Microwave hybrid fast sintering of red clay ceramics

This work aimed to examine the performance of the hybrid sintering of clay ceramic in a microwave furnace, compared to the sintering process in a conventional furnace. The raw materials were subjected to X-ray fluorescence, loss on ignition (LOI), X-ray diffraction, particle size distribution, real specific mass, and thermogravimetric analyses. The red clay ceramic mass was prepared, extruded, pre-sintered in a conventional furnace at 600°C/60 min, and sintered at temperatures between 700 °C and 1100 °C. The sintering conventional (resistive oven) was carried out for 60 min with a heating rate of 10°C/min. In the microwave furnace, the sintering times were 5, 10, and 15 min, with a heating rate of 50°C/min, with a sintering chamber coated with silicon carbide (susceptor). The sintered specimens were characterized according to linear shrinkage, water absorption, apparent porosity, apparent specific mass, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy analysis, spectroscopy analysis in the ultraviolet and visible regions, microhardness, and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that microwave sintering promoted an increase in the microhardness and apparent specific mass, and reduction in water absorption and apparent porosity values, due to greater densification in the microstructure. The best results occurred for specimens sintered at 1100°C.     

Using internal domain-specific languages to inherit tool support and modularity for model transformations

Software and Systems Modeling - Model-driven engineering (MDE) has proved to be a useful approach to cope with today’s ever-growing complexity in the development of software systems;...     

Pericyclic Organometallic Reactions. Substituent Effects on Cycloadditions and Rearrangements of (η4-cycloheptatriene)Fe(CO)3 Derivatives

The mechanism of the reactions of (η⁴-cycloheptatrien-1-al)Fe(CO)₃ and its ethyleneglycol acetal with tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) was studied. The aldehyde undergoes a fast reversible 3+2 cycloaddition involving the free aldehyde-substituted double bond, and a slow irreversible 3+2 cycloaddition at the coordinated site. The latter, σ,π-allylic complex undergoes a slow interconversion with the corresponding 5 +2 isomer via the pericyclic [3,3]-sigmahaptotropic rearrangement. In contrast, the acetal reacts with TCNE at the free acetal-substituted double bond to give a single kinetic 3+2 adduct, which, under thermodynamic conditions, undergoes a [4,4]-sigmahaptotropic rearrangement to the 6 + 2 adduct. The reaction kinetics was followed by ¹H NMR. The effect of substituents on the reaction course is discussed, and the detailed mechanism of both the cycloadditions and rearrangements is described.     

Sketching and creative discovery

In the search for helpful computer tools for sketching in the early phases of design, the approach was taken to experimentally study sketching behaviour. In two series of experiments two mental processes revealed themselves as essential in the creative process: Restructuring and Combining. These two processes are in turn influenced by expertise in sketching and individual creativity. In this article each of the factors: Combining, Restructuring, Expertise and Creativity, will be separately highlighted with respect to their impact on sketching behavior. Finally, on the basis of these results conclusions are drawn for computerized sketching aids.     

Induction of a Citrus gene highly homologous to plant and yeast thi genes involved in thiamine biosynthesis during natural and ethylene-induced fruit maturation

In response to a light pulse, hamsters normally generate phase advances that are positively correlated with the length of their circadian period (tau). To determine whether this is a general property of the phase-shifting oscillator, the present study looked for a correlation between tau and phase-advance size not only for photic but also for nonphotic shifts. Syrian hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus, were entrained to light-dark cycles with a periodicity of either 23.67 h (the short-T group) or 24.33 h (the long-T group); after release into constant darkness, the short-T and long-T groups exhibited short and long taus, respectively. These animals were then induced to run in a novel exercise wheel for 3 h, starting at circadian time (CT) 7, or were exposed to 20 min of light, starting at CT 19. The size of the ensuing phase advances did not differ between the short-T and long-T groups not only for the nonphotic stimulus but also for the photic one, an unexpected result for the photic stimulus. Within the short-T groups for photic and nonphotic stimuli, the shorter tau was, the larger the phase advances were, another unexpected relationship. Another experiment where phase delays were induced by light pulses at CT 15 also failed to yield significant differences between the short-T and long-T groups. Independently of their after-effects on tau, T cycles may influence the capacity of the pacemaker to phase shift in ways that are still unclear but at least similar for both photic and nonphotic shifts.     

Radiation therapy of giant aggressive keratoacanthomas

BACKGROUND AND DESIGN: Giant aggressive keratoacanthoma is a rare destructive subset of keratoacanthoma that frequently involves the facial region, grows rapidly to a large size, and often recurs after surgical management. The effectiveness of ionizing radiation therapy was examined in a retrospective study involving 16 patients; 14 of the tumors had recurred after surgical therapy. RESULTS: All tumors resolved with satisfactory cosmetic results and without recurrence following a fractionated course of superficial radiation therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Radiation therapy is an effective therapeutic modality for giant aggressive keratoacanthomas.     

Cavitation Damage of the single-crystal nickel-base superalloy SRR99 during creep at 850°C

Various heat treatments of the single-crystal nickel-base superalloy SRR99 have been carried out to produce a wide range of initial γ′ phase morphology. The cavitation damage has been studied after creep fracture at 850°C and stresses between 400MPa and 650 Mpa. The crep fracture surfaces and longitudinal sections of crept specimens have been examined by image analysing system in order to determine the size distribution and the area fraction of (001)-planes cracks on fracture surface characterise the creep crack damage level. The cracking morphology in fractured material as a function of stress and γ′-phase size has also been investigated. The results show, that crack propagation occurred anisotropically on (001) crystallographic planes perpendicular to the aplied stress along the γ/γ′ interfaces. It was found, that creep cracks dependent on the shape and size of γ′-phases developing at the temperature and stress level.     

Evaluation of high- temperature behavior of CMSX4 + yttrium single- crystal nickel- base superalloy

CMSX4 + Y, a highly strengthened rhenium-containing second-generation single-crystal nickel-base su-peralloy, has been studied by creep, low-cycle, and thermomechanical fatigue in the temperature range 500 to 1100 °C. The alloy exhibits good high-temperature mechanical properties that are superior or com-parable to other single-crystal superalloys. Thermomechanical fatigue resistance is equivalent to low-cy-cle fatigue and is cycle-shape dependent. High-temperature mechanical properties have been studied using life prediction relationships that are frequently used for creep and low-cycle fatigue data evalu-ation. Examination of fracture surfaces revealed that fracture induced by creep damage is internal and starts from pore-initiated cracks; however, fatigue damage starts on the external surface and propagates inward in stage II mode.