Date of Award

January 2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Marcellin Zahui

Abstract

Advancements in manufacturing and material technology has redefined the approach of design for machine components. Additive manufacturing processes have enabled designers to manufacture for design and functionality. With Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) approach, components can be manufactured with holes in them, including rolling contact components. These hollow components save material, weight, have shorter manufacturing lead times and possibly a higher rolling contact fatigue resistance. Hollowness is defined as the volume percentage of intentional void in load carrying member. Finite element analysis is performed to obtain compressive and tensile stresses on rings and square plates with centric holes in them. The values obtained, are then plotted against the distance from center and hollowness. Observations from numerical analysis are further confirmed with experimental results using strain gages. The results show a moderate increase in strain up to about 20% to 35% hollowness depending on the type of specimen and loading in both finite element and experimental results. Beyond these values, which represent the optimum hollowness, the strains increase along a steep curve. The above results form a basis to examine the effect of hollowness for rolling contact machine elements for their fatigue life. RCF life of solid and hollow discs are examined using theoretical analysis, finite element tools and experiments. The results indicate that some hollow load bearing machine components with enhanced RCF life can be fabricated, leveraging recent advances in Additive Manufacturing.

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