Effect of nozzle geometry on a standard cavitation erosion test using a cavitating jet

In order to accurately and reliably evaluate the cavitation erosion resistance of materials using cavitating jet apparatus according to ASTM G134, the effect of various types of nozzle geometries on the erosion rate was investigated. As the erosion rate depends on the erosion time and the distance from the nozzle to the specimen, i.e., the standoff distance, the mass loss as a function of erosion time at the optimum standoff distance was measured. It was shown that the erosion rate depended on the nozzle geometry. In fact, the aggressive intensity of the cavitating jet I_J depends on the nozzle geometry. When a cavitating jet of low I_J was used in the erosion test, it took some time to reach the maximum cumulative erosion rate E_Rmax, which is recommended in ASTM G134 as a parameter for determining the cavitation erosion resistance of materials. In the present experiment, the difference in E_Rmax was more than 600%, and the time required to reach E_Rmax was also scattered over 600%, for the different nozzles used. It was also revealed that E_Rmax could be obtained from the product of I_J and the reciprocal of the relative cavitation erosion resistance of the material, R_ER.     

Which hardness (nano or macrohardness) should be evaluated in cavitation?

This paper is concerned with the analysis of data obtained from instrumented depth-sensing nanoindentation testing performed on materials whose hardness varies with depth from surface. The objective is to determine which hardness (nano or macrohardness) should be evaluated in functionally graded materials to correlate the material properties to its performance in cavitation. A linear relationship between H²/E and cavitation erosion resistance could be established. Significant improvements in the cavitation erosion resistance can be achieved when deep nitrided cases are present.     

Erosion damage of polymeric material by slurry

An attempt was made to reveal the erosion mechanism of a plastic material in slurry containing glass beads of approximately 176 μm in diameter. The experimental observations were interpreted in terms of parameters such as the impact velocity V_p, the impact angle α of the beads and the striking efficiency η. A theoretical flow analysis for a solid-liquid two-phase flow was made and it was found that the trajectories of the particles curved as they approached the specimen, indicating that the actual surface onto which the particles were impinging was much narrower than that which would be expected for sand erosion in an air stream. In the slurry erosion the impact velocity and impact angle differed greatly at different positions of the specimen. This is possibly due to the differences in the density and viscosity of liquid and air. Two distinctly different types of erosion were observed: a typical brittle behaviour occurred near a stagnant point, after an initial incubation period, whereas at a distance from the stagnant point only a slight surface roughness was produced. These two different types of erosion produced a clear boundary. Erosion rates depended on the positions of the specimen and were found to be proportional to (V_p sin α)^2.6. This suggested that the normal component of the impact velocity of the particle determined the erosion rate of the plastic material due to slurry.     

Determination of particle impacts and impact energy in the erosion of X65 carbon steel using acoustic emission technique

An in-situ acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technique has been implemented in a submerged jet impingement (SIJ) system in an effort to investigate the effect of sand particle impact on the degradation mechanism of X65 carbon steel pipeline material in erosion conditions.A detailed analysis of the acoustic events' count rate enabled the number of impacts per second to be quantified for a range of flow velocities (7, 10, 15 m/s) and solid loadings (0, 50, 200, 500 mg/L) in a nitrogen-saturated solution at 50 °C. The number of impacts obtained from acoustic signals showed a strong agreement with theoretical prediction for flow velocities 7 and 10 m/s. A deviation between practical readings and theory is observed for flow velocity of 15 m/s which may be due to error from detected emissions of multiple rebounded particles.Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used in conjunction with particle tracking to model the impingement system and predict the velocity and impact angle distribution on the surface of the sample. Data was used to predict the kinetic energy of the impacts and was correlated with the measured AE energy and material loss from gravimetric analysis. The results demonstrate that AE is a useful technique for quantifying and predicting the erosion damage of X65 pipeline material in an erosion–corrosion environment.     

