This paper employed a systematic analysis using a 2-D hybrid special finite element containing an edge crack in order to describe the fracture behavior of spot-welds in automotive structures. The 2-D hybrid special finite element is derived form a mixed formulation with a complex potential function with the description of the singularity of a stress field. The hybrid special finite element containing an edge crack can give a better description of its singularity with only one hybrid element surrounding one crack. The advantage of this special element is that it can greatly simplify the numerical modeling of the spot welds. Some numerical examples demonstrate the validity and versatility of the present analysis method. The lap-shear, lap-tension and angle-clip specimens are analyzed and some useful fracture parameters such as the stress intensity factor and the initial direction of crack growth are obtained simultaneously.

Springback comes from the release of external loads after forming. The control of phenomenon is especially important in the sheet metal forming since there are no other practical methods available to correct the dimensional inaccuracy from springback. Therefore the accurate prediction before the die machining has been a long goal in the field of sheet metal forming. The am of the present study is to enhance the prediction capability of finite element (FE) analysis for the springback phenomenon. For this purpose FE analysis for V-bending has been carried out with the commercial programs, LS-DYNA. The FE analysis results have been validated through the comparison of experimental. The experimental results measured directly by the strain gauge have given the confidence to FEA.

The shape of cold rolled steel sheets is defined as the degree of flatness, and the flatter, the better. Because undesirable strip shapes of cold rolled steel sheets can affect not only visible problem but also automatic working process in customer's lines, the requirement of the customers is more and more stringent. So we usually used the tension leveler to make high quality of strip flatness. For the improvement of the quality of strip flatness, this report developed three- dimensional FEM (Finite Element Method) simulation model, and analysis about the strain and stress distribution of strip in the tension leveling process. The numerical study can be summarized as follows. (1) If we pass the edge wave material (steepness: $1.0\%$) that the stress-difference between the strip center and the edge is 5.2kgf through tension leveler. the stress-difference is decreased 0.45kgf and the steepness is improved to $0.29\%$. (2) If the Intermesh is increased from 6mm to 7mm, the steepness is improved from $0.294\%$ to $0.268\%$. (3) If the initial steepness is decreased form $1.0\%$ to $0.75\%$, the final steepness is improved from $0.294\%$ to $0.263\%$. We know that more increased intermesh and lower initial steepness make the final steepness improved.

Preform design techniques have been investigated to reduce die wear and forming load and to improve material flow, filling ratio, etc. In hot forging processes, a thin deformed part of a workpiece, known as a flash, is formed in the narrow gap between the upper and lower tools. Although designers make tools that generate a flash intentionally in order to improve flow properties, excessive flash increases die wear and forming load. Therefore, it is necessary to make a preform shape that can reduce the excessive flash without changing flow properties. In this paper, a new preform design technique is proposed to reduce the excessive flash in a metal forging process. After a finite element simulation of the process is carried out with an initial billet, the flow of material in the flash region is traced from the final shape to the initial billet. The region belonging to the flash is then easily found in the initial billet. The finite element simulation is then carried out again with the modified billet from which the selected region has been removed. In several iterations of this technique, the optimal preform shape that minimizes the amount of flash without changing the forgeability can be obtained.

An analysis using FEM simulation was conducted to predict residual stresses and birefringence in simple compressed cylindrical glass as a preliminary part of the optimum design determination of optical lenses. The FEM simulation with the Maxwell viscoelastic constitutive model was used to predict thermal induced residual stresses and birefringence during the compression test considering stress relaxation. Also the linear photoelastic theory was introduced to calculate birefringence from the residual stress state. The error of simulation results between experimental results in the birefringence value at the center of glass specimen is $4.2\%$, and the error in the maximum radius of deformed glass specimen is $1.2\%$. The simulation results were in good agreement with deformation and birefringence distribution in the existing experimental result.

The shrinkages of injection molded parts are different in molding operational conditions and mold design. It also differs from resins. The shrinkages of injection molded parts fur PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), PC (polycarbonate), and glass reinforced PBT and PC have been studied for various operational conditions of injection molding. The part shrinkage of crystalline polymer, PBT was higher than that of amorphous polymer, PC by about two times. The part shrinkages of both polymers decreased as glass fiber content increases. Higher injection temperature and lower injection pressure resulted in a higher shrinkage in both PBT and PC resins. As mold temperature increases the part shrinkage of PC decreased. However, the part shrinkage of PBT increased as mold temperature increases. The part shrinkages of PBT and PC resins decreased as gate size increases since the pressure delivery is mush easier for a larger gate size. The part shrinkage of flow direction was less than that of the perpendicular direction to the flow for both pure and glass fiber reinforced resins. The part shrinkage at the position close to the gate was less than that of the position far from the gate.

Permalloys were successfully fabricated by melt drag casting in the present study, and their microstructure and consequent magnetic properties have been investigated as a function of Si content. In order to understand the relationship between magnetic properties and Si content, microstructure and texture were observed and phase analysis were performed by TEM. The effective permeability went through a maximum value at $2\%$ Si and then decreased with increasing Si content. Increasing Si content enlarged grain size, which resulted in improvement of permeability. However, over-added Si caused the formation of $Ni_3Fe$ order phase so that $5\%$ Si added permalloys had the smallest permeability.

In order to find the effect of lubricant viscosity, tool geometry, forming speed, and sheet material properties on the friction in the sheet metal forming, friction tests were performed. Friction test results show that as the lubricant viscosity becomes lower, the friction coefficient is higher. When surface roughness is extremely low or high, the friction coefficient is high. The bigger die corner radii and punch speed are, the smaller is the friction coefficient. From the experimental observation, the friction model which is the mathematical expression of friction coefficient in terms of lubricant viscosity, roughness and hardness of sheet surface, punch corner radius, and punch speed is constructed. By comparing the punch load found by FEM using the proposed friction model with that obtained from the experiment in 2-D stretch forming, the validity and accuracy of the friction model are demonstrated.

Although magnesium has high potential for structural material due to the lightweight and high specific strength, the structural application has been limited by the low ductility at room temperature. The reason of the poor ductility is few activated slip systems of magnesium (HCP structure) during deformation. As temperature increases, however, additional non-basal slip systems are incorporated to exhibit higher ductility comparable to aluminum. In the present study, a series of tensile tests of Mg-Al alloy has been carried out to study deformation behavior with temperature variation. Analysis of load relaxation test results based on internal variable approach gave information about relationship between the micromechanical character and corresponding deformation behavior of magnesium. Especially, the material parameter, p representing dislocation permeability through barriers was altered from 0.1 to 0.15 as the non-basal slip systems were activated at high temperature.

Ever since the ideal forming theory has been developed for process design purposes, application has been limited to sheet forming and, fur bulk forming, to two-dimensional steady flow. Here, application for the non-steady case was performed under the plane-strain condition based on the theory previously developed. In the ideal flow, material elements deform following the minimum plastic work path (or mostly proportional true strain path) so that the ideal plane-stram flow can be effectively described using the two-dimensional orthogonal convective coordinate system. Besides kinematics, fur a prescribed final part shape, schemes to optimize a preform shape out of a class of initial configurations and also to define the evolution of shapes and boundary tractions were developed. Discussions include the two problematic issues on internal tractions and the non-monotonous straining. For demonstration purposes, numerical calculations were made for a bulk part under forging.