Shuang-chen Ruan

Micro ultrasonic powder molding for semi-crystalline polymers

The present paper introduces micro ultrasonic powder molding (micro-UPM), a novel method for forming micro semi-crystalline polymer parts. In the proposed method, semi-crystalline polymer powder is rapidly heated and plasticized by ultrasonic vibration, after which the microcavity is filled with the melt under sonotrode pressure (PU) to form a variety of micro polymer parts. Differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and nanoindentation tests demonstrate that micro-UPM UHMWPE (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) parts consists of nascent and melt-recrystallized phases and that energy concentrated at particle interfaces as a result of high-frequency friction, compressive deformation, and ultrasonic radiation leads to rapid diffusion and interpenetration of the chain segment. The particle interface melts result in strong co-crystallization during cooling. To investigate the effect of ultrasonic duration time (TU) on the quality of micro-UPM UHMWPE parts, different TU values are utilized to form UHMWPE parts at a PU of 16 MPa and a holding time of 5.0?s. As TU increases, the number and sizes of interparticle voids gradually decrease. A rise in the melting peak of the melt-recrystallized phase and a drop in the melting peak of the nascent phrase as well as crystallinity are further observed. When TU is only 1.5?s, the crystallinity of the micro plastic part reaches a minimum value of 54.3% and the melt-recrystallized phase fraction reaches a maximum value of 98.3%. Powder particle interfaces almost disappear in this case, and optimum quality of the micro-UPM UHMWPE part is achieved.

Micro-electrical discharge machining of 3D micro-molds from Pd40Cu30P20Ni10 metallic glass by using laminated 3D micro-electrodes

For obtaining 3D micro-molds with better surface quality (slight ridges) and mechanical properties, in this paper 3D micro-electrodes were fabricated and applied to micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) to process Pd40Cu30P20Ni10 metallic glass. First, 100 μm-thick Cu foil was cut to obtain multilayer 2D micro-structures and these were connected to fit 3D micro-electrodes (with feature sizes of less than 1 mm). Second, under the voltage of 80 V, pulse frequency of 0.2MHZ, pulse width of 800 ns and pulse interval of 4200 ns, the 3D micro-electrodes were applied to micro-EDM for processing Pd40Cu30P20Ni10 metallic glass. The 3D micro-molds with feature within 1 mm were obtained. Third, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis were carried out on the processed results. The analysis results indicate that with an increase in the depth of micro-EDM, carbon on the processed surface gradually increased from 0.5% to 5.8%, and the processed surface contained new phases (Ni12P5 and Cu3P).

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ultrafine-Grained Copper Produced Using Intermittent Ultrasonic-Assisted Equal-Channel Angular Pressing

We proposed intermittent ultrasonic-assisted equal-channel angular pressing (IU-ECAP) and used it to produce ultrafine-grained copper. The main aim of this work was to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of copper processed by IU-ECAP. We performed experiments with two groups of specimens: group 1 used conventional ECAP, and group 2 combined ECAP with intermittent ultrasonic vibration. The extrusion forces, microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of the two groups were compared. It was revealed that more homogeneous microstructure with smaller grains could be obtained by IU-ECAP compared with copper obtained using the traditional ECAP method. Mechanical testing showed that IU-ECAP significantly reduced the extrusion force and increased both the hardness and ultimate tensile stress owing to the higher dislocation density and smaller grains. IU-ECAP promotes conversion from low-angle grain boundaries to high-angle grain boundaries, and it increases the fractions of subgrains and dynamic recrystallized grains. Group 2 statically recrystallized at a higher temperature or longer duration than group 1, showing that group 2 had better thermal stability.

The Femtosecond Laser Ablation on Ultrafine-Grained Copper

To investigate the effects of femtosecond laser ablation on the surface morphology and microstructure of ultrafine-grained copper, point, single-line scanning, and area scanning ablation of ultrafine-grained and coarse-grained copper were performed at room temperature. The ablation threshold gradually increased and materials processing became more difficult with decreasing grain size. In addition, the ablation depth and width of the channels formed by single-line scanning ablation gradually increased with increasing grain size for the same laser pulse energy. The microhardness of the ablated specimens was also evaluated as a function of laser pulse energy using area scanning ablation. The microhardness difference before and after ablation increased with decreasing grain size for the same laser pulse energy. In addition, the microhardness after ablation gradually decreased with increasing laser pulse energy for the ultrafine-grained specimens. However, for the coarse-grained copper specimens, no clear changes of the microhardness were observed after ablation with varying laser pulse energies. The grain sizes of the ultrafine-grained specimens were also surveyed as a function of laser pulse energy using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). The heat generated by laser ablation caused recrystallization and grain growth of the ultrafine-grained copper; moreover, the grain size gradually increased with increasing pulse energy. In contrast, no obvious changes in grain size were observed for the coarse-grained copper specimens with increasing pulse energy.

Error Analysis of 3D Metal Micromold Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser Cutting and Microelectric Resistance Slip Welding

We used micro-double-staged laminated object manufacturing process (micro-DLOM) to fabricate 3D micromold. Moreover, the error of the micro-DLOM was also studied. Firstly, we got the principle error of the micro-DLOM. Based on the mathematical expression, it can be deduced that the smaller the opening angle α and the steel foil thickness h are, the smaller the principle error δ is. Secondly, we studied the error of femtosecond laser cutting. Through the experimental results, we know that the error of femtosecond laser cutting is 0.5 μm under 110 mW femtosecond laser power, 100 μm/s cutting speed, and 0.75 μm dimension compensation. Finally, we researched the error of microelectric resistance slip welding. Based on the research results, we can know that the minimum error of microcavity mold in the height direction is only 0.22 μm when welding voltage is 0.21 V and the number of slip welding discharge is 160.