Heavy Engineering Industry Research Articles

STUDYING THE IMPROVEMENT OF TENSILE STRENGTH OF LOW ALLOY HIGH STRENGTH STEEL WELDS USING AN ECONOMICAL TECHNIQUE

Low alloy steels are particularly used in manufacturing several parts in the heavyengineering industries, agricultural equipment and dies which may be subject to servicefailure, and thus may need to be repaired by one of the welding processes. The weldabilityof steels is determined by their sensitivity to cracks that can be prevented by the use ofspecial welding procedures which are often expensive and difficult to use. Manual metal arcwelding of low alloy high strength steels was done firstly, using a cheap electrode (OK46.00), followed by the use of an economical technique which depends on coiling copperwires with different diameters around the cheap electrode. The expensive electrode (OK73.68) was also used for comparison. Results showed an increase in the tensile strength (712MPa) and weld joint efficiency (83.8%) when the expensive iron powder low hydrogencovering electrode (OK 73.68) was used. On the other hand, the tensile strength wasdecreased to (206 MPa) and the weld joint efficiency to (24.2%) when the cheap electrode(OK 46.00) was used. Coiling a (0.6 mm) dia. copper wire around the (OK 46.00) electrodeincreased the tensile strength and weld joint efficiency to (510 MPa) and (60%) respectively.

Effect of minimum quantity lubrication on surface integrity in high-speed grinding of sintered alumina using single layer diamond grinding wheel

Exceptional properties of advanced ceramics attract various heavy engineering industries. But surface and sub-surface defects generated during final stage abrasive machining processes make them vulnerable and limit their widespread use. This study aims to provide an understanding of the effectiveness of Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) in reducing surface and sub-surface damages in high-speed grinding of brittle materials. In the present work, high-speed grinding of alumina was performed under MQL-neat oil, MQL-soluble oil (5% concentration in water) and conventional wet grinding environment with the single layer electroplated diamond grinding wheel. In-depth analysis of surface topology, surface morphology, residual stress and sub-surface damage was carried out using 3D surface profilometer, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, and X-ray micro-CT, respectively. Grinding under MQL-neat oil provided leptokurtic (peaky) surface profile due to increased plastic deformation, whereas conventional wet grinding generated platykurtic (plateaued) surface profile because of brittle fracture. A simple model has been proposed to understand the underlying mechanism of generation of peaky and plateaued type of surface in grinding due to ductile deformation and brittle fracture, respectively. Morphological observation of the sample ground under MQL-neat oil showed distinct microcutting and ploughing marks. MQL-neat oil condition also provided more compressive residual stress and less sub-surface damage than other grinding environments. This is attributed to increased plastic deformation due to efficient lubrication under the MQL-neat oil grinding regime. The mechanism of increased plastic deformation and reduced sub-surface damage due to improved lubrication under MQL in high-speed grinding of brittle materials has been discussed.

ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ИНФОРМАЦИОННОГО РАЗВИТИЯ МАРКЕТИНГОВОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ НА ОТРАСЛЕВОМ УРОВНЕ

The basic tendencies of information and marketing development of the heavy engineering industry are analyzed and the peculiarities of their growth are revealed. The basic principles of the creation of a unified information management system in the field of marketing which is based on the conceptual provisions of the strategy for the development of the heavy engineering industry have been formulated. The creation of a center for management of branch marketing information flows based on vertical and horizontal interaction between the industry levels and contributing to the increase in the effectiveness of information support for the enterprises of the machine-building complex at the industry level has been proposed.

Anticipating Alternative Futures for the Platform Economy

Despite the considerable hype around platforms, our understanding of what the platform economy means and what drivers will define future development trajectories is limited. Companies and policy makers have a great need to investigate what potential opportunities will arise from the platform economy. A shared perception of uncertainties and a strong vision are prerequisites for the development of the platform economy. In this article, we describe a systematic way to develop a resilient vision for a new platform ecosystem, both from the viewpoint of national policy makers and corporate strategy makers in the heavy engineering industry. The process uses morphological analysis for scenario development and robust portfolio modelling for creating resilient strategies. The results include a list of key uncertainties, three general scenarios (sustainable development by Europe; polarization driven by China and the United States; US-driven fast, unreliable growth) as well as steel-industry specific scenarios based on these uncertainties, elements of a resilient vision, and strategies for coping with the uncertainties described by the scenarios.

Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of B4C Particulates Reinforced ZA27 Alloy Composites

In comparison to unreinforced alloy, ZA27 reinforced with hard ceramic particles possesses higher strength and hardness. They can be used for automotive parts, machine tools, strength plants, Heavy engineering industries. The aim of the present work is to investigate the effects of adding micro size-B4C particles to ZA27 alloy on the mechanical properties of the composites.The ZA27 alloy reinforced with 3wt. %, 6 wt. %, and 9wt. % of B4C particulate composites were fabricated by stir casting method.Microstructure and mechanical properties such as hardness, ultimate tensile strength and yield strength and percentage elongation of the composites were examined. Microstructure of the samples has been investigated by using optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope to know the micro level uniform distribution of reinforcement particulates in the matrix. It was observed that the hardness, ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of alloy increased as the level addition of B4C particulates increased by 3wt. %, 6wt. % and 9wt. %.From the study, it was revealed that the percentage of elongation decreased as the addition of B4C increased with 3wt. %, 6wt. % and 9wt. %

«Звучание тишины»: контрасты и парадоксы сталинской эпохи в газетной графике

The 1930s Soviet press is full of inner paradoxes not only due to the rapidly changing criteria applied to the evaluation of events and personalities, but also due to the drastic change in the usual worldview. Though relying heavily on everyday details, the ideological tools are far away from reality and consider it from a superior position. The paradoxes of newspaper information are illustrated by means of visual images that are meant to support the text and solve propaganda tasks, attack political adversaries, mock at household hardships as well as unconscious citizens. Being ideologically tuned, approved by certain structures and double-checked, cartoons, drawings and posters did not repeat the text of the article but provided it with a new meaning and uncovered the implications of events.The Za Tyazheloye Mashinostroyeniye (“For Heavy Engineering Industry”) newspaper that for many years was the main media organization of the Ural Heavy Engineering Plant (Uralmash Plant) was following the uniform informational policy. The Editorial Board’s independence is most evident in the production coverage and the most academically attractive material is connected with the life of Uralmash and the depiction of local events and people. The cartoon here is an essential tool for castigating vice; for this reason, the antagonists produce a stronger impression than the stale and inarticulate depiction of pacesetters and heroes. The system of graphics in the newspaper, i. e. the poster with its relative language and its longing for extreme situations, the drawing aiming at nature and everyday realia, the cartoon with its pronounced punitive function, does not only turn out to be uncoordinated but internally inconsequential. The emphasized simplicity of drawings, noticeable carelessness and clumsiness seem intentional and one may even speak about a certain Soviet newspaper style characterized by a syncretism of images and the printed word. However defective, the visual language turned out to be more truthful than newspaper language, unwillingly disclosing the mechanisms of manipulation proper. The casualness, glibness, dynamicity and expressiveness as well as aggressiveness of drawings correspond to the intensive life of the Soviet state, the swift and heroic changes and bravura of the epoch; on the other hand, once can recognize in them the deadly petrifaction of plaster giants and the appalling recurring hypnotic sleep. These all make an impression of oppressive silence. Unwillingly, in their words newspaper artists reflected the contradictory character of the epoch that claimed victory over time and found itself coming to a moral dead-end of social stagnation.