Effect of carbide volume fraction on erosive wear behaviour of hardfacing cast irons

The present work reports the effect of carbide volume fraction on erosive wear behaviour of hardfacing cast irons. Five different grades of weld hardfacing cast irons were selected for the present investigation. The solid particle erosion experiments were carried out with blast furnace sinter, silica sand and alumina particles under mild (53–75 μm, 25 m s⁻¹), moderately severe (125–150 μm/100–150 μm, 50 m s⁻¹) and under severe erosion conditions (300–425 μm, 90 m s⁻¹) at impingement angles of 30 and 90°. The variation in erosion rate with carbide volume fraction was observed to be strong function of the erodent particle hardness, impingement angle and the impact velocity. Under mild erosion conditions, erosion rate decreased with increasing carbide volume fraction (CVF), whereas erosion rate increased with CVF under moderately severe erosion condition with alumina particles. With silica sand particles under moderately severe erosion conditions the beneficial effect of large volume fraction of carbides could only be observed at 30°, whereas at normal impact erosion rate increased with increasing CVF. The erosion rate showed power law relationship with ratio of hardness of erodent particle to that of the target material (H_e/H_t) and expressed as E=c(H_e/H_t)^p.With increasing severity of erosion conditions erosion rate showed stronger dependence on H_e/H_t as compared to those under mild and moderately severe erosion conditions. The mechanism of materials removal from the carbides involved Hertzian fracture with softer sinter particles, whereas harder alumina particles could plastically indent and cause gross fracture of the carbides.     

Particle erosion behaviour of boiler tube materials at elevated temperature

The particle erosion behaviour of typical boiler tube materials, including carbon steel, low alloy steels and austenitic steels, at elevated temperatures up to 650 °C was studied using irregularly shaped silica particles. Using 304 steel, the influence of various factors, namely particle concentration, velocity and impingement angle, was examined. The erosion behaviour did not seem to differ significantly from that obtained at room temperature. The erosion rate was a linear function of the particle concentration. The velocity exponents obtained at 300 and 650 °C were both approximately 2.8. The peak impingement angle was at acute angles of 20° – 30°, with a tendency for the peak angle to be slightly higher at 300 °C than at 650 °C. However, the temperature effect was clearly observed in that the erosion rate at acute impingement angles increased significantly with the temperature suggesting that the steel tends to show a behaviour more typical of ductile materials as the temperature is increased. The erosion morphologies at low angles indicated cutting for every temperature used and the lengths of the cutting tracks obtained at 20° also increased with temperature.The erosion rate varied significantly between materials, e.g. the alloy (Incoloy) 800 eroded the most and the 12Cr-1Mo-V steel eroded the least at every temperature used, although every material showed an increase in the erosion rate with temperature. From an attempt to compare the erosion rate data obtained at 20° for every material at every temperature with the tensile properties of the steels, it was found that the yield strength of materials correlates reasonably well with the erosion rate. The erosion rate was apparently proportional to the reciprocal of the yield strength, suggesting that the flow stress included in Finnie's cutting theory may be conveniently substituted by the yield strength multiplied by a constant.     

Measurement of particle migration in micro-channel by multi-capacitance sensing method

Study of particle migration is important to enhance and increase the efficiency of the positioning and sorting process in order to produce the high yield of desired product especially in microfluidic applications. In this study, in order to study particle migration, normalized particle concentration in a micro-channel has been calculated for high initial particle concentrations (ξ=3.0, 5.0 and 10.0%) and the small particle diameters (d_p=1.3, 1.5 and 2.1 μm) by using capacitance data measured by a multi-capacitance sensing method. From the calculations, it has been observed that the particle concentration at the wall vicinity area is increased as ξ and d_p are increased while the particle concentration at the center area is decreased. To analyze the tendency of the particle migration, two quantitative indicators are introduced, viz., streamwise migration ratio (Ψ) which is the ratio of particle concentration at the downstream to the upstream cross-section position, and the cross-sectional migration ratio (Φ) which is the ratio of the particle concentration at the wall to the center area at the same cross-sectional position. The result shows that the Ψ at the center area is decreased as the particles move along the channel irrespective of ξ and d_p while the Ψ at the wall vicinity area is increased. Based on Ψ and Φ, it has been observed that the particle migrate from the center area towards the wall vicinity area in the case of low ξ and small d_p while the particles tend to concentrate on the center area in the case of high ξ and the large d_p. As a result, the particle concentration at center is higher in the case of the lower ξ and the smaller d_p than that in the case of higher ξ and the larger d_p.     

