Unipolar plasma electrolytic oxidation: Waveform optimisation for corrosion resistance of commercially pure titanium

This study deals with the anodisation of titanium grade 2 in 0.5-M sulphuric acid using a pulsed signal in a unipolar regime. The electrical parameters investigated are voltage, frequency and duty cycle. The use of duty cycles with a high percentage of anodic polarisation (90%), combined with high frequencies (1000 Hz) and the higher voltage tested (220 V), favoured the establishment of a plasma regime involving strong dielectric discharges, allowing the growth of thicker oxides but with rough architecture. The corrosion resistance of the formed film has been characterised by potentiodynamic tests in 0.5-M NaBr for localised corrosion resistance and by immersion tests in 10% v/v sulphuric acid solution for a uniform corrosion assessment. Current–time curves, visual observations and electron microscope analysis (scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) were the tools selected to provide a correlation between technological parameters and oxide growth mechanism. For localised and uniform corrosion, anodisation at 220 V with a high level of anodic polarisation (90%) and frequency (1000 Hz) was verified to be particularly advantageous.     

Effect of titanium diboride on the homogeneity of boron carbide ceramic by flash spark plasma sintering

A novel method, namely flash spark plasma sintering (FSPS), combining flash sintering and electric field assisted sintering, was utilized to densify boron carbide/titanium diboride (B₄C/TiB₂) composites. Further, sintering homogeneity of the composites with different contents of TiB₂ was systematically investigated and theoretical model was built. Results indicated that addition of 50?wt% TiB2 led to the densification of B₄C/TiB₂ composite by up to 97.7% with regional range 1.9% at 1872?°C under pressure of 4?MPa in 60?s. The preferential pathway of TiB₂ network proves to disperse the central current and distribute thermal flow throughout the specimen possibly via tunneling, electronic field emission effect at first stage and lower-resistance composite pathway latter, contributing to the increased homogeneity.     

Effect of C/Ti ratio on densification,microstructure and mechanical properties of TiCx prepared by reactive spark plasma sintering

Titanium carbide (TiC) has been widely used as reinforcement in metal matrix composites and is known to exist over a wide range of stoichiometry. In this study, the effect of C/Ti ratio on the densification kinetics, grain size, lattice parameter, hardness and elastic modulus of TiC_x prepared by reactive spark plasma sintering (RSPS) is presented. Commercial purity titanium was ball milled with 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15 and 17.5 wt% carbon black powder for 5 h and subjected to RSPS to prepare TiC_x samples with different C/Ti ratio. Dense TiC_x samples with ‘x′ ranging from 0.34 to 0.78 could be prepared by RSPS at 1400 °C. Increasing C/Ti ratio was found to increase the activation energy thereby reducing the rate of sintering and also resulted in finer grain size. The lattice parameter and the ratio of intensities of (200) to (111) peaks were correlated with the C/Ti ratio. The hardness and elastic modulus were shown to increase significantly with increase in C/Ti ratio.     

退火温度对HA/Ti-24Nb-4Zr复合材料组织与性能的影响

利用放电等离子烧结(SPS)技术制备了HA/Ti-24Nb-4Zr生物复合材料,研究了不同退火温度对复合材料显微组织和力学性能(抗压强度、屈服强度、屈强比、压缩弹性模量)的影响。结果表明,烧结态复合材料主要由β-Ti相、少量初生α-Ti相及HA相组成;随着退火温度的升高,复合材料基体中β-Ti相含量增多且晶粒逐渐长大,针状次生α-Ti相在晶界处和晶内不断析出,HA相结构和含量变化不大;与烧结态相比,不同退火温度处理后的复合材料强度和弹性模量先略微上升后下降,而塑韧性呈不断提高趋势;复合材料在850 ℃退火处理后,抗压强度、屈服强度、屈强比和压缩弹性模量值分别为1507 MPa、1270 MPa、0.84和42 GPa,塑韧性得到明显改善,作为生物医用植入材料具有潜在的应用前景。     

Effect of Moving Speed of Charged Metallic Spherical Electrode on Electrostatic Discharge

In this investigation, the nature of the electrostatic discharge (ESD) that occurs when a charged object moves toward a stationary grounded object is experimentally clarified. The spark lengths, discharge currents, and induced voltages in a magnetic probe were measured when a charged metallic spherical electrode connected to a 422 pF capacitor approached a stationary grounded object, which was the current target, for different moving speeds of the charged metallic spherical electrode in a range of 1 mm/s to 100 mm/s. The charge voltages of the capacitor were +6.5 kV and +10 kV. Based on the results, the average gap length shortened with the speed of the spherical electrode. The average peak values of the discharge current and the induced voltage were likely to increase with the speed of the spherical electrode. The average rise times of the discharge current and the induced voltage were likely to drop with the speed of the spherical electrode. The relation between the spark length and the discharge current due to the ESD can be explained qualitatively by using an equation derived from the spark resistance formula proposed by Rompe and Weizel.     

