Corrosion protection of AM60B magnesium alloy by application of electroless nickel coating via a new chrome-free pretreatment

Cerium–vanadium (Ce–V) conversion coating was proposed as a new pretreatment for application of electroless Ni–P coating on AM60B magnesium alloy to replace the traditional chromium oxide pretreatment. Morphology and chemical composition of the conversion coating were investigated. The subsequent Ni–P coating deposited on the conversion coating was also characterized by morphology, chemical composition, microstructure, corrosion protection performance and micro-hardness. A uniform, compact and pore-free electroless coating with a moderate concentration of phosphorus (7.78 wt%) was obtained. The electroless coating showed a nobler open-circuit potential than that of the bare alloy during the first 13 h of immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Also, the sample plated with the Ce–V conversion coating showed lower corrosion current density than the sample plated with traditional chromium oxide pretreatment. The micro-hardness of the bare alloy was significantly increased after electroless coating. The electroless coating is pore-free and there is suitable adhesion between the coating and alloy substrate.     

ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT, HISTOLOGICAL IMPACT AND OXIDATIVE STRESS STUDIES FROM LAURUS NOBILIS EXTRACT

Laurus nobilis is one of the most broadly used spices in Moroccan gastronomy. Its antimicrobial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial species was demonstrated. Likewise, its toxicity was investigated on Swiss albinos' mice . Daily, mice were treated orally with 0.003 and 0.3 mg during 7 days. Plasmatic markers and enzymatic systems were assessed and histological alterations were evaluated. A significant increase in creatine phosphokinase level was observed. The microscopic evaluation showed that L. nobilis induces morphological perturbation in mice's liver. The results also showed an inhibitory effect of glyceraldehydes 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and an important increase in the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and succinate dehydrogenase and no change in catalase activities. The results showed that L. nobilis induces toxicity at 0.3 mg/g mouse and affects energy metabolism and oxidative stress.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The aim of the present study is to determine the antimicrobial effect of Laurus nobilis on pathogens for potential application as herbal medicine in infusion or oral preparation. The effect of the spice extract was investigated on the metabolic markers, stress biomarkers and clinical parameters. This study was completed with histological coupes. To our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate the laurel effect on energy metabolism and oxidative stress.     

Fast generation of the gamma and digamma functions of complex argument

Using standard recurrence relations for the gamma and digamma functions, the real part is stepped up by integers until it is sufficiently large to permit the use of standard asymptotic expansions. It is shown that the technique is extremely simple and accurate and requires few milliseconds on a modern digital computer.     

New types of dielectric-loaded horn antennas

This paper presents low-loss dielectric loading techniques for improving some of the radiation characteristics of H-plane horn antennas. Specifically, the paper reports experimental results over new horns loaded with dielectric in the transverse and longitudinal planes with and without air gaps between the dielectric layers or between the dielectric and metallic walls. Sample results are presented showing improvements in the beam width, axial gain, input voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) at the expense of new or increased side lobe level at some frequencies within the passband. Results are also presented to show that the main beam of a novel dielectric-loaded horn can almost be scanned from one wall of the horn to the other in synchronism with frequency sweep within the passband. Finally, a line-of-sight portable communication device employing the characteristics of dielectric-loaded horn antennas is proposed for further research and development.     

Thermal characteristics and corrosion behaviour of Mg–xZn alloys for biomedical applications

The thermal parameters of Mg–xZn cast alloys with 0·5–9 wt% Zn were evaluated by using computer aided cooling curve thermal analysis (CA–CCTA), whereas the corrosion behaviour was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and immersion tests. Thermal analysis results revealed that the dendrite coherency temperature (T _DCP ) decreased from 642·2 to 600 °C with the addition of Zn from 0·5 to 9 wt%. The liquid fraction at coherency point ( ${f}_{ L}^{ DCP}$ ) increased by 72% when Zn was increased up to 9 wt%. MgZn intermetallic phase was observed in samples with <3 wt% Zn. At higher percentages of Zn, the Mg ₅₁Zn ₂₀ intermetallic phase was also detected in addition to α-Mg and MgZn by first derivative cooling curves under non-equilibrium solidification. All these phases were observed along the grain boundary when Zn was rejected from the solid/liquid interface and enriched in the triple conjunction of grain boundary. The grain size decreased from 185·2 to 71·5 μm when Zn content was increased. The addition of Zn content had a significant effect on the corrosion rate and the corresponding mechanisms. The corrosion rate decreased from 2·1 to 1·81 mmpy as Zn content increased from 0·5 to 3 wt%; afterwards, however, this value increased with further increase of Zn. Mg–3Zn also had the lowest degradation rate and highest corrosion resistance which can be fully utilized for biodegradable orthopedic applications.