Welding in Heavy Industries-An Indian Perspective

Heavy equipment manufacturers are continuously facing challenges to meet three most important project requirements - Quality, Cost&Delivery. Welding being one of the major operations in heavy engineering industries, welding technologists have to come up with new developments to cope up with these challenges. In order to counter these challenges, significant improvements are taking place in the field of welding and allied areas all over the world. Developments in materials are leading to complementary developments in welding consumable and process technology to weld these materials. Higher productivity processes are being implemented; existing processes are being fine-tuned to make them more efficient. Improvements in quality are being achieved by increased use of automation. Reliability of construction is ensured by the use of advanced NDT techniques. Similar developments are taking place in welding equipments and accessories to improve their efficiency. This paper presents an Indian perspective of developments that have taken place in welding and allied areas in heavy industries.

Welding in Heavy Industries-An Indian Perspective

Heavy equipment manufacturers are continuously facing challenges to meet three most important project requirements - Quality, Cost&Delivery. Welding being one of the major operations in heavy engineering industries, welding technologists have to come up with new developments to cope up with these challenges. In order to counter these challenges, significant improvements are taking place in the field of welding and allied areas all over the world. Developments in materials are leading to complementary developments in welding consumable and process technology to weld these materials. Higher productivity processes are being implemented; existing processes are being fine-tuned to make them more efficient. Improvements in quality are being achieved by increased use of automation. Reliability of construction is ensured by the use of advanced NDT techniques. Similar developments are taking place in welding equipments and accessories to improve their efficiency. This paper presents an Indian perspective of developments that have taken place in welding and allied areas in heavy industries.

Advancing the short workpieces without the formation of a defect clip

Bulky components of crucial purpose such as shafts and rotors take an important place in heavy engineering industry. The basic method of their production is forging by drawing.

Assessment of supply chain risk: scale development and validation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a reliable and accurate instrument to assess the supply chain risk of similar comparable industries. This enables the firms which fall in this category of industry to identify and incorporate suitable risk sources under various risk constructs. This paper also provides a framework to the top management to prioritize the various risk constructs.Design/methodology/approachA systematic approach is used to develop and validate an instrument for assessing overall risk of supply chain. This includes specifying the domain and dimensionality of a construct, generation of initial pool of items, refinement of the initial items by the expert group, assessment of content validity, evaluation of reliability and construct validity of the scale items. Also a higher order measurement model of structural equation modeling is used to prioritize the various risk constructs.FindingsThe process yielded a robust instrument to assess overall risk of the supply chain. Through empirical verification, this instrument is shown to exhibit high levels of reliability and validity. The framework for prioritization of risk constructs revealed the importance of various supply chain risk constructs.Practical implicationsThe framework is intended to be useful in practice for assessment of overall risk of heavy engineering industries supply chain. The procedure will be extended for development of risk assessment instrument for other industries which shares a common risk profile. Prioritization of various risk constructs with respect to the overall risk enables the top management to focus their attention to plan and manage the supply chain risks based on their relative importance.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need for the development of an empirically validated instrument by identifying the significant supply chain risk sources under major supply chain risk constructs for assessing the supply chain risk of industries which are similar in their risk profiles. Also provides a higher order model to identify the most influential risk constructs.

Multipurpose electroslag remelting furnace for modern energy and heavy engineering industry

In 2011, a unique complex based on a multipurpose unit-type electroslag remelting (ESR) furnace is created to meet the demand for large high-quality solid and hollow billets for the products of power, atomic, petrochemical, and heavy machine engineering. This complex has modern low-frequency power supplies with a new control level that ensure a high homogeneity and quality of the billets and an increase in the engineering-and-economical performance of the production. A unique pilot ESR furnace is erected to adjust technological conditions and the main control system elements.

AGE RELATED DIFFERENCE AND MODELLING OF WORK STRESS IN HEAVY ENGINEERING INDUSTRIES IN KERALA, INDIA

This study examines the influence of factors responsible for work stress among the employees belong to different age groups. The total number of participants for the study is 830 and the subjects were selected from profit making heavy engineering industrial units in Kerala.. Seven factors were identified with the existing literatures, and in consultation with safety experts for the evaluation of work stress. The instrument developed by using these factors had validity, unidimensionality and reliability. The response rate was 81.3%. It is observed that existence the factors responsible for work stress among all the employees irrespective of age It is also observed that relatively higher amount of demand , low control and low support among 40-45yrs age group. The factor model and structural equation model proposed are equally good in predicting the work stress in heavy engineering industries.

