To Örebro University

Wire drawing is a manufacturing process in which metal rods or wires are drawn through a single or a series of dies, reducing the wire cross-section and enhancing the mechanical properties of the wire. The tribological conditions in wire drawing are quite extreme and high friction between the wire and the die results in an increased die temperature. Previous studies have shown that by reducing the die temperature the lifetime of the die increases and thus efficient cooling of the die is of high importance.

Additive manufacturing enables fabrication of tools with advanced conformal cooling channels with high cooling efficiency. This technique may, therefore, be of high importance in the design of the cooling system of drawing dies. In the present study, the effect of conformal cooling design of die holder on the die temperature, and thus die performance, was investigated. A die holder was manufactured by means of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) in an EOS M290 machine using atomized corrosion resistant steel (Corrax). The cooling efficiency of the manufactured tool holder was evaluated in an industrial wire drawing process and further analysed using FEM modelling. This study shows promising results on improved cooling efficiency for die holder designed and manufactured by additive manufacturing.

In this work, generative design optimization and characterization of triple periodic lattice structures in AlSi10Mg are considered. Structures with Gyroid, Schwarz-D and G-prime lattices are designed optimally by utilizing a generative design optimization approach. The approach is based on topology optimization, support vector machines (SVM), radial basis function networks (RBFN), morphing operations, design of experiments and metamodels. Firstly, topology optimization solutions are generated which are represented using SVM, secondly, sizing solutions obtained by setting the SIMP parameter equal to one are represented with RBFN. Thirdly, graded lattice structures using the RBFN are morphed together with the SVM to final conceptual designs. Fourthly, design of experiments of the conceptual designs are performed using non-linear finite element analyses (FEA) and, finally, metamodel-based design optimization is conducted using convex combinations of Kriging, RBFN, polynomial chaos expansion and support vector regression models. In order to validate the optimal designs, new tensile test specimens that include the periodic lattice structures are suggested. The specimens with all three lattices are manufactured in AlSi10Mg using direct metal laser sintering with an EOS M290 machine. Tensile tests of these specimens are then performed and validated using nonlinear FEA. The test specimens are also characterized with respect to geometry and defects by means of computed tomography, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The study demonstrates the high potential of using the proposed generative design optimization approach with triple periodic lattice structures for producing robust lightweight designs using additive manufacturing. In order to demonstrate the industrial relevance the established GE engine bracket is studied in the paper and discussed at the conference.

In this work, aluminium–carbon-fibre reinforced plastic joints have been studied. Three types of samples were designed as double lap joints where the aluminium inserts were fabricated using both classical methods (milling) and additive manufacturing. Two versions of the joint were fabricated using additive manufacturing, one flat, and the other with small teeth designed to hook into the carbon-fibre plies. The joints were characterised using a non-linear, dual-energy computed tomography method to evaluate the bond between the composite and the metal inserts. The mechanical strength of the bonds was evaluated, both through tensile tests and four-point bending. A simple finite element model was used to discuss the joints behaviour. It was found that the joints fabricated using additive manufactured inserts were more resistant to peel stress than the milled inserts. In four-point bending tests the moment that the joint could withstand was increased by roughly 300% with the use of additive manufacturing and 400% with the use of additive manufacturing and small teeth. However, in tensile tests it was found that the teeth design reduced the maximum load capacity of the joints by roughly 30% due to porosity. Further, it was found that the additive manufactured samples did not add to the capability of withstanding shearstress. The information gained with the dual-energy computed tomography method was highly valuable as the behaviour of the joints would have been difficult to explain without the porosity information.

In this work the effects of fabrication errors in the Body Centered Cubic strut lattice, and the periodic surface lattice Schwarz Diamond has been investigated. The lattices were both fabricated as-is and with induced errors to evaluate the lattices response to fabrication errors. The behaviour of the lattices were studied using compression test and in-situ computed tomography investigation. The results show that the Schwarz Diamond lattices in general are stronger than the Body Centered Cubic lattices in all of the measured aspects. Often up to five times stronger. It was also found that the elastic behaviour of the Schwarz Diamond lattices were mainly unaffected by fabrication errors while the Body Centered Cubic lattices experienced severe losses in performance. The behaviour of the lattices under compression could be followed using computed tomography which aided in the understanding of their behaviour.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most common additive manufacturing (AM) techniques for fabricating prototypes as well as functional parts. In this technique, several parameters may influence the part quality and consequently mechanical properties of fabricated components. In this paper, an experimental investigation on effects of fabrication temperature as one of the influential parameters on mechanical properties of manufactured parts is presented. A series of specimens fabricated at temperatures ranging from 180 to 260 ^∘C were used for this investigation. X-ray computed tomography (CT) was used in order to non-destructively analyze the internal geometry of the specimens especially the bond between extruded filaments. Finally, the specimens were subjected to a uniaxial tensile load for evaluation of mechanical properties. The results showed that the specimens fabricated at lower temperatures have relatively lower tensile strength despite their considerably higher strain at break. In addition, the specimens fabricated at higher temperature range had significantly higher tensile strength because of the better bond between extruded filaments. The different mechanical responses were highly related to the internal geometry of the specimens and not necessarily the porosity. CT showed great potential as a non-destructive tool for investigation and development of FDM process.

In wire drawing, the geometry of drawing dies influences the performance of the wire process. This study investigates the effect of bearing lengths on the surface quality of the drawn wire. Wire drawing tests were done using an industrial wiredrawing machine utilizing drawing dies with different bearing lengths. The influence of bearing length on surface quality is discussed.

Today many manufacturing plants are getting increasingly digitized to stay competitive. Data from the production machines can be transferred to a central storage/cloud for process/factory surveillance and for optimizing the processes. However, first data must be acquired. Wire drawing machines are seldom equipped with sensors that measure product quality, tool wear or the condition of the lubrication. This work presents concepts, experience and applications, of such sensors for wire drawing machines.

Manufacturing of wires, where metal rods and/or wire are drawn through a series of dies to produce the final dimensions, generates heat in the tool. The cemented carbide tool is enclosed in a tool holder of steel that also serves as a cooling body. Earlier work have shown that reducing the temperature of the tool through the tool holder may lead to increased life time for the tool. In this work, the additive manufacturing technique (AM) selective laser melting was used to produce a steel tool holder with conformal cooling channels, without having to take into account the restrictions of machining processes for the placement of these channels. The cooling capacity of the tool holder, was studied by experiments measuring temperature of the tool holder and of the cooling liquid as well as flow. A heating-probe having the shape of the tool, mimicking the thermal conditions of a wire drawing process, was used. The increased cooling was also compared to FEM modelling results.

X-ray computed tomography has been widely used for inspection of parts manufactured using additive manufacturing (AM) and powder metallurgy (PM). The ability of this method to non-destructively evaluate the porosity content of parts fabricated using AM and PM has made it a reliable method for such inspection. The results obtained from this method are highly dependent on CT acquisition parameters such as the magnification (resolution) at which the part has been scanned. Depending on the size of the parts the scan might need to be performed at lower magnifications which results in loss of information for porosity analysis. Therefore the effect of changing CT magnification on the obtained porosity of an additively manufactured specimen made of AlSi10Mg is investigated in this study. The specimen was scanned at various magnifications resulting in data sets with different resolutions. The porosity content was measured for each data set and the results showed that the porosity measurement using CT is highly dependent on the magnification (resolution) at which the data sets are acquired. The results from this study provided essential information about the porosity content which should be expected depending on the CT magnification.