To develop an effective process for tantalum powder production, a new preform reduction process (PRP) based on the magnesiothermic reduction of feed preform containing tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) was investigated. The feed preformwas fabricated from slurry, which was made by mixing Ta2O5 powder, flux (e.g., CaCl2), and binder. Various compositions of preform in the form of plates were prepared using...

JULY 2012 50 High-temperature solder alloys are extensively used in dieattach, power semiconductor, and optical device packaging, flip-chip packaging, etc. Current industry standard solders for these applications are mainly high-lead solders (90–97 wt-% Pb) and gold-based eutectic solder alloys such as the 80Au20Sn solder. The die-attach process involves connecting the silicon die or chips to a...

Industrial glass blowing is an essential stage of manufacturing glass containers, i.e. bottles or jars. An initial glass preform is brought into a mould and subsequently blown into the mould shape. Over the last few decades, a wide range of numerical models for forward glass blow process simulation have been developed. A considerable challenge is the inverse problem: to determine an optimal pre...

A continuum sensitivity method is developed for thermoplasticity combined with ductile damage at finite strains. The computed sensitivity fields are used within a gradient-based optimization framework for the computational design of metal forming processes for porous materials. The accuracy and effectiveness of the developed updated Lagrangian finite element analysis and design techniques are d...

The demand for more efficient manufacturing processes has been increasing in the last few years. The cold forging process is presented as a possible solution, because it allows the production of parts with a good surface finish and with good mechanical properties. Nevertheless, the cold forming sequence design is very empirical and it is based on the designer experience. The computational model...