Noise and hand-arm vibration exposure in relation to the risk of hearing loss

The aim of this study was to examine the possible association of combined exposure of noise and hand-arm vibration (HAV) and the risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Workers in a heavy engineering industry were part of a dynamic cohort. Of these workers, 189 had HAV exposure, and their age and hearing status were recorded in the same year and were, therefore, included in the analysis. Data on HAV duration and acceleration was gathered through questionnaires, observations, and measurements. All available audiograms were categorized into normal and hearing loss. The first exposure variable included the lifetime HAV exposure. The lifetime HAV exposure was multiplied by the acceleration of HAV for the second and third exposure variable. Logistic regression using the Generalized Estimation Equations method was chosen to analyze the data to account for the repeated measurements. The analysis was performed with both continuous exposure variables and with exposure variables grouped into exposure quartiles with hearing loss as an outcome and age as a covariate. With continuous exposure variables, the odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for hearing loss was equal to or greater than one for all exposure variables. When the exposure variables were grouped into quartiles, the OR with a 95% CI was greater than one at the third and fourth quartile. The results show that working with vibrating machines in an environment with noise exposure increases the risk of hearing loss, supporting an association between exposure to noise and HAV, and the noise-induced hearing loss.

Necessary conditions for the modernization of the Russian processing industry on the example of the heavy engineering industry

The necessity of a state policy for the modernization of the heavy engineering sector for the purpose of equalizing the competitive conditions for national and foreign manufacturers is substantiated in the paper. A strategy for the recovery of the Russian heavy engineering industry is offered based on the world experience of support of national products and their promotion in foreign markets. Predictive estimates of the possible development of the industry up to 2020 are given.

Charles Mare, London Ironmaster and Shipbuilder

One of the many oddities of the business history of London is that, despite its distance from iron ore and coal deposits, it had two major nineteenth-century ironworks. Thames Ironworks and Millwall Ironworks were the two London shipbuilders of real size, and both were brought into being by Charles Mare, who was so convinced by the possibilities of large-scale iron shipbuilding as to twice risk his personal wealth by establishing vertically integrated iron shipyards on the Thames. During the nineteenth century, shipbuilding quickly became a heavy engineering industry dominated by large businesses, and on the Thames this evolution was essentially brought about by the imagination and actions of Mare. He was not ultimately very successful, but he did have visionary qualities, and this article examines his achievements as an ironmaster on the London river and his pivotal importance to the way in which shipbuilding developed in the capital.

Design and Ergonomics Analysis of Cutter Machine Locking Device in Aerospace Industry

Ergonomics has been used since 1850s and the application is widely used in aerospace industry, health care institution, information technology company, product design, transportation agency, training institution, nuclear engineering, virtual environmental and many more. Ergonomics is a science of designing the job, equipment and workplace to fit the workers environmental for more comfortable during the working duration. Since it related to the industry, this study is focused more to the mechanical device that is used at heavy aerospace engineering industry which is locking device design. This device is important to this industry because it is more related to safety procedure for workers during operation of certain machines. This study is aimed to improve the design of locking device for aerospace industry in term of ergonomics evaluation. Six conceptual designs were proposed and evaluated using scoring matrix technique. All of these designs were developed using computer aided design software and the highest score from the scoring matrix was proposed to replace the current device. Ergonomics analysis which is rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) is performed to evaluate the ergonomics design. From the analysis, it shows that the result of proposed design is better than existing design with highest score of 8 were reduced to score of 1 and 2. This means that the design is acceptable due to body posture of human parts from ergonomics evaluation.

An instrument to assess supply chain risk: establishing content validity

Organisations are forming supply chain networks for delivering the right quantity of quality products at the right time to their customers. An understanding about the potential risk sources which could possibly disrupt the performance of the entire supply chain would be useful when developing an instrument to assess the supply chain risk. The objective of this paper is to develop an instrument and establishing the content validity by a quantitative method. The instrument is developed for the purpose of assessing the overall supply chain risk of firms which are grouped under heavy engineering industry.