Comparison of cavitation erosion test results from venturi and vibratory facilities

A detailed comparison of cavitation erosion performance in tap water for five alloys in a vibratory (no-flow) system and a Venturi (flow) system was made. The effects of temperature variation (80 – 200 °F), Venturi throat velocity (34 – 49 m s^?1) and vibratory horn double amplitude were studied. Correlations between maximum erosion rate (maximum mean depth of penetration rate (MDPR_max)) and incubation period IP, and the material mechanical properties Brinell hardness and ultimate resilience $\text{UR =}\text{UTS}{}^2\text{2E}$. (where UTS is the ultimate tensile strength and E is the elastic modulus), were examined. Only moderate success was achieved in correlations between “erosion resistance” MDPR_max^?1 and IP and these mechanical properties. However, a good correlation was found between MDPR_max and IP, pertinent to both facilities, of the form MDPR_max^?1 = aIPⁿ, where n is near unity (0.94). The cavitation intensity, as measured by MDPR_max, was found to be 10–20 times greater in the vibratory system, depending on horn amplitude and material. This ratio varies between 5 and 30 if individual materials are considered separately, being greatest for 1018 carbon steel and least for 316 stainless steel. This indicates the important differences in form between these cavitating regimes and the imprecision of material comparisons made in both regimes.     

Toughness and processes of material removal

When material is removed from a body, processes of separation must be involved, whatever the form the removed material appears in (small particles, continuous ribbons or large chunks), whatever the method of removal and irrespective of whether removal is controlled or uncontrolled. Separation in brittle materials is customarily modelled in terms of elastic fracture mechanics (including friction where appropriate) to predict forces, energy, dimensions and shapes of separated pieces, etc., the separation work being the fracture toughness R where K_C² = ER. Removal of material in ductile solids is customarily modelled in terms of plastic flow and friction, with the mechanisms of separation either being ignored or considered as consuming negligible work. At the other end of the spectrum, slicing of floppy materials such as soft foodstuffs is all about separation work and little else.The history of the assumption of negligible separation work when cutting ductile solids is re-examined in the light of elastoplastic fracture mechanics (Shaw, Orowan, Irwin, etc.). Given that even for separation by cleavage most surfaces have severely deformed sub-surface boundary layers as a result of their manner of formation (void growth and coalescence in commercial metals and so on), it is questioned whether the chemical surface free energy is the correct property to employ to assess the magnitude of separation work. Experimental evidence, algebraic and FEM modelling all show that material removal processes are branches of fracture mechanics and that a material's fracture toughness is just as important as its ‘strength’ or hardness in saying how easy or difficult it will be to remove material by cutting; during wear and erosion; in ballistic perforation, etc.; and in what form the separated material will appear. Simply put, R makes ‘ductility’ quantitative.The well-known scale effect in fracture mechanics (energy stored or dissipated depending upon volume, but energy required for fracture depending on area) is revealed throughout removal processes. For example, it explains why glass may be machined at the micrometer scale but shatters at larger scales; why, in comminution, there is a limit below which powders cannot be ground; why, in cutting a given material, transformations from continuous chips to ‘knocking lumps out’ are easily produced by altering tool geometry and depth of cut. From this sort of thing it becomes clear that fracture is part and parcel of all material removal processes. What is called a scale effect in cutting, where the specific cutting pressure or unit power (and derived yield strengths) increase at small depths of cut for no apparent reason, is not a scale effect and is expected when cutting is modelled to include toughness as well as plasticity and friction.Why great progress has been made in understanding the mechanics of chip formation in metalcutting without regard to separation work is discussed: the boundary layers forming the top of the machined surface and the bottom of the chip are thin (relatively so thin that they are missed in FEM modelling unless very fine meshes are employed), that the chip formation plastic flow field is essentially uncoupled from the work of separation.Examples are given from a wide range of separation processes that demonstrate that the toughness-to-strength (R/τ_y) ratio of a material is important and, when combined with the depth of cut t to make the non-dimensional parameter (R/τ_yt), or ER/τ_y²t to include elastic behaviour, will determine how a material will behave in removal processes. Applications to abrasion (Krushschov and Babichev), erosion (Finnie), and engraving are highlighted.     

