Professor

YAMASHITA Minoru
Title Professor
Department Department of Mechanical Engineering
Course Mechanical Engineering Course

Research fields

Research areas are in impact deformation processing and structural crashworthiness. Their aims are to develop innovative plastic forming process and improvement in energy absorption performance of structural component. Experimental and numerical studies are performed.

Current research topics are as follows:

  1. Development of impact deformation processing: High-rate forming processes, such as deep drawing and shearing are investigated with the aid of drop hammer apparatus. The photo shows impact blanking of CFRP plate using impulsive fluid pressure.
  2. Development of joining method: Thin layer material in the vicinity of sheared face that is thermally activated by adiabatic plastic deformation under very high strain-rate is tested for diffusion bonding of materials.
  3. Structural crashworthiness: Impact behavior of spot welded and adhesive bonded thin-walled structures, and sheet metal formed parts are investigated for optimization in design. Axial compression, bending and indentation tests are conducted. The figure shows progressive buckling behavior in axial crush of tubular structure.

Plastic forming processes, such as sheet metal drawing and shearing, and material testing under high-rate deformation are of interest. The laboratory equips deep-drawing, drop-hammer impact and split Hopkinson bar testing apparatuses.

Fig.1 Impact blanking of CFRP plate by impulsive fluid pressure
Fig.2 Axial crush deformation of adhesive bonded tubular structure

Research Keywords

Plastic Forming, Impact Deformation, Crashworthiness

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