A modern Marshall Plan?

At end of Second World War, Allies were determined that Germany should never go to war again. Although country, divided into four zones occupied by Britain, United States, France and Soviet Union, was in economic chaos, much of its industrial base had survived. The first 'Level of Industry Plan' envisaged destruction of what was left of German war machine by reducing steel and coal production and dismantling heavy engineering industries. Around 1,500 listed manufacturing plants would be destroyed or removed to Allied countries. Germany was destined for standard of life that had existed during Great Depression and, it was hoped, a peaceful pastoral society with a little light industry would emerge. All Allies took part in this planned post-war plundering of German industry and technology. As well as physically removing factories, victors seized intellectual property (patents, industrial secrets, scientific and technical knowledge) along with many scientists and technicians, including most famously, Werner von Braun who had worked on V2 Rocket. An elite British intelligence unit abducted hundreds of German scientists and put them to work in government ministries and private firms in UK, giving a boost to British business and impeding German ability to compete. Ironically, Volkswagen factory was offered to Britain but rejected, Rootes commission reporting that the vehicle does not meet fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car... is quite unattractive to average buyer... to build car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise. The revival of factory was largely down to a British army officer, Major Ivan Hirst, who persuaded military to buy car. By 1946 factory was producing 1,000 vehicles a month and in 1947 commenced exports to Holland.

Productivity in public sector industrial undertakings: the Indian scenario

The productive performance of public sector undertakings has been the subject matter of considerable discussion, criticism and controversy. It is a well recognised fact that effective management and development of public sector undertakings under the government of India can contribute considerably to achieve the socioeconomic transformation of the nation. The objective of this paper is to measure Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in public sector industrial undertakings under the government of India in order to gain insight into the level of efficiency with which the resources have been utilised. Data were collected and subjected to analysis for the periods from 1997 to 2006. A total of 92 industrial undertakings falling into 7 industrial categories were taken into consideration for this study. They are steel, petroleum, fertiliser, chemical, heavy engineering, transport and textile industries. This study analysed the productivity by TFP indices. TFP indices like Solow, Kendrick and Translog have been used for this study. Industry wise analysis has been done under the three methods. Exponential growth rates have been calculated to assess the growth rates of TFP.

The Evolution of Ukrainian Economy: New Trade Theory Evidence

As the experience of European transition countries shows, the opening-up of their economic systems for international competition and FDIs, deepening economic liberalization and integration, and on this basis, the realization of real convergence within the integration block lead to the increased role of New Trade Theory in explaining their international economic relations. The processes of Ukraine's economic liberalization and approximation of its level of economic development to that of the EU-members should stipulate for transition of Ukrainian economy onto the dimension which explains industrial and trade relations through the prism of the New Trade Theory postulates coupled with Traditional Trade Theory principles. This article explores the position of Ukraine in the intra-industry trade with its main trade partners and problems of measuring the homogeneity degree of Ukraine's trade structure and the trade structures of its trade partners as well as its potential reciprocal demand within the regional EU and SEA integration blocks. The empirical analysis reveals that inasmuch as consumer preferences in Ukraine differ from those of its two SEA-partners (Russia and Kazakhstan), their disposition to intensify intra-regional and intra-industry trade flows with Ukraine in the future would be reduced. The SEA countries would rather prefer to expand their integrated export potential (for example, by forming big oligopolistic financial and industrial groups in the mining, metallurgy, heavy engineering, aircraft and space industries on the basis of intra-regional mergers and acquisitions, thus enjoying external economies of scale) and satisfy their individual importing wishes on the markets of third countries in compliance with the postulates of the Traditional Trade Theory. Nevertheless, it is believed that intra-industry trade of Ukraine would develop optimally under deepening of its industrial and trade relations with advanced industrial countries, which have objectively reached the highest level of international specialization and product differentiation.