Manufacturing Technology

Aluminium foam is used for applications that requires high level of energy and sound absorption characteristics. Researchers have developed an innovative process to make high strength cellular aluminium foam with help from some salt. Aluminium foam exhibits unique properties when compared to its dense form, particularly its lightweight characteristics. Generally, the foam can be divided into two categories; closed cell and open cell, both have different characteristics and applications. The features of the closed cell are, the pores structure is isolated and they are not connected to each other. This type of aluminium foam is suitable for application that requires high level of energy and sound absorption characteristics. It has been used widely in many structural parts, particularly in areas exposed to high damping capacity, for example in the automotive front bumper component. Meanwhile, the open cell, owing to greater level of connectivity of the pores, the structure has been accepted and used in thermal management applications. One such promising application is as a heat exchanger, particularly as a cooling medium to transfer heat, due to the development of its porous structure, which provides greater surface area, thus, enabling improved heat transfer efficiency. Producing a combined structure of open and closed cell in one volume component appears to be a difficult process due to the different processing techniques involved and their individual limitations. Therefore, in this study, an innovative processing route for high strength cellular aluminium foam (CAF) by integrating porous and dense structures is presented. The CAF is well known as a light-weight product exhibiting high level of inter-connected porosity which is very useful as a thermal management application, particularly as a heat transfer or cooling medium. However, the level of strength for the CAF is not really promising when it is subjected to high impact; thus, limit its […]

Picture: The improved collision detection in PowerMILL 2015 will be demonstrated at IMTS.  Delcam will launch the 2015 version of its PowerMILL CAM system for high-speed and five-axis machining at IMTS 2014 in Chicago from 8th to 13th September on booth E3222, the largest CAM software booth at the show. The new release will include improvements to the Vortex high-efficiency area-clearance strategy, improved collision checking to also cover near misses, and more efficient raster finishing.  The Vortex area-clearance strategy produces safe toolpaths with a much deeper cut by using a controlled engagement angle that maintains the optimum cutting conditions for the whole toolpath. As a result, higher feed rates and material-removal rates are possible, making the cutting time shorter by as much as 70%. In addition, cutting is undertaken at a more consistent volume-removal rate and at a near constant feedrate, so extending tool life and protecting the machine. Two enhancements in PowerMILL 2015 will give even greater reductions in machining time compared to conventional roughing. The first change allows toolpaths to approach the part from outside the stock at the cutting height for open pockets or in areas where earlier cuts have made this possible. Previously, all entry moves had to be made by plunging onto the surface or by ramping into the material.  The second change allows an increased feed rate to be set for non-cutting moves. The default value is set at double the rate for the cutting moves but this can be altered as required for each machine tool. The extra time that can be saved depends on the shape of the part but an additional saving of around 20% should be expected above the earlier releases of Vortex.  Another problem in previous versions of PowerMILL was that unnecessary lifts could be added to area-clearance toolpaths when […]