Manufacturing Inhabiting Aluminum Metal of Aluminum 6061 - Report Example

MATERIALS REPORT Name: Instructor: Institution: City: Date: REPORT SECTION 1. For our seat post, we identified the material used as aluminium 6061 T6. We used the tensile strength we found from the three tests and set a range in between 290-320MPa and also the Hardness Vickers (HV) from 100-115HV. This left us with still 19 alloys to determine which one was our material. We graphed the Elongation of the remaining materials and found the alloy of Aluminum, 6061, T6 had the best elongation properties of the remaining materials. Lastly we set the limit for the elongation we had found from the tensile test between 8-12% strain and used the spectroscopy data to set the last limit which then left us with the last remaining aluminum alloy of Aluminum, 6061, T6.   2. I was particularly satisfied with almost all the tests we did as a group except for the initial choice for the hardness test method. While we used the Vicker’s Harness Test simply as an alternative after the indenter was broken, the group’s initial method was the Rockwell Hardness Test which I was not quite comfortable with due to the shifting of the component during testing hence a likely source of error (Callister, & Rethwisch, 2014). The fact that we ended up using Vicker’s Test made me quite satisfied with the tests we made hence I would do all testing the same way if I were to redo the practical in future. 3. Even though every group member had a unique role to play, we collectively did a number of tasks. On my part, I helped with the generation of the curves in Microsoft Excel aside from the collective tasks and decision making. We also noted that one of the group members was efficient with SolidWorks, and he helped with the same. After compiling all components of the report, one of the group members volunteered to help produce a fair copy of the report which we used as the final. The remaining group members assisted extensively in research and decision-making on various aspects of the report. 4. Young’s Modulus = 5. A bicycle seat post is there to support the riders’ weight and to absorb vibrations. A good seat post needs to be stiff but not too stiff that it does not absorb many vibrations; this is affected by the Young’s modulus of the material. Not stiff enough would mean the material would flex too much and lead to unwanted changes in centre of mass while riding. 6. The strength of the material can be raised to 500 and the Young’s modulus can be lowered to 100 hence reducing the cost by using less material. This can be seen with the “Titanium, alpha-beta alloy, Ti-3Al-2.5V (Grade 9)” whose strength and Young’s Modulus are 494 and 104 respectively hence making it one of the cheapest materials for the seat post (Callister, & Rethwisch, 2014). 7. For the Downhill Racing Mountain Bike, titanium alloy would be the best for seat post. This is because charting tensile strength against density showed that there are 2 main groups of metals that are suitable, an aluminium or titanium alloy, some glasses were shown but glass is too brittle for a bicycle part. While titanium is much stronger than aluminium, it’s only twice as dense. This implies that less material is required to support the rider. For that reason, aluminium would be lighter and less stronger hence the titanium would be faster downhill owing to its higher density. Moreover, its strength would help minimize frequent breakdowns. For a minimal cost mountain bike, aluminium would be the best material for the seat post. This is due to the fact that it is not only cheaper, but also lighter. It may not necessarily be the best though for the downhill racing mountain bike due to its lighter weight which may slow down its speed downhill (Lim, 2015). 8. For sustainability, the best choice of material for the seat post would be the titanium alloy. This is because except for its relatively higher price, the material is exceptionally stronger which implies it has longer life cycle with minimal repairs and replacements (Lim, 2015). This sustainability is not just to the end consumers, but also on the manufacturers whose profit margins would be slightly magnified. 9. As a group, we settled on the alternative design of “Titanium, alpha-beta alloy, Ti-3Al-2.5V (Grade 9)” which I was personally satisfied with as the best alternative for the seat post. For improvement purposes, however, in addition to the design considerations that we put forward as a group, I would modify the alternative design by proposing an additional feature of the material’s ability to rust. Even with this modification, though, I will still stick to the “Titanium, alpha-beta alloy, Ti-3Al-2.5V (Grade 9)” as the material of choice. The advantage remains that it’s stronger and denser hence economical to the manufacturer and sustainable to the end user (Lim, 2015). The main limitation would be the aspect of price as it would be slightly costlier than the original aluminium 6061 T6 alloy. QUESTIONS BASED OFF THE WEEKLY PRACTICAL’S Figure 1: The Iron-Carbon Phase Diagram 1. If the 1045 alloy was heated to 7500C, I would expect to find either the Pearlite Phase or the Ledeburite Phase. From Figure 1 above, it can be seen that this temperature may fall within either the region or the region. This is because the composition of iron with respect to carbon is about 98% hence suggesting the two phases (Callister, & Rethwisch, 2014). 2. If the 1045 alloy was heated to 10000C and water cooled to room temperature, I would expect to see it in the Ledeburite () Phase as can be established from the Iron-Carbon diagram shown above (Callister, & Rethwisch, 2014; Krauss, 2015). 3. If the 1045 alloy was heated to 10000C and air cooled to room temperature, I would expect to see it in the Austenite () Phase as can be established from the Iron-Carbon diagram shown above (Krauss, 2015; Callister, & Rethwisch, 2014). 4. The water quenched 1045 sample from elevated temperature experienced cracking. This can be attributed to the fact that the tensile strength is lower than the residual tensile stress in this case (Krauss, 2015). 5. The water quenched 1045 sample had a higher hardness and tensile strength than the air cooled sample. This is because water quenching increases the ferrite characteristics of the steel alloy while the air cooling of the 1045 sample produces the austenite properties of the 1045 steel alloy. From the Iron-Carbon Diagram, the ferrite phase has stronger properties than the austenite phase (Callister, & Rethwisch, 2014). 6. From Practical 7. The density of LDPE is much lower than that of HDPE because LDPE has a lot of branching in its chain compared to the HDPE. Such branching is what makes it loosely packed hence lower density. HDPE, on the contrary, has few branching chains of the polymer (Dimitris, Dimitra, Georgia, Ioannis, Ioannis, Lefteris, Nikolaos, Panoraia, 2012). 8. The service temperatures for polycarbonate and high impact polystyrene are approximately 1500C and 2200C respectively because polycarbonate is easier to extrude and mould at a temperature range of 1250C and 1750C while high impact polystyrene is easier to mould and extrude at between 2200C and 2400C (McKeen, 2013) (Wagner, Mount, & Giles, 2014). 9. Polyamide 6 (Nylon) and polycarbonate have similar melting temperatures, but different glass transition temperatures because while Nylon 6 is a semi-crystalline polymer, Polycarbonate is amorphous. Hence, polycarbonate exhibits only one transition temperature i.e. the glass transition temperature. The Nylon 6, on the other hand, is a mix of both crystalline and amorphous features whose mobility is hinted by the glass transition temperature (Wagner, Mount, & Giles, 2014). References Callister, W. D., & Rethwisch, D. G. (2014). Materials science and engineering: An introduction. Dimitris, S. A., Dimitra, A. L., Georgia, T., Ioannis, A. K., Ioannis, T., Lefteris, A., Nikolaos, P. N., ... Panoraia, S. (2012). Recent Advances in the Chemical Recycling of Polymers (PP, PS, LDPE, HDPE, PVC, PC, Nylon, PMMA). INTECH Open Access Publisher. Krauss, G. (2015). Steels: Processing, Structure, and Performance. Materials Park: ASM International. Lim, H. L. (2015). Handbook of research on recent developments in materials science and corrosion engineering education. McKeen, L. W. (2013). The effect of long term thermal exposure on plastics and elastomers. Norwich, New York : William Andrew. Wagner, J. R., Mount, E. M., & Giles, H. F. (2014). Extrusion: The definitive processing guide and handbook, second edition. Kidlington, Oxford: William Andrew. Read More