Al–Si cast alloys under isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue conditions

This work presents a survey of the isothermal and anisothermal fatigue behavior of aluminum casting alloys obtained from different processes. Experimental results have shown that porosity, especially large and irregular pores, provides the main factor in decreasing fatigue properties of the tested alloys. In materials with similar porosity levels, other microstructural factors became relevant such as, matrix morphology and the amount of alloying elements. Fractographic analyses showed that fatigue cracks preferentially start to propagate in microcracks or interdendritic shrinkage usually located next to the surface. In most cases, propagation takes place in the eutectic phase, although in the thixoformed material, a transition from transgranular to intergranular mode was observed in the crack propagation mode.     

Fabrication of nano-porous silicon oxide layers by plasma polymerisation methods

We report on the synthesis of nano-porous silicon oxide (SiO₂) layers by gas phase polymerisation reactions of hexamethy disiloxane and oxygen. The SiO₂ layers are deposited onto one or more layers of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) particles spin coated onto the substrate surface. Subsequent annealing of the films to high temperature (500 °C) leads to the pyrolysis of the polymeric particles resulting in a 3D nanoporosity in the film. X-ray Photoelectron (XPS) and Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) show an SiO₂-like surface chemistry and virtually complete removal of the organic components. These materials offer a very high surface area-to-volume ratio suitable for sensing applications.     

On the behaviour of hygroscopic wheels: Part I – channel modelling

In this paper a detailed mathematical formulation is developed for the numerical modelling of the behaviour of a channel of a hygroscopic compact matrix. A comparison between the detailed version and a simplified one is performed considering a two-dimensional airflow between desiccant parallel plates. The distinct heat and mass transfer phenomena are strongly coupled, and some properties of the airflow and of the desiccant medium exhibit important changes during the sorption processes. Both physical models take into account the gas side and solid side resistances to heat and mass transfer. The wall domain is treated similarly in both models, by taking into account the simultaneous heat and mass transfer together with the water adsorption/desorption process. Two phases co-exist in equilibrium inside the desiccant porous medium, the equilibrium being characterized by sorption isotherms without hysteresis. The detailed model is based on the solution of the differential equations for the conservation of mass, energy and momentum, assuming that no momentum transport exists in the porous wall domain. In the simplified model, the airflow is treated as a bulk flow, the interaction with the wall being evaluated by using appropriated convective coefficients.Both models are compared in the simulation of a parallel plate channel during an adsorption process. The results show a good agreement for channel lengths greater than 0.1 m. In part II of the paper, the simplified model is adapted to the simulation of the three-dimensional problem in the channel of a hygroscopic rotor, and it is used to perform parametric studies.     

Influence of channel-height on heat transfer in rectangular channels with skewed ribs at different bleed conditions

An infrared imaging system is used to measure detailed distributions of local heat transfer coefficient from rectangular channels with two opposite wide walls roughened by 45° staggered ribs of twenty test cases. Nusselt number (Nu) contours over the ribbed surfaces are presented for five sets of channels with an identical rib-floor configuration, but different channel-heights where the complex Nu distributions without bleed and then with bleeds from the scanned rib-floor or from the ribbed wall opposite to the scanned rib-floor or from the smooth sidewall are analyzed to examine the synergetic effects of variable channel-heights and different bleed conditions on heat transfer. Spatially averaged heat transfer results for the entire set of test channels are generated with the thermal performance factors compared to establish the heat transfer correlations with applications to the design of coolant channels in a gas turbine blade.     

Depth profiles of the Fermi level at an amorphous-carbon nitride/SiO2/n-type-Si heterojunction interface obtained by Kelvin probe force microscopy

To explore the work function of a typical amorphous-CN film containing a nitrogen concentration of 23.5 at.%, surface potential images were acquired using Kelvin probe force microscopy. Based on the Fermi level of the n-type Si and the contact potential difference between the amorphous-CN film and the n-Si substrate, the work function of the amorphous-CN film was estimated to be 5.2 ± 0.2 eV below its vacuum level. Using the surface potential depth profile for an etched amorphous-CN film, energy diagrams of the amorphous-CN/SiO₂/n-Si interface were constructed based on the positional relationship of the Fermi level. These band diagrams showed that band bending occurred at the amorphous-CN/SiO₂/n-Si interface despite the Fermi level pinning effect of surface trapping due to the SiO₂ insulator layer.     

Optimization for limited angle tomography in medical image processing

This paper aims to reduce the problems of incomplete data in computed tomography, which happens frequently in medical image process and analysis, e.g., when the high-density region of objects can only be penetrated by X-rays at a limited angular range. As the projection data are available only in an angular range, the incomplete data problem can be attributed to the limited angle problem, which is an ill-posed inverse problem. Image reconstruction based on total variation (TV) reduces the problem and gives better performance on edge-preserving reconstruction; however, the artificial parameter can only be determined through considerable experimentation. In this paper, an effective TV objective function is proposed to reduce the inverse problem in the limited angle tomography. This novel objective function provides a robust and effective reconstruction without any artificial parameter in the iterative processes, using the TV as a multiplicative constraint. The results demonstrate that this reconstruction strategy outperforms some previous ones.