Automotive Science and Engineering

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One of the most significant issues of recent decades is pollution and dangers that may threat the environment. Different approaches were presented to protect the environment and target various sources of pollution. Old vehicles are one of the major sources of pollution in megacities as they consume and emit a lot of emissions. Therefore governments in different countries try to levy tax on pollution to motivate people to drive environment friendly and more efficient vehicles.
Tehran is one of the cities suffering rigorously from poor air quality. As a result, approximately 44 days in each year the air quality reckons as unhealthy for all residents. One of the suggested solutions is replacing conventional taxis across the city with hybrid electric vehicles. In this article this solution for the city of Tehran, Iran will be discussed and its feasibility will be evaluated using life cycle assessment.  
In order to conduct this, first data associated with air quality, pollution and taxis distribution in the city were presented. Then different designated vehicles were evaluated based on their technical performance and the emission they generate in different stages. Using the proposed model a comprehensive cost is defined and different vehicles were compared and the most viable choices by various considerations is introduced.

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Today, many car manufacturers can achieve emission standards through catalytic converters. The goals of this research was in tow sections. Initially, the amount of pollutants was measured to determine the role of the catalytic converters in the reduction of pollutants for 3 types of vehicles and in 50 cases, in the two stages before and after the catalytic converter. Then, to achieve the useful life of the catalytic converter, out of 750 test vehicle emissions were tested. Data analysis was done by SPSS software, which shows that catalytic converters can reduce up to 80% of exhaust emissions. This is independent of the type of vehicle. The useful life of the catalytic converters is up to 36 months, so they should be replaced at least every three years. Also, the pollutant standards of the technical examination centers are reviewed. For this purpose, the pollutants have been measured in 2200 vehicles. Due to the huge difference in technology, cars are divided into two main categories of carburetor and injector and are analyzed statistically. Eventually, for each group of these vehicles, the values of HC, CO and O₂ are obtained.

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In the automobile sector, stainless steel and resistance spot welding (RSW) are often used. In this work, RSW was used to join five samples of 316L stainless steel joints at currents of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 kA while the heat input parameters varied. The welded joints' microstructure, hardness, and mechanical properties were examined and evaluated. The base metal, heat-affected zone (HAZ), and weld areas' microstructures were all examined using optical microscopy. The mechanical characteristics of the joints were assessed using room-temperature tensile-shear testing and hardness testing. The microstructure findings revealed ferrite in many weld regions and an austenitic structure overall. In the samples with welding currents of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 kA, the average hardness of the weld zone was 329, 258, 251, 238, and 235 Vickers, in that order. The hardness of the weld zone exhibited an inverse connection with the welding current, as an increase in welding current resulted in a drop in the resistance spot welded area's hardness. Furthermore, when heat input increased, the hardness of the HAZ reduced and increased relative to the 316L steel. The joint strength of the RSW increased with increasing welding current, as demonstrated by the tensile-shear test results for all five welded samples with varying currents. As a result, the samples with 30 and 35 kA currents failed at the weld with a force greater than 3 kN, while the other samples with lower welding currents had a failure force of less than 2 kN.