A fractured nutcracker was examined for determining the root cause/s for premature fracture/failure. This is one of the common tools used typically for cracking hard nuts. In this study, metallurgical failure analysis techniques namely, visual inspection, optical microscopy, SEM, and hardness tests were used in investigating the broken product. From the metallurgical analysis, it was determined...

This thesis deals with the heat evolution during solidification and its relation to the formation of porosity. It intends to improve the current understanding of the formation of porosity in cast materials with special interest in nodular cast iron and the spray forming process. Two different systems, a Fe-based alloy, Cast iron, and a Ni-based alloy, Inconel 625, are examined. The effect on th...

The article deals with measurements of linear changes of castings from foliated graphite cast iron and Al-alloys during their solidification. For this purpose the measuring apparatus, which applies a dilatometer of Polish provenience, was built up. Dilatation curves of graphite cast iron and Al-alloys were acquired during the casting process. In the case of Al-alloys the influence of chemical c...

This paper describes design and analysis of Spur gear. In the present work, it is proposed to substitute the metallic gear of sugarcane juice machine with plastic gears to reduce the weight and noise. For the purpose of two different types of plastic materials were considered namely Nylon and Polycarbonate and their viability are checked with their counterpart metallic gear (Cast iron). Based o...

Cast iron presents graphite particles of different shapes that directly affect its thermo-mechanical properties [1]. Fracture toughness and ductility depend strongly on the shape of the graphite particles. Particles with nodular shapes improve these properties while more elongated particles or with irregular contours are detrimental due to stress concentration points [2]. Thus, cast iron is cla...

A. Vaško, L. Trško, R. Konečná, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovak Republic The paper shows the influence of charge composition on microstructure, fatigue properties and failure micromechanisms of nodular cast irons. The additive of metallurgical silicon carbide (SiC) in analysed specimens increases the content of ferrite in the matrix, decreases the size of...

The influence of aluminum, within the range of 0.08 - 6.16 wt.%, on the microstructure and hardness of as-cast ductile cast iron has been studied. A number of irons of different composition have been made by green sand casting and gravity die casting of appropriate design to provide the experimental materials. It has been found that Al addition and higher cooling rates in permanent mould castin...