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Thermoplastics have been used increasingly for automobile components for both interior and under-the-hood applications. The plastic parts are made through various molding process such as compression molding, injection molding and blow molding. For parts with large or complicated geometry, small portions of the part may have to be molded first, then joined together using a welding process. The welded regions usually exhibit inhomogeneous and inferior mechanical performance compared to the bulk regions due to the differences in thermal history. The microstructures and mechanical properties of welded thermoplastics have been examined using hot-plate welded polyethylene. The specimens are prepared at various thermal conditions to simulate the real welding process. The thermal properties in welds are monitored using DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) and the crystallinities are calculated.

In the present study, the NVH performance of an engine valve cover assembly is analyzed by the use of “spatial transmissibility (TR)”. It is a measure of the spatial response of the cover relative to the spatial response of the underlying structure to which it is connected. A prototyped engine valve cover assembly is examined. The cover transmissibility is computed through the finite element method and also measured by experimental testing. Various isolation systems have been examined and different cover materials have been investigated, including magnesium and thermosetting plastic. The transmissibility provides a strategy for evaluating the NVH characteristic of engine cover assembly in a much more timely, cost-effective manner, while the product is still in the early conceptual stage.

Heat generated in hydraulic systems can be responsible for reduced life of equipment. Current Industry trends look to load-sensing variable-displacement pumps and closed-center valves to combat the problem. A comparison is made between the load-sensing variable-displacement pump with closed-center control valves and the fixed-displacement pump (both wet and dry valve types) with open-center control valves, to determine the heat generation tradeoffs. The use of tanks, lines and cylinders as a heat radiator is considered. Heat generated by high-pressure leakage of driven members is addressed. The primary focus of this paper is on packer and body hydraulics of refuse trucks.

The transmissibility technique has been traditionally used for evaluating the NVH performance of isolated, rigid structures such as the elastomer mount isolated automobile engine. The transmissibility quantity provides information on how a structure reduces vibration as subjected to dynamic loading and thereby attenuates noise. In the present study, the transmissibility is applied to a non-rigid, plastic structure - the engine cylinder-head cover module. The cover module includes primarily a thin, plate-like cover and the elastomer isolation system. At low frequencies, the cover will behave as a rigid mass and thus display a major peak at its resonant frequency. At high frequencies, the cover will vibrate as a flexible panel and thus display multiple peaks with magnitudes differing from point to point across the cover surface. As a result, the transmissibility calculated would have a spatial resolution, called the spatial transmissibility.

THE INCREASED use of midship-mounted transmissions in large equipment has emphasized the need for a torsionally resilient connection from the engine to reduce vibration transfer. To increase the torsional flexibility needed in these systems, the spring rate of the system must be reduced by such constructions as a flexible coupling, a spring-loaded damper, or a rubber torsional spring. This paper discusses these systems, emphasizing rubber springs. Some advantages of such a drive are: it provides an amplitude limitation with impact loads and a cushion to reduce noise and prevent clattering and contacts noises on parts with backlash, it smooths out transition periods to reduce loads on bearings and gears, its clamping characteristics can be adjusted by various rubbers, and its rubber cushion provides a degree axial flexibility.*

This paper discusses corrosion fatigue and the corrosive environment as they relate to an industrial engine head gasket joint. The paper will identify possible corrosive elements which initiate corrosion fatigue failures. The sources of the corrosive elements will be cited with the associated concentration levels. The paper will formulate a hypothesis as to how the corrosive elements are transferred through the engine coolant system. Utilizing a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscope (EDX), an analysis of coolant residue at the fracture will show evidence of the corrosive elements to verify the proposed hypothesis. Information from engines in the field will be compared to laboratory engine tests to show how laboratory and field results are significantly different. The main corrosive failure of the engine head gasket is flange cracking.