Int'l Conference On Mechanical Behavior Of Materials Being Held
The Sixth International Conference on the Mechanical Behavior of Materials(ICM-6), opened in Kyoto on Sunday, July 28, 1991.
The event commemorates two anniversaries: the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of Materials Science, Japan (JSMS), which instituted the first ICM in 1971, and the 20th anniversary of ICM itself. In the 20 years since its inception, the conference has visited Boston, Cambridge, Stockholm and Beijing. This is the second time ICM has been held in Kyoto.
ICM-6 is now taking place at the Kyoto International Conference Hall. It is supported by the Science Council of Japan, and organized by JSMS and the Foundation for Advancement of International Science.
Nine hundred and seventy participants from 35 countries had registered by the morning of July 29. This is the largest number ever registered in the history of ICM, an indication of the many advanced made in the science and technology of materials over the last two decades. By the time the conference closed on Friday, Aug. 2, approximately 650 technical papers will have been presented by conference members.
Professor Hiroshi Jinno, president of JSMS and chairman of the ICM-6 Organizing Committee, gave the first opening address on Monday, July 29. He said that scientists of different fields 20 years ago would have been surprised by the range of problems the science of materials can now encompass. He also highlighted advances made within the field itself, particularly in the development of non-metallic and multi phase materials, and the contribution made by fracture mechanics and computer science to such innovations.
Professor Jinno concluded his speech with the wish that participants open the way for the development of materials science and technology into the 21st century.
In the second opening address, Professor Minggao G. Yan, president of the ICM Executive Committee, compared previous conferences with ICM-6. He said that the original objectives of ICM-to foster research on the mechanical behavior of materials and to promote international scientific cooperation - would be well served by the sixth conference, since it had drawn many scientists from a wide variety of research fields. In his speech, he stressed the importance of understanding the mechanical behavior of materials. "The proper use of any material relies very heavily on how well its behaviors under actual working conditions are understood," he said.
The link between research and application was a theme developed by the two plenary lectures of ICM-6.The first, "Materials Development for Light Design - A Supplier's View," was presented by Dr. Jeff W. Edington, president of ALCAN International Ltd. His paper took the premise that new materials were only an enabling technology. "Too many scientists are working in a 'vacuum,'" Dr. Edington said, and he urged researchers to respond to the need to produce a fully integrated materials and product manufacturing process that provided value in the marketplace.
The ICM-6 opening ceremony concluded with a lecture by Professor N. Shiraishi, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Kyoto University, who talked of the problems that had to be overcome in the construction of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge.
Opening New Window To 21st Century
By Prof. Hiroshi Jinno, Chairman of the Organizing Committee ICM-6
This year, our Society of Materials Science, Japan, has many programs to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its foundation. In the 20 years since ICM-1 in 1971, we have had vast and splendid developments in the science and technology of materials. Many kinds of new and advanced materials came into practical use in many fields of engineering science, and so fourth. In particular, non-metallic materials such as oxide and non-oxide ceramics, and multi phase materials as fiber and particle reinforced composites with metal and non-metal matrices came before the footlights as constructural and functional materials for machinery or even surgery. The progress of fracture mechanics in the last two decades is also striking. The mechanism of toughening metallic and nonmetallic material has been clarified, and fracture mechanisms also contribute to the development of such materials. The progress, in a sense, depends on recent developments in computer science. Computer analysis and simulation has become more and more pop among researchers, which also gives us a fundamental tool for the development and design application of the materials. I sincerely hope all participants will present and discuss such new developments of mechanical behavior of materials, and to open new windows to the 21st century.
For International Cooperation
By Prof. Minggao G. Yan, President of ICM Executive Committee
After 20 years of travel around the global the International Congress on Mechanical Behavior of Materials is now revisiting its birthplace, Kyoto, Japan. Coincidentally, the year 1991 is also the 40th anniversary of the Japanese Society of Materials Science. The two big celebrations therefore make it most meaningful to hold ICM-6 here in Kyoto. Since the birth of ICM 20 years ago, there has been tremendous development in material science and technology; new materials, new testing facilities, and new design concepts have been emerging at a very fast pace. The importance of understanding the mechanical behavior of materials cannot
overestimated because the proper use of any material relies very heavily on how well its behavior under actual working conditions is understood. The central role of ICM is best manifested by this conference, which has attracted the largest number of scientists and researchers from all over the world in ICM history, and has greatly widened the scope of ICM as compared to the preceding five conferences. I am very pleased, as all the delegates are, to join ICM-6 hosted by Japan, one of the world's leading industrial powers where the development of material technology has been more rapid than in most other nations. I am
sure that the objectives of the ICM originally set by Prof. Shuji Taira, who organized the first conference right here in Kyoto 20 years ago, will be best served by this conference. There is no doubt that ICM-6 will greatly further the objectives of fostering research on the mechanical behavior of materials and promoting international cooperation.
Materials Development For Light Design
By Dr. Jeff W. Edington, President of ALCAN International Ltd.
