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A 2-D CFD model was developed to describe the heat transfer, and reaction kinetics in a honeycomb structured ceramic diesel particulate trap. This model describes the steady state as well as the transient behavior of the flow and heat transfer during the trap regeneration processes. The trap temperature profile was determined by numerically solving the 2-D unsteady energy equation including the convective, heat conduction and viscous dissipation terms. The convective terms were based on a 2-D analytical flow field solution derived from the conservation of mass and momentum equations (Opris, 1997). The reaction kinetics were described using a discretized first order Arrhenius function. The 2-D term describing the reaction kinetics and particulate matter conservation of mass was added to the energy equation as a source term in order to represent the particulate matter oxidation. The filtration model describes the particulate matter accumulation in the trap.

Since the advent of P/M technology as a near net shape production process, millions of mechanical components of various shapes and sizes have been produced. Although P/M continues to be one of the fast growing shaping processes, it suffers from the inability to produce intricate geometry's such as internal tapers, threads or recesses perpendicular to pressing direction. In such cases application of machining as a secondary forming operation becomes the preferred alternative. However, machining of P/M parts due to their inherent porosity is known to decrease tool life and increase tool chatter and vibration. Consequently, several attempts have been made to improve the machinability of P/M materials by either addition of machinability enhancing elements such as sulfur, calcium, tellurium, selenium, etc., or by resin impregnation of P/M parts.

The ASTM test method D-2882 (Standard Test Method for Indicating the Wear Characteristics of Petroleum and Non-Petroleum Hydraulic Fluids in a Constant Volume Vane Pump) is widely used to evaluate hydraulic fluids. Performing this method can be difficult due to problems with the pump hardware and the written procedure. This paper discusses the problems and suggests possible remedies.

Various gold catalysts were prepared using commercial and in-house fabricated advanced catalyst supports that included mesoporous silica, mesoporous alumina, sol-gel alumina, and transition metal oxides. Gold nanoparticles were loaded on the supports by co-precipitation, deposition-precipitation, ion exchange and surface functionalization techniques. The average gold particle size was ∼20nm or less. The oxidation activity of the prepared catalysts was studied using carbon monoxide and light hydrocarbons (ethylene, propylene and propane) in presence of water and CO2 and the results are presented.

Elastomers are traditionally designed for use in applications that require specific mechanical properties. Unfortunately, these properties change with respect to many different variables including heat, light, fatigue, oxygen, ozone, and the catalytic effects of trace elements. When elastomeric mounts are designed for NVH use in vehicles, they are designed to isolate specific unwanted frequencies. As the elastomers age however, the desired elastomeric properties may have changed with time. This study looks at the variability seen in new vehicle engine mounts and how the dynamic properties change with respect to miles accumulated on fleet and durability test vehicles.

The induction hardening process involves a complex interaction of electromagnetic heating, rapid cooling, metallurgical phase transformations, and mechanical behavior. Many factors including induction coil design, power, frequency, scanning velocity, workpiece geometry, material chemistry, and quench severity determine a process outcome. This paper demonstrates an effective application of a numerical analysis tool for understanding of induction hardening. First, an overview of the Caterpillar induction simulation tool is briefly discussed. Then, several important features of the model development are examined. Finally, two examples illustrating the use of the computer simulation tool for solving induction-hardening problems related to cracking and distortion are presented. These examples demonstrate the tool's ability to simulate changes in process parameters and latitude of modeling steel or cast iron.

Today’s business climate and economy demand new, innovative strategies from the initial kickoff of research and development - to the mining of ore from the earth - to the final inspection of a finished product in a mid-western factory. From startup companies with two employees to the largest companies, the world faces new and challenging requirements every day. The demands from companies, customers, executives, and shareholders continue to drive for higher outputs with more efficient use of personnel and investments. Fortunately, the rate of technology continues to exponentially accelerate, which allows those at the cutting edge of technology to capitalize. Caterpillar has been a pioneer in advanced technology since its inception and has been developing the foundation for autonomy over the past four decades.

The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) requires an increase in the use of advanced biofuels up to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Longer chain alcohols, in addition to cellulosic ethanol and synthetic biofuels, could be used to meet this demand while adhering to the RFS2 corn-based ethanol limitation. Higher carbon number alcohols can be utilized to improve the energy content, knock resistance, and/or petroleum displacement of gasoline-alcohol blends compared to traditional ethanol blends such as E10 while maintaining desired and regulated fuel properties. Part I of this paper focuses on the development of scenarios by which to compare higher alcohol fuel blends to traditional ethanol blends. It also details the implementation of fuel property prediction methods adapted from literature. Possible combinations of eight alcohols mixed with a gasoline blendstock were calculated and the properties of the theoretical fuel blends were predicted.

A new press/die system for restraining force control has been developed in order to facilitate an increased level of process control in sheet metal forming. The press features a built-in system for controlling drawbead penetration in real time. The die has local force transducers built into the draw radius of the lower tooling. These sensors are designed to give process information useful for the drawbead control. This paper focuses on developing models of the drawbead actuators and the die shoulder sensors. The actuator model is useful for developing optimal control methods. The sensor characterization is necessary in order to develop a relationship between the raw sensor outputs and a definitive process characteristic such as drawbead restraining force (DBRF). Closed loop control of local specific punch force is demonstrated using the die shoulder sensor and a PID controller developed off-line with the actuator model.

There is increasing interest in the development of bench tests to characterize the performance of hydraulic fluids in order to minimize the cost of testing and the volumes of fluid currently required for pump testing. One method which permits comprehensive characterization of the boundary, mixed EHD and EHD wear regimes encountered in pump lubrication is to develop a performance map. This paper discusses the use of this testing method to characterize the performance of two experimental hydraulic fluid formulations.

