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[March 2007]  This one day seminar, chaired by Prof Tom Hyde and Dr Sean Leen (University of Nottingham), covered a wide range of manufacturing processes including different types and aspects of welding, plastic deformation for metal forming, casting, metal cutting, and surface treatments. The seminar focused on the application of software packages to manufacturing processes, rather than on the development of modelling software. Over 30 delegates from industry and academia enjoyed a lively and highly informative meeting.

One common theme was the increasing awareness of the important role played by microstructure and the modelling of microstructure in simulating different manufacturing processes. Results from a range of different software packages were presented, both commercial and academic, including ABACUS, AdvantEdge, ANSYS, Calcosoft3D, DEFORM, ELFEN and Pro/CAST. The applications covered by the presentations ranged from investment casting and thermal barrier coatings in the aircraft industry, high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) spraying processes, metal cutting, welding distortion, extrusion of aluminum cans, through to the modelling of different welding processes (e.g. inertia friction welding and fusion welding) for pressurised plant in the power industry.

The Donald Julius Groen Prize for 2005 was awarded to W S Sun, S B Leen, E J Williams, R Sabesan, & I R McColl, for their paper ‘Efficient finite element modelling for complex shaft couplings under non-symmetric loading’ published in the Journal of Strain Analysis 2005. S B Leen collected the prize from Professor Thomas Gray on behalf of his co-authors.

Prof Tom Hyde summed up the general views expressed by the presenters and the delegates; the general conclusion was that robust modelling methods now exist for many manufacturing processes but that the weakest link is often the material behaviour models used in the analyses. Many of the delegates expressed the view that meetings covering specific manufacturing processes (e.g. welding or machining or casting) would be of great value.

References For Further Reading

Mollicone, P., Camilleri, D., Gray, T.G.F., and Comlekci, T., “Simple thermo-elastic-plastic models for welding distortion simulation”, J Mat Processing Tech, 176, 2006, 77-86.
Jiang, W., Yahiaoui, K., Hall, F.R., and Laoui, T, “Finite element simulation of multi-pass welding: full three-dimensional versus generalised plane strain or axisymmetric model”, J Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, 40, 2005, 587-598.
Bansal, P., Shipway, P., and Leen, S.B., “Effect of particle impact on residual stress development in HVOF sprayed coatings”, J Thermal Spray Technology, 15, 2006, 570-575.
Soo, S.L., Aspinwall, D.K., and Dewes, R.C., “3D FE modelling of the cutting of Inconel 718”, J Mat Processing Tech, 150, 2004, 116-123.

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