New materials have been the basis for many new products which have led to the development of successful companies and, in some cases, whole new industries. Consequently, materials development technology has been identified by several national governments as an area of strategic significance. However, it is important to realize that new materials are only an enabling technology. Considerable additional effort is necessary, both to validate the performance of the new products they make possible, and to ensure there is a viable low-cost production route consistent with the company's considerable existing investment in both assembly plant and work force skills. For these reasons, materials suppliers have recently moved much closer to their customers, who are usually original equipment manufacturers, to solve problems jointly. The objective is to produce a fully integrated material and product manufacturing process that provides value in the marketplace. In his lecture, I will illustrate this change with two examp The first is the development of aluminium-lithium alloys for lightweight airframes where specific combinations of properties were needed in the material itself. The second is the development of a spot welding and adhesive bonding technology for lightweight automobile bodies. The work presented has demonstrated that successful technical solutions to weight design problems may rest on approaches as different as: (1) Alloy development to meet property specifications developed by certain customers, such as in the case of an airframe manufacturer. (2) Innovative use of existing alloys, but focusing with original equipment manufacturers on assuming the performance of the product and its manufacturability, such as in the case of an automobile "body in white."
Frontiers Of Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Construction
By Prof. Naruhito Shiraishi, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Kyoto University
In order to clarity engineering problems associated with construction of the Honshu-Shikoku bridges, the Ministry of Construction and the National Railway Corporation requested a study of the feasibility and technical possibility of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge for the Japan Society of Civil Engineers in 1963 and the final report was published in 1967 indicating that the planned Honshu-Shikoku bridges for both roadways would be possible constructed under specially prepared design and material specifications with the design guidelines for earthquake and strong winds. And at almost the same time the technical survey office of constructions was opened in Kobe in 1963 to investigate ground conditions as well as various environmental problems including not only natural problems but social problems. In 1970 the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority was established as the public corporation responsible to construct and operate the maintenance of constructed bridges and affiliated facilities. Major technical problems to be dewith in connection with the Honshu-Shikoku Construction can be illustrated as follows: (1) To assure aerodynamic stability and safety against action of very strong winds such as typhoons and to assure safety against earthquakes. (2) To assure traveling safety of high-speed trains on suspended bridges and fatigue resistant design of welded parts. (3) To develop safe and assured methods for construction of foundation in deep straits experiencing high-speed tidal currents. (4) To develop safe assured construction methods for superstructures, unaffected under severe meteorological environments. (5) To establish the maintenance and control system to preserve a high degree of safety and invulnerability of the completed Honshu-Shikoku bridge routes.
4 Theme Sessions and 12 Workshops
In the 6th International Conference on Mechanical Behavior of Materials from July 29, four theme sessions are under the respective titles of Mechanical Behavior of Advanced Materials, such as composites, engineering ceramics and high polymers, and other new materials; Fundamental and Renewed Subjects on the inelasticity, deformation and damage, fracture and fracture mechanics, fatigue, creep and high temperature effects as well as the environmental effects; New Concepts in Structural Design such as reliability, and life prediction and extension; and New Technology in Testing and Evaluation of these materials.
Twelve workshops on selected topics are organized by specialists; They are Computational Plasticity - Challenge to Hierarchical Microstructure; Dynamic Plasticity and Fracture; Reliability Analysis and Reliability-based Design; Statistical Properties of Advanced materials; Computer Assisted Fatigue Technology; Advanced Techniques in Structural Integrity Assessment; Fatigue of Advanced and Functional Materials; Localized Corrosion - Mechanisms and Advanced Evaluation Techniques; Interface and Processing of Fiber-reinforced Composites; Strength and Fracture of Metal Matrix Composites; Mechanical Properties of Inter metallic Compounds; Polymer Alloys - Structure and Properties.
During the last few decades, so-called "advanced materials" have been intensively developed. It is said that "strength," such as deformation behavior, damage and fracture characteristics, anti-environmental resistance and other mechanical properties must be identified if they are used for practical engineering purposes like structural materials. The main purpose of this conference (and also of the Society of Materials Science, Japan (JSMS) is to give the interdisciplinary and unified knowledge of the material behavior from the mechanical point of view as warps of cloth, while the clarification and review of different kinds of materials are compared to rewoofs.
Approximately 650 papers including 30 invited papers and 20 keynote papers as well as 100 poster presentations are to be presented by 800 participants. Technical Exhibition of Advanced Materials and New Technology of Material Evaluation and Computer Simulation will also be held in the Event Hall next to the Conference Hall.
The theme session and workshops related to advanced materials are summarized as follows: One of the advanced materials is said to be composite. Intensive research on developing metal matrix-composite materials, such as aluminum- and titanium-based materials reinforced by whiskers, is focused to realize light and strong structures for aerospace usage, while polymer-based composite materials are now utilized in ordinary life.
Recent development of computer technology provides us with the technique of numerical simulation. Besides the fundamental and mathematical theories of inelasticity and dynamic plasticity, many papers deal with the results of material simulation of fracture mode by molecular dynamic method and inelastic materials behavior by the finite element method, which motivate the active combination of microscopic and macroscopic aspects of material behavior.
In sessions of fracture, fatigue, creep and environmental effects, damage mechanics and fracture mechanics play important roles in evaluating crack initiation and propagation behavior, which provides fundamental information on the evaluation of material strength as well as the development of new materials.
The fundamental knowledge and data on the mechanical behavior of materials by identified in the above sessions are applied to design purposes in workshops 3, 4, 5 and 6, and two technical sessions. Integrity assessment technology on the design of nuclear reactors, especially those for high temperature use, is one of the most widely treated topics. The above four categories of subjects will be summarized in the Closing at 4 p.m. of the final day (Aug. 2) by Profs. R. O. Ritchie (Univ. California, USA), B. Ranieki (Polish Academy of Science, Poland), Y. Murakami (Kyushu Univ., Japan) and R. Landgraf (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA).
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