All types of hydraulic fluids may encounter thermal excursions at some point during their lifetime in use. When this occurs, there is the potential for the formation of degradation by-products. For most hydraulic fluids, including water-glycols, these degradation by-products include various low molecular weight carboxylic acids, e.g. formic acid and acetic acid. This paper describes the potential formation of these acids and the impact of their presence on wear and corrosion of hydraulic systems.

Although the selection and role of hydraulic fluids as energy transfer agents is relatively well understood, there is no consensus on the appropriate procedures to evaluate lubrication properties on a laboratory scale. Because the use of bench tests such as the Shell 4-ball has traditionally produced poor pump wear correlations, it has been necessary to develop various hydraulic pump tests for this purpose. Since hydraulic fluid lubrication is being modeled, it is necessary to view these hydraulic pump tests as tribological tests. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of various vane, piston and gear pump tests that have been reported as tribological tests.

Because of on-board fire problems during World War II, the us Navy initiated a program to develop hydraulic fluids that were more fire-resistant than the mineral oils that were in use at that time. Water-glycol hydraulic fluids were subsequently developed and first commercialized in 1947 which offered vastly improved fire resistance relative to mineral oils. Since 1947, in addition to formulation changes, there is significantly greater understanding of the impact of these changes on pump wear performance. This paper will present a selected overview of water-glycol formulation chemistry, some of the fluid formulation issues that have been encountered and the evolutionary improvement of hydraulic pump wear performance.

Hydraulic fluid performance, including water-glycols (W/G), is dependent on the chemical composition of the fluid and cleanliness. An overview of W/G fluid chemistry on pump wear is provided here. Also provided, is a brief overview of the impact of fluid cleanliness on the potential wear properties of various components. Finally, an overview of recommended analytical procedures to assure adequate long-term fluid hydraulic and lubrication performance is provided. If these procedures are followed, substantial improvements in hydraulic pump longevity and performance will be realized.

The antiwear results of a series of hydraulic fluids were determined using various bench wear tests including: Shell 4-Ball, Pin-on-V-Block Falex Wear Test, SRV Ball-on-Disk, Timken Block-on-Ring and a recently developed cyclic contact stress (3-vane-on-ring) test and the ASTM D-2882 Sperry-Vickers V-104 vane pump test. These bench tests were selected since they are used in the fluid power industry for fluid selection, qualification and performance troubleshooting. The results of this work showed that none of the bench tests evaluated provided any correlation with the wear rates obtained with the ASTM D-2882 pump test. Comparison of these results relative to fundamental lubrication principles and published literature on similar problems showed that bench wear test correlations are possible only if the conditions of the wear test, such as wear contact geometry, loading, speeds, and materials reasonably model the specific wear contact of interest in the hydraulic pump.

The bending fatigue performance of gears, cantilever beam specimens, and notched-axial specimens were evaluated and compared. Specimens were machined from a modified SAE-4118 steel, gas-carburized, direct-quenched and tempered. Bending fatigue specimens were characterized by light metallography to determine microstructure and prior austenite grain size, x-ray analysis for residual stress and retained austenite measurements, and scanning electron microscopy to evaluate fatigue crack initiation, propagation and overload. The case and core microstructures, prior austenite grain sizes and case hardness profiles from the various types of specimens were similar. Endurance limits were determined to be about 950 MPa for both the cantilever beam and notched-axial fatigue specimens, and 1310 MPa for the single gear tooth specimens.

Improved fuel economy and reduction of emissions can be achieved by insulation of the combustion chamber components to reduce heat rejection. However, such insulation will also increase the operating temperature of the piston ring/cylinder liner interface from approximately 150°C to over 300°C. Since existing ring/liner materials cannot withstand these higher operating temperatures alternatives are needed for this critical tribological interface. This paper describes the development of a cost effective ID grinding technique for machining the bores of plasma sprayed diesel engine cylinder liners.

Reaction Injection Molding is rapidly becoming accepted as a viable industrial process for preparing large intricate parts using reactive urethane intermediates. High modulus polymers are among the newest systems capable of being prepared using the RIM process. Proper balance of the many features of urethane chemistry and technology allows preparation of high modulus material with excellent properties, including impact resistance. Fillers can be added to these high modulus polymers to increase their moduli even further. Studies have shown that milled fiberglass added to certain polymers can result in a composite with a flexural modulus in excess of 320M psi (2206MPa).

A study has been made of piston ring wear and total engine wear using literature data and new experimental results. The main purpose of the study was to establish the effects of oil and coolant temperatures on engine wear. Wear trends that were found in the early 1960's may not be valid any longer because of the development of higher BMEP turbocharged diesel engines, better metallurgical wear surfaces and improved lube oil properties. New data are presented for the purpose of describing present wear trends. A direct-injection, 4-cycle, turbocharged diesel engine was used for the wear tests. The radioactive tracer technique was used to measure the top piston ring chrome face wear. Atomic emission spectroscopy was employed to determine the concentration of wear metals in the oil to determine total engine wear based on iron and lead. The data were analyzed and compared to the results found in the literature from previous investigators.

Testing of nonasbestos gasket facing materials using high-temperature creep, high-pressure sealability, and an elevated pressure thermal conductance apparatus is presented. A discussion of the composition of nonasbestos facing suggests that thermal gravimetric analysis yields little useful information to the designer and that high-performance testing under thermal and/or compressive load are required. Materials are ranked in order of service temperature from cellulose fiber reinforced to homogenous flexible graphite. The data lead to the conclusion that the changes occurring in a gasket facing from ten percent thermally induced compressive creep can result in orders of magnitude change in sealability.