure of bonded joints was analyzed by visual analysis and ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). The results show that single temperature, humidity or load had limited effects on the degradation of the failure strength of butt joints, while coupling effects of multiple factors are more obvious. When the aging environment was coupled with the load, the aging environment played a major role, and the load accelerated the aging rate without changing the decreasing trend caused by the aging environment. Both the adhesive and CFRP underwent different degrees of aging, the effect of load on the degree of aging of the adhesive was significantly greater than the CFRP, but the effect of aging environment on the degree of aging of adhesive and CFRP was related to the aging time. Normally, aging environment, aging time and load had significant effects on the failure strength, and the degree of influence decreased successively. As for the selection of the accelerated aging environments for the car, HC and TC environments should be preferred and the influence of load should be taken into consideration in accelerated aging tests.

Advanced biopolymers for automobile and aviation engineering applications

Advanced biopolymers for automobile and aviation engineering applications