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6061 Aluminum Alloy Using Mechanoluminescent Material
Shimadzu Review 79[1・2] (2022)
Abstract
In recent years, aluminum alloys have been attracting attention as materials for reducing environmental loading, and their use as automobile component parts is expected to expand because of their lightness. However, a major issue is how to reduce wrinkles and cracks when these materials are applied to press working of items such as panels, etc. To resolve this issue, it is important to determine the deformation behavior in advance by visualizing the stress condition during plastic working of the material. With the aim of resolving this issue, a technique was developed for printing a film made of mechanoluminescent material, which can emit visible light whose intensity increases with increasing load. In the technique the material is ground into fine mechanoluminescent particles, which are prepared with a jet mill, and screen printed to produce a film with smaller thickness than previously achieved (about 5 μm), and with good uniformity and reproducibility. This mechanoluminescent film was printed onto 6061 aluminum alloy (Al-Mg-Si alloy) test pieces, which enabled the progression of non-uniform deformation (Lüders bands), which cause wrinkles, and fracture processes to be observed in tensile tests. This article describes the details of these tests, together with a summary of a prototype detachable mechanoluminescent sheet.
Research & Development Department, Analytical & Measuring Instruments Division, Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan
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