Distortion failures are readily identified by the inherent change in size and/or shape. They are serious because they can lead to other types of failure or may even cause complete collapse of structures, such as bridges, ladders, beams, and columns. Distortion failures may be classified in different ways. One way is to consider them either as dimensional distortion (growth or shrinkage) or as shape distortion (such as bending, twisting, or buckling). They may also be classified as being either temporary or permanent in nature. This chapter discusses the nature, causes, and effects of all of these types of failures as well as the methods to manage them.

This chapter discusses the design and operation of hydraulic presses. It begins by describing the role of each major component in a hydraulic system. It then explains the difference between pump-driven and accumulator-driven presses and the types of applications for which are suited. The chapter goes on to describe the load, energy, and time-dependent characteristics of hydraulic presses and the factors that determine accuracy. It also explains how hydraulic presses are used for deep drawing, fine blanking, and hydroforming as well as warm forming and hot stamping operations.

This chapter describes the various types of cushion systems used in forming presses and their effect on part quality. It begins with a review of the deep drawing process, explaining that wrinkling, tearing, and fracture are the result of excess or insufficient material flow, which can be prevented by maintaining the correct amount of holding force on the periphery of the blank. It then describes how blank holding force is generated in double-action presses and the extent to which displacement profiles can be adjusted on both the inner and outer slides. The discussion then turns to single-action presses that incorporate some type of cushion system. The chapters describes the many ways that cushion systems are implemented in forming presses and the force and displacement characteristics achievable with each method. It also explains how multipoint cushion systems are designed and how they facilitate uniform metal flow into the die cavity of large deep-drawn parts.

Titanium is a lightweight metal with a density approximately 60% that of steel and, through alloying and deformation processing, it can be just as strong. It is readily available in many grades and forms and can be further processed using standard methods and techniques. This chapter provides a concise review of the capabilities of titanium and its design advantages over other materials. It includes information on properties and selection factors as well as applications.

This article discusses the composition, properties, and behaviors of copper and its alloys. It begins with an overview of the characteristics, applications, and commercial grades of wrought and cast copper. It then discusses the role of alloying, explaining how zinc, tin, aluminum, silicon, and nickel affect the physical and mechanical properties of coppers and high-copper alloys as well as brasses, bronzes, copper-nickels, and nickel silvers. It also explains how alloying affects electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, stress-corrosion cracking, and processing characteristics.

This chapter describes the applications with the greatest impact on titanium consumption and global market trends. It explains where, how, and why titanium alloys are used in aerospace, automotive, chemical processing, medical, and military applications as well as power generating equipment, sporting goods, oil and gas production, and marine vessels.

This chapter discusses the growing use of sintered stainless steels in automotive applications and various types of filters and filtering media. It also describes how these materials are produced in the form of metal foams and cellular structures and how they serve as flake pigments in corrosion-resistant coatings.

Steel castings are produced in thousands of designs for different applications. They fill needs in many industries, including transportation, construction machinery, earthmoving equipment, rolling mills, mining, oil and gas exploration, and power generation. This chapter touches upon the variety of applications for which steel castings can be supplied and the ranges of casting size and complexity. Photographs in this chapter provide an understanding of these applications, their size and complexity, and the types of cast steels produced.

This chapter provides an overview of the tools and techniques, as well as some of the underlying theory, that have proven useful for process modeling and simulation. It begins by presenting the framework of a thermoset cure model that accounts for kinetics, viscosity, heat transfer, flow, voids, and residual stress. It then discusses each variable in detail, explaining how it affects the cure process, how it is measured, and how it can be expressed mathematically in the form of a simple model. The discussions throughout the chapter are supported by numerous images, diagrams, and data plots.

This appendix contains several tables listing UNS numbers, common names, and descriptions of important titanium alloys and where they are typically used.

Copper is often used in the unalloyed form because pure copper is more conductive than copper alloys. Alloying elements are added to optimize strength, ductility, and thermal stability, with little negative effect on other properties such as conductivity, fabricability, and corrosion resistance. This chapter covers the classification, composition, properties, and applications of copper alloys, including brasses, bronzes, copper-nickel, beryllium-copper, and casting alloys. It also examines wrought copper alloys and pure coppers. The chapter begins with an overview of the copper production process and concludes with a discussion on corrosion resistance.

Martensitic stainless steels are essentially iron-chromium-carbon alloys that possess a body-centered tetragonal crystal structure (martensitic) in the hardened condition. Martensitic stainless steels are similar to plain carbon or low-alloy steels that are austenitized, hardened by quenching, and then tempered for increased ductility and toughness. This chapter provides a basic understanding of grade designations, properties, corrosion resistance, and general welding considerations of martensitic stainless steels. It also discusses the causes for hydrogen-induced cracking in martensitic stainless steels and describes sulfide stress corrosion resistance of type 410 weldments.

Metals are used in many engineering applications because of their mechanical properties, particularly strength and ductility. This chapter explains how mechanical properties are measured and how to interpret the results. It describes the most widely used tests, including tensile tests; Rockwell, Brinell, Vickers, and Knoop hardness tests; and Charpy V-notch impact tests. The chapter also provides information on loading conditions that can lead to fatigue failure, and in some cases, counteract or prevent it.

This chapter reviews failure aspects of structural ferrous powder metallurgy (PM) parts, which form the bulk of the PM industry. The focus is on conventional PM technology of parts in the density range of 6 to 7.2 g/cc. The chapter briefly introduces the processing steps that are essential to understanding failure analysis of PM parts. This is followed by a section on case hardening of PM parts. The methods used for analyzing the failures are then discussed. Some case studies are given that illustrate different failures and the methods of prevention of these failures.

This chapter presents guidelines for product designers to choose the best process and alloys while designing a casting. The discussion covers some of the factors pertinent to the selection of the best process for the product function and performance, namely geometric factors, mechanical properties, tooling cost per piece, and overall cost factors. The chapter contains tables listing several markets, products, popular processes, and common alloys and the common processes used for a variety of markets and products.