Thin bonded films have many applications (i.e. in information storage and processing systems, and etc.). In many cases, thin bonded films are in a state of residual tension, which can lead to film cracking and crack extension in one layer often accompanies failure in whole systems. In this paper, we analyze a channel crack advanced throughout thickness of an elastic thin film bonded to a dissimilar semi-infinite substrate material via finite element method (FEM). In order to simplify modeling, the problem is idealized as plane strain and a two-dimensional model of a film bonded to an elastic substrate is proposed for simulating channel crack in thin elastic film. Film is modeled by common 4-node and substrate by infinite 4-node meshes. The stress intensity factor (SIF) for cracked thin film has been obtained as a function of elastic mismatch between the substrate and the film. The results indicate that in elastic mismatch state, SIF is more than match state. On the other hand, mismatch state is more sensitive to crack than match state. And SIF has also increased by increasing Young's modulus and Poisson ratio of film.

Application of cooling slope in casting is a relatively simple process with low equipment and processing costs, which is able to produce semi-solid slurries with different parameters such as pouring temperature, length and angle of slope plate, and plate type. In this study, the effect of angle and length of copper made slope plate on the microstructure of A360-Aluminum alloy is investigated. Microstructure study of metallographic samples in different conditions revealed that for 400mm slope length and 60° slope angle the optimum sphierized and homogenized microstructure is achieved. Also, under these conditions, the most hardness (77HB) was obtained, which might be because of suitable solidification conditions namely time and rate of shear stress. After finding the suitable conditions of slope length and angle, the effect of the circulation cooling system was examined; and the method with cooling system was found to result in more homogenized microstructure compared to ordinary method.

In this study, constrained studded pressing (CSP) was modified to produce ultra-fine-grained copper sheets and is called modified-CSP. In modified-CSP, due to the selection of asymmetric semicircle studs, the maximum groove depth can increase up to three times the sheet thickness. In the CSP method, the groove depth is selected to be equal to the sheet thickness. To investigate the effective plastic strain, a finite element model (FEM) of modified-CSP was established. For this purpose, DEFORM-3D commercial software was used. A simulation showed that the modified-CSP process was capable of using higher strain, about 0.8 in each pass than in CSP. Copper sheets were deformed up to 10 passes by modified-CSP. The microstructure of the produced samples was analyzed. The results show that the grain size decreases in the first pass. In addition, with increasing plastic strain, the structure of the twins bands was observed. Mechanical properties, including tensile properties and Vickers microhardness, of the samples during the process were investigated. The strain inhomogeneity factor (SIF) and the hardness inhomogeneity factor (HIF) were used to quantitatively express the uniformity of distribution of effective plastic strain and Vickers microhardness, respectively. Compared with CSP and constrained groove pressing (CGP), the results showed that although the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) has significantly increased, the ductility values have remained almost constant. Moreover, in modified-CSP, the load-die stroke diagram increases almost evenly due to the removal of the stud interface area and progressive engagement. Therefore, modified-CSP copper sheets showed superior tensile properties such as good toughness.

In this study, mechanical behavior and microstructural evolution of copper sheets, produced by modified-constrained studded pressing (modified-CSP) as a severe plastic deformation (SPD) method, were investigated by experimental and numerical methods. A finite element model (FEM) was established to analyze distribution of equivalent plastic strain and residual stress for the complete first pass of the process. Local stress concentration was predicted by FEM. Also, copper sheets were deformed by the modified-CSP from the first to the tenth passes. The distribution of residual stress on the surface of the copper sheets was measured at each step of the process. Crack initiation and propagation were investigated by the non-destructive penetration test (PT). The residual stresses were predicted by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern analysis. The residual stresses were determined for the annealed and the first pass samples, +128.2 and +80.4 MPa, respectively. The maximum compression residual stress was -62.5 MPa for the tenth pass sample. The microstructural evolution including grain size and dislocation density of samples during the process were investigated. The average grain size had a significant decrease from ~35 μm to ~76 nm for annealed sample and tenth pass of modified-CSP, respectively.