Modelling and Characterisation of the Texture Development in the Fusion Zone of An Austenitic Weld

The relation between texture and microstructure and the macroscopic solidification direction has been investigated for an austenitic 316L stainless steel weld. The fusion zone has been characterised by EBSD. Texture development has been simulated by thermal Finite Element Analysis coupled with a simple model of preferential <100>‐oriented solidification following the solidification direction. The thermal part is validated by means of thermocouple measurements at several locations on the specimen. The predicted texture is in very good agreement with the measured one.     

Urban Renewal in European Countries

Urban renewal is rapidly gaining ground in the more advanced European countries. At present, national programs going beyond the conventional slum-clearance schemes exist in only a few nations but are being prepared in others. Many projects are executed and planned in advance of national renewal legislation. They are typically occasioned by traffic improvements, especially the installation or extension of mass transit facilities, and by the expansion of existing city centers and the creation of new ones. If economic recovery and prosperity continue, urban renewal activity will expand at a rapid pace.     

Abstracts

Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society -     

Agroecological analysis and economic benefit of organic resources and fertiliser in till and no-till sorghum production after a 6-year fallow in semi-arid West Africa

A field experiment was conducted in Gampela (Burkina Faso) in 2000 and 2001 to assess the impact of organic and mineral sources of nutrients and combinations thereof in optimising crop production in till and no-till systems and to assess the economic benefit of these options. The study showed that under conditions of rainfall deficiency, the use of a single organic resource at an equivalent dose of 40 kg N ha⁻¹ better secured crop yield than the application of an equivalent amount as urea-N, while a combination of organic resources and fertiliser was better in increasing crop yield than the application of the same N amount in the form of urea. In a year of rainfall deficiency, a mix of organic resources and fertiliser in both till and no-till systems increased crop water use efficiency, with the result that the farmer was able to purchase only half of the normal quantity of N fertiliser to obtain a higher yield that he would have done when all of the N was supplied in the form of urea. Under conditions where soil N is deficient, an economic benefit was achieved when urea was combined with easily decomposable organic material (e.g. sheep dung); mixing the urea at a dose of 40 kg N ha⁻¹ with maize straw was not sufficient in alleviating the negative interaction due to the enhanced N immobilisation. The results demonstrate that the use of N fertiliser alone was risky and that a higher yield, with the accompanying economic benefit, was scarcely achieved under the prevailing rainfall conditions. The application of soil and water conservation measures can contribute greatly to increasing the economic benefit of mineral, organic or combined organic and mineral-derived nutrient application under semi-arid conditions.     

Foam fractionation of spent sulphite liquor: Part I: Separation of surfactants

The surface activity of spent sulphite liquor (SSL) and the separation of surface active components by foam fractionation were studied. The maximum activity (lowest surface tension) of SSL was observed at a high pH. The surface tension was found to be 42 mN/m and 38 mN/m at acidic and basic pH values, respectively, and also a maximum foaminess (Σ) of 7 min was observed at pH 10. Foam fractionation reduced the surfactant concentration by 90% at an optimum pH of 10. The surfactants were concentrated in the collapsed foam as shown by the fact that the critical micelle concentrations of the unfractionated SSL and foam were 70% (v/v) and 10% (v/v), respectively. The removed surfactants were concentrated in 20% of the original liquid volume.     

Study of the composition effect of glass ceramic and silver on poly(vinyl butyral) thermal degradation with thermogravimetric analysis

The thermal degradation of poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB)/glass ceramic, PVB/Ag, and PVB/glass ceramic/Ag composites was investigated with thermogravimetric analysis in nitrogen and air. Thermogravimetric data revealed that the compositions of both inorganic materials in air could greatly influence the thermal degradation of PVB. The degradation reactions of PVB/ceramic and PVB/Ag composites began earlier and accelerated rapidly at lower temperatures. The overall degradation period was obviously shortened for the thermal degradation of PVB/Ag in air, whereas a longer time was required for the PVB/ceramic composite than for PVB. Moreover, dual effects of ceramic and Ag on the thermal degradation of PVB were observed for PVB/ceramic/Ag composites. In addition, the catalytic effects of ceramic and Ag on the degradation reaction of PVB in air were verified with a kinetic analysis. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 2142–2149, 2004     

Total Least Squares Fitting of k-Spheres in n-D Euclidean Space Using an (n+2)-D Isometric Representation

We fit k-spheres optimally to n-D point data, in a geometrically total least squares sense. A specific practical instance is the optimal fitting of 2D-circles to a 3D point set. Among the optimal fitting methods for 2D-circles based on 2D (!) point data compared in Al-Sharadqah and Chernov (Electron. J. Stat. 3:886–911, 2009), there is one with an algebraic form that permits its extension to optimally fitting k-spheres in n-D. We embed this ‘Pratt 2D circle fit’ into the framework of conformal geometric algebra (CGA), and doing so naturally enables the generalization. The procedure involves a representation of the points in n-D as vectors in an (n+2)-D space with attractive metric properties. The hypersphere fit then becomes an eigenproblem of a specific symmetric linear operator determined by the data. The eigenvectors of this operator form an orthonormal basis representing perpendicular hyperspheres. The intersection of these are the optimal k-spheres; in CGA the intersection is a straightforward outer product of vectors. The resulting optimal fitting procedure can easily be implemented using a standard linear algebra package; we show this for the 3D case of fitting spheres, circles and point pairs. The fits are optimal (in the sense of achieving the KCR lower bound on the variance). We use the framework to show how the hyperaccurate fit hypersphere of Al-Sharadqah and Chernov (Electron. J. Stat. 3:886–911, 2009) is a minor rescaling of the Pratt fit hypersphere.     

Precipitation of asphaltenes from solvent-diluted heavy oil and thermodynamic properties of solvent-diluted heavy oil solutions

Ratios of n-heptane (hep) to toluene (tol) affect the solubility of the asphaltenes in heavy oil extraction processes. Consequently phase changes and time after mixing n-heptane and heavy oil in toluene are important for understanding produced emulsions. The kinetics of phase change when n-heptane is added to toluene-diluted heavy oils, and the thermodynamic properties of partially deasphalted heavy oils were studied. The methods used were monitoring precipitation in time using light microscopy, quantitative asphaltenes analysis by near infrared spectroscopy, refractive index and densities measurements, and calculated solubility parameters of mixtures. At critical mass ratios of hep/tol from 1.37 to 2.0 in diluted heavy oil the precipitated asphaltene particles were observed under the microscope after lag times from 2 h to instantly. Lag times were longer at low initial oil concentration. The floc growth time decreased as heavy oil concentration in toluene increased. The growth patterns in time appeared as dots to beads (strings) to clusters (fractal-like flocs). Final wt% precipitated asphaltenes vs. mass fraction (hep+tol)/heavy oil followed sigmoidal relationships. Curves showing wt% soluble asphaltenes vs. mass fraction hep/tol after 24 h initially followed the same shape as time zero curves and diverged at the onset ratios of hep/tol. Slope for precipitated asphaltenes vs. solubility parameters curve showed a break at 16.4 MPa^1/2. Linear correlations were established for concentrations of soluble asphaltenes in residual oils and density, for refractive index and density and for refractive index and solubility parameter. The latter correlation was in accordance with Lorenz-Lorentz theory. These equations provided a means by which oil density, refractive index and solubility parameter can be predicted when these measurements are difficult to measure practically.