Brown rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Hiami) extract promotes cellular growth by upregulation of GH and IGF-1 expression and secretion

Food Science and Biotechnology - The effects of the ethanolic extract of brown rice (BRE, Oryza sativa L. cv. Hiami) on cellular growth were investigated. Gene expression analysis by qPCR showed...     

Elastic-plastic constitutive model for accurate springback prediction in hot press sheet forming

The present study investigates the effect of phase transformation plasticity on the springback of hot press formed parts. Employing an implicit finite element formulation to take phase transformations during rapid cooling from fully austenitic phase and their related thermo-mechanical behavior into account, two validations ?? (1) the loaded dilatometry problem which induces significant plastic deformation even at lower stress levels than the classical yield stress, and (2) the 2-D draw bending problem, which introduces high temperature forming and subsequent quenching ?? are presented and compared with known experimental data. The study showed that the magnitude of springback predicted by considering the phase transformation plasticity and the temperature change induced volumetric strain agreed well with date from experiments, while the results determined with the conventional elastic-plasticity theory in which only plastic deformation by external load was used, had considerable deviation for the springback profile after hot press forming. The negligible springback amount after hot press forming, which has been frequently reported in many experimental observations, is due to the stress relaxation by the addition of abnormal transformation plasticity.     

Microstructural and Finite Element Analysis of Creep Failure in Dissimilar Weldment Between 9Cr and 2.25Cr Heat-Resistant Steels

Microstructural analysis and the creep failure mechanism of dissimilar weldment between ASTM A213 T92 (9Cr1.5W0.5MoVNbTi) and T22 (2.25Cr1Mo) heat-resistant steels are reported. The low-Cr part that has high carbon activity shows a depletion of C during postweld heat treatment. In particular, the soft carbon-depleted zone (CDZ) with the lowest hardness is surrounded by strong weld metal (WM) and the T22 heat-affected zone (HAZ). Load-displacement curves obtained by nanoindentation experiments are used to extract true stress–strain curves of the WM, the CDZ, and the T22 HAZ by using finite element methods (FEMs). Because of the mechanical properties of each region, the soft CDZ confined between harder regions is exposed to multiaxial stress. Therefore, creep voids actively form and coalesce in this CDZ and lead to macroscopic brittle fracture.     

Analysis of microstructure and corrosion behavior of laser surface alloyed zircaloy-4 with niobium

The influence of laser surface alloying (LSA) with niobium (Nb) on the corrosion and mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 was examined by potentiodynamic polarization testing in a chloride solution at 80°C and microhardness testing. The results are discussed with the structural and compositional variations in the LSA layer determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a wavelength dispersive spectrometer (WDS). The LSA on Zircaloy-4 precoated with Nb produced a Nb-alloyed layer 200~300 μrn thick with 1.3~2.5 wt.% Nb, depending on the laser beam power. The alloyed layer was composed of a mixed structure of α-Zr and β-Zr phases with the (β-Zr phase increasing with the Nb content in the alloyed layer. The LSA with Nb increased the microhardness of Zircaloy-4, which was attributed primarily to the grain-size refinement of rapid cooling and, also, to the solid solution hardening with Nb. The resistance to the localized corrosion of Zircaloy-4 in a chloride solution significantly improved through LSA with Nb, which was attributed to the combined effects of the fine rapidly cooled microstructure and to the Nb alloying.     

Reverse effect of tensile force on sidewall curl for materials with tensile/compressive strength difference

Sidewall curl occurring by the removal of tool surfaces after forming is one adverse phenomenon that should be effectively reduced in sheet metal forming operations. Among several process parameters controlling sidewall curl, a constraint tensile force is widely used along with attainable formability by introducing blank holder and drawbead. The classic but common knowledge is that sidewall curl is suppressed for conventional sheet metals as the constraint tensile force increases. Interestingly, however, for magnesium alloy sheets that have unusual asymmetry in tension and compression it has been recently reported that springback increases as the tensile force increases within a specific range of tension. The major deformation in the sidewall usually consists of bending and unbending under tensile force. Therefore, this unique stress-strain response of sheet materials with strength-differential, including magnesium alloys, should be considered for an accurate estimation of sidewall curl. In the present study, a semi-analytical bending/unbending theory incorporating characteristic constitutive behavior of magnesium alloys was developed to evaluate the moment-curvature relationship for various levels of constraint tensile forces. The present analysis proved that the reverse effect of constraint tensile force on sidewall curl was caused by the lower resistance to plastic yielding in compression with proper combination of applied tensile force.     

Correlation between stacking fault energy and deformation microstructure in high-interstitial-alloyed austenitic steels

The correlation between stacking fault energy (SFE) and deformation microstructure of high-interstitial-alloyed austenitic Fe–18Cr–10Mn–(N or N + C) alloys was investigated. As the content of the interstitial elements increased, the deformation microstructure changed in a sequence strain-induced martensitic transformation, mixture of martensite and twin, and finally deformation twin. The SFE, playing an important role in the transition of deformation microstructure, was evaluated by the Rietveld whole-profile fitting combined with the double-Voigt size–strain analysis for neutron diffraction profiles of tensile-strained bulk samples. At fixed N + C content, the ratio of mean-squared strain to stacking fault probability remained constant regardless of the accumulated strain, whereas the ratio gradually increased with increasing N + C content. Almost linear dependence of measured SFE on N + C content could be established. According to the SFE, deformation bands exhibited distinct substructures, and their particular intersecting behavior resulted in the formation of different types of products (secondary ε martensite, α′ martensite and secondary twin) at the intersecting regions.     

Validation of Haptic Enabling Technology Acceptance Model (HE-TAM): Integration of IDT and TAM

This study examined the factors affecting the adoption of Haptic Enabling Technology (HET) based products by developing an integrated research framework which combines Innovation and Diffusion Theory (IDT) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Also, we added the concepts of presence and perceived enjoyment to shed light on the hedonic aspect of consumer’s adoption of innovation product like HET product.     

Effects of l-arginine on growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1

Food Science and Biotechnology - l-Arginine has been reported to promote cellular and organismal growth. In this study, the effects of l-arginine on the expression of growth hormone (GH) and...     

High-rate tensile properties of Si-reduced TRIP sheet steels

There have been efforts to develop Si-reduced TRIP steels to improve the wettability of Zn coatings, since the conventional CMnSi-TRIP steels suffer from poor galvanizability. In addition, for the development of potential applications of Si-reduced TRIP steels in vehicle crash management, a better understanding of high strain rate properties is required. In the present study, the effects of alloying elements, such as Cu, Al, Si, and P, on the high-rate tensile properties of Si-reduced TRIP sheet steels were investigated. Tensile tests were performed with a servo-hydraulic tensile testing machine at strain rates ranging from 10⁻² to 6 × 10² s⁻¹, and the ultimate tensile strength, elongation, strain rate sensitivity, and absorbed energy were evaluated. The retained austenite volume fractions and carbon content of the specimens were measured using neutron diffraction. The UTS was increased with Cu, Al, Si, and P alloying throughout the strain rate range, and the alloying effect on UTS was considerable with Cu and P. The effects of alloying on the microstructure were not significant. All the steels tested in this study exhibited positive strain rate sensitivity, and the m value at strain rates higher than 10 s⁻¹ was at least two times higher than that at lower strain rates.