Rahman, M.Mansur, M.A.Ambrose, W.D.Chua, K.H.CIVIL ENGINEERING2014-06-172014-06-171987Rahman, M.,Mansur, M.A.,Ambrose, W.D.,Chua, K.H. (1987). Design, fabrication and performance of a ferrocement machine tool bed. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 27 (4) : 431-442. ScholarBank@NUS Repository.08906955https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/65410In this project the use of ferrocement as a machine tool structural material is investigated. Ferrocement is a form of reinforced concrete but it utilises closely spaced layers of wire mesh instead of heavy steel rods. In this study a centre lathe was chosen. A ferrocement bed was designed based on basic stress calculations. Two beds were fabricated. The first was a prototype design. It was found that the deflections of the cast iron and ferrocement beds are less than one millimetre for loads up to 15 kN, a force that is hardly encountered in practice. In terms of stiffness, the cast iron bed was found to possess a higher static stiffness at the mid-span of the bed. From the dynamic testing it was found that the ferrocement beds had a higher damping ratio and a higher natural frequency at first mode than the cast iron bed. © 1987.ArticleNOT_IN_WOS