High-entropy alloys fabricated via powder metallurgy. A critical review

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have attracted a great deal of interest over the last 14 years. One reason for this level of interest is related to these alloys breaking the alloying principles that have been applied for many centuries. Thus, HEAs usually possess a single phase (contrary to expectations according to the composition of the alloy) and exhibit a high level of performance in different properties related to many developing areas in industry. Despite this significant interest, most HEAs have been developed via ingot metallurgy. More recently, powder metallurgy (PM) has appeared as an interesting alternative for further developing this family of alloys to possibly widen the field of nanostructures in HEAs and improve some capabilities of these alloys. In this paper, PM methods applied to HEAs are reviewed, and some possible ways to develop the use of powders as raw materials are introduced.     

求解带时间窗车辆路径问题的改进型烟花算法

针对带时间窗车辆路径问题,为寻求组合优化问题最优解,构建总运输成本最小数学模型。由于烟花算法搜索半径不能自适应调整,算法后期易陷入局部最优,故对爆炸算子进行改进,使最优烟花搜索半径自适应调整,增强后期局部搜索能力;同时利用分布式信息共享机制避免算法早熟并引入变异火花增强种群多样性。利用标准测试集进行验证后,结果表明该算法在求解带时间窗车辆路径问题时不仅具有可行性和有效性,并且收敛速度快、搜索质量高。     

Investigation on the effect of EDM process variables and environments on acoustic emission signals

Abstract

The performance of electrical discharge machining (EDM) primarily depends on the spark quality generated in the inter-electrode gap (IEG) between the tool and workpiece. A method for obtaining accurate information about the spark gap is required to effectively monitor the EDM process. The rise and fall of thermal energy in the discharge zone at a rapid rate during the dielectric breakdown produces high-pressure shock waves. This work explores the suitability of using acoustic emission (AE) generated from these shock waves and the elastic AE waves released on the workpiece due to the induced stress to monitor the performance and spark gap in EDM. The information content of the AE signals acquired at various machining conditions was extracted using AE RMS, spectral energy and peak amplitude. These features were able to well discriminate the machining condition, tool material, workpiece material, flushing pressure, current density, the initial surface roughness of the tool. Additionally, the AE signal features had a good and consistent correlation with the performance parameters, including material removal rate, surface roughness (Ra and Rq) and tool wear. The findings lay the groundwork to develop an effective, non-intrusive in-situ AE-monitoring system for performance and IEG condition in EDM.     

Inhibitory effects of three chemical dust suppressants on nitrocellulose dust cloud explosion

Three types of self-prepared chemical dust suppressants (CDSs) were investigated for their inhibitory effects on nitrocellulose (NC) cloud dust explosion. The results revealed that NC is extremely sensitive to electric sparks and has a high explosion intensity. CaCl₂-CDS effectively increased the particle size to control fly dust substantially inhibiting dust cloud explosions. However, both Na₂SO₄-CDS and MgCl₂-CDS exhibited poor abilities and even promoted explosion. Therefore, neither Na₂SO₄-CDS nor MgCl₂-CDS is recommended as a CDS for NC. Inappropriately using CDSs may engender severe explosions. Furthermore, a mechanism underlying NC dust cloud combustion and explosion was proposed. NC has three stages of heat release: autoxidation, thermal decomposition, and combustion. Thermal decomposition, combustion, and explosion were triggered depending on the energy provided from autoxidation. CaCl₂-CDS inhibited only combustion. This study reveals the mechanism underlying NC dust cloud explosions and provides useful information for the development of more optimized CDSs.     

Reactive,nonreactive, and flash spark plasma sintering of Al2O3/SiC composites—A comparative study

The influence of different SPS-based methods, that is, conventional spark plasma sintering (SPS), flash SPS (FSPS), and reactive SPS (RSPS) on the properties of Al₂O₃/SiC composite was investigated. It was shown that the application of preliminary high energy ball milling of the powders significantly enhances the sinterability of the ceramics. It was also demonstrated that FSPS provides unique conditions for rapid, that is, less than a minute, consolidation of refractory ceramics. The Al₂O₃-20 wt% SiC composite produced by FSPS possesses the highest relative density (~99%), fracture toughness (7.5 MPa m^1/2), hardness (20.3 GPa) and wear resistance among all ceramics produced by other SPS-based approaches with dwelling time 10 minutes. The RSPS ceramics hold the highest Young's modulus (390 GPa). Substitution of micron-sized Al₂O₃ particles by nano alumina does not lead to measurable enhancement of the mechanical properties.