Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Mold Filling in Rotational Molding

This work focuses on the development of a numerical mold filling simulation for the rotational molding process. In the rotational molding process, a dry fiber preform is placed in a mold and impregnated with a thermoset matrix under rotation. Additionally, metallic load introduction elements can be inserted into the mold and joined with co-curing or form-fit, resulting in hybrid drive shafts or tie rods. The numerical model can be used to simulate the impregnation of the preform. Based on the resin transfer molding process, an OpenFOAM solver is extended for the rotational molding process. Permeability, kinetic and curing models are selected and adapted to the materials used. A wireless measurement solution with a capacitive sensor is developed to validate the model. Comparisons between measurements and numerically calculated impregnation times to reach the capacitive sensor with the matrix show good quality of the developed model. The average deviation between calculated result and measured mean values in the experiment is 43.8% the maximum deviation is 65.8% . The model can therefore be used to predict the impregnation progress and the curing state.

Beetle Swarm Optimization Algorithm-Based Load Control with Electricity Storage

Based on the intelligent bidirectional interactive technology, this paper studies the flexible working mode and optimal power consumption strategy of several typical power consumption loads including energy storage equipment. Based on the real-time price scheme, the objective function and constraints are obtained, and the adaptive algorithm for beetle swarm optimization with variable whisker length is used to optimize so that the electric equipment can automatically change its power load through the intelligent terminal and even work in the way of reverse power transmission. The proposed optimal scheduling algorithm can not only maximize the interests of users but also ensure the minimum peak to average ratio so as to realize peak shaving and valley filling. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Gate optimization for resin transfer molding in dual-scale porous media: Numerical simulation and experiment measurement

For resin transfer molding in a woven fabric, this study developed a novel framework for optimization by combining a multi-objective genetic algorithm and mold-filling simulation including a void-formation model, which gives us not only the spatial distribution of the mesoscopic and microscopic voids but also the correlations between molding characteristics such as fill time, total amount of void, weld line, and wasted resin. Our experiment observation of one-point radial injection successfully captured the anisotropic distribution of mesoscopic voids, which qualitatively validates the simulated result. As a result of multi-objective optimization for an arrangement of two injection positions, we found the trade-off relations of weld line with the other characteristics, which also have positive correlation with each other. Furthermore, visualization techniques such as self-organizing maps and parallel coordinate maps extracted the design rule of the arrangement. For example, a diagonal gate arrangement with an appropriate distance is required for reducing the both total amount of voids, fill time, and wasted resin; however, the total area of the weld line becomes relatively large. Our framework and the knowledge obtained from this study will enable us to determine the appropriate mold design for resin transfer molding.

Study on Filling Material Ratio and Filling Effect: Taking Coarse Fly Ash and Coal Gangue as the Main Filling Component

Filling mining is an effective way to settle the dilemma of “Three Down and One Above” in coal mining. Fly ash and coal gangue can be used as filling materials with significant social, economic, and environmental benefits. Using coarse fly ash base as cementing material and coal gangue as aggregate, orthogonal experiment of filling paste was conducted in this study. The range analysis was performed for the strength and transportation requirements of filling paste, and the optimum proportion was determined by the comprehensive balance method. In order to verify the filling effect, a dynamic filling simulation device was designed, and a comparative simulation test of caving mining and dynamic filling mining was carried out. Results show that the filling paste with fly ash and coal gangue as the main component can meet the requirements of filling design and application. This research provides a reference for the material selection and proportion design of paste filling.

Rheological Investigation of Semisolid AlSi7 Alloy by Means of Oscillation Experiments

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) of semisolid aluminum alloys was performed in a rheometer of Searle type. DMA was applied on a binary AlSi7 alloy to demonstrate the advantages of the method for the investigation of the behavior of alloys in semi-solid state and it was compared to classical shear experiments. Frequency sweeps, amplitude sweeps as well as constant condition experiments (CCE) were performed. It became obvious that elastic properties are getting more dominant with increasing resting time without shearing. The shift from a more viscous to more elastic nature of the material can be quantified. Interestingly, it was found that the semi-empirically based Cox-Merz rule, usually applied for polymers, holds for the semisolid material as well. This allows investigating the shear viscosity under different relevant conditions - important to improve material models for die-filling simulation of semisolid alloys.