Revision of cavitation erosion database and analysis of stainless steel data

Cavitation erosion data have been accumulated in our laboratory for about 32 years since 1970. The database was constructed as electronic data in MS Excel files. The data files are able to offer quick search in terms of the test material, test method and test conditions from among 859 data. In this study, 131 data since 2003 were newly added to the database constructed in our previous study. The stainless steel data were analyzed, including various stainless steels such as ferritic, austenitic, duplex and martensitic stainless steels. Vibratory cavitation test results for different stainless steels, obtained with varying test conditions of frequency, amplitude and attachment of specimen, were converted analytically to obtain average erosion rates under assumed standardized conditions of a stationary specimen test with 1 mm standoff distance, and with frequency and amplitude as specified by ASTM G32. The average of erosion rate under the standardized condition (ASTM G32, stationary specimen method, standoff distance 1 mm) was determined for different stainless steels. The erosion resistance was defined as a reciprocal of erosion rate, and the correlation between erosion resistance and hardness of the specimen after erosion test was better than with the other mechanical properties. The erosion resistance is equal to 2.6E?07 × (HV × F_mat)^2.4 (HV; Vickers hardness, F_mat; material factor), and the correlation coefficient is 0.98. It was concluded that the erosion resistance of different stainless steels could be estimated with high reliability from the material hardness and the material factor.     

Material and velocity effects on cavitation erosion pitting

Cavitation erosion during the incubation period was investigated via pitting tests conducted on three different materials: an Aluminum alloy, a Nickel Aluminum Bronze alloy and a Duplex Stainless Steel. Pitting tests were conducted in a cavitation tunnel in the velocity range 45–90 m/s at a constant cavitation number. The test section was made of a straight nozzle 16 mm in diameter discharged into the radial 2.5 mm space between two flat walls. Cavitation appears in the form of a toroidal cavity attached to the nozzle exit and damage on the samples facing the nozzle is concentrated in a circular ring centered in the cavity closure region. The exposure time was adjusted to avoid pit overlapping. The material surface was examined using a conventional contact profilometer which allowed us to identify the pits, count them, and measure their main characteristics such as depth, surface area, and volume. From these the pitting rate, the coverage rate, and the depth of deformation rate were defined. Pits were classified according to their diameter. For all materials and operating conditions, pitting rate appears to follow an exponential law in relation to the pit diameter. This law depends upon two parameters only, which were identified as the coverage time τ (i.e. the time required for the surface to be covered by erosion pits) and a characteristic pit diameter δ, which corresponds to the pits whose contribution to the coverage process is the highest. Scaling laws for pitting were derived accounting for both material properties and flow velocity, and a procedure to make pitting test results non-dimensional is proposed. The influence of the material on pitting test results was analyzed. It is shown that the damage is not correlated in simple terms with the elastic limit determined from conventional tensile tests and it is conjectured that other parameters such as the strain rate might play a significant role and should be included in the analysis. The effect of flow velocity on both parameters τ and δ was analyzed and a classical power law was found for the influence of the flow velocity on pitting rate for all three materials. Finally, some analysis and discussion is given concerning distributions of pit volume and pit depth.     

Lubricity of High Water Content Aqueous Gels

Aqueous gels such as biopolymer gels, mucus, and high water content hydrogels are often qualitatively described as lubricious. In hydrogels, mesh size, ξ, has been found to be a controlling parameter in friction coefficient. In the tribology of aqueous gels, we suggest that the Weissenberg number (Wi) is a useful parameter to define different regimes, and following the original formulations in rheology, Wi is given by the polymer relaxation time (ηξ³/k_BT) multiplied by the shear rate due to fluid shear through a single mesh (V/ξ): Wi?=?ηVξ²/k_BT. At sliding speeds below a Weissenberg number of approximately 0.1, Wi?<?0.1, the friction coefficient is velocity-independent and scales with mesh size to the ??1 power, µ ∝ ξ^?1. De Gennes’ scaling concepts for elastic modulus, E, give a dependence on polymer mesh size to the ??3 power, E ∝ ξ^?3, and following Hertzian contact analysis, the contact area is found to depend on the mesh size squared, A ∝ ξ². Combining these concepts, the shear stress, τ, and therefore the lubricity of aqueous gels, is predicted to be highly dependent on the mesh size, τ ∝ ξ^?3. Studies aimed at elucidating the fundamental mechanism of lubricity in biopolymer gels, mucus, and hydrogels have wrestled with comparisons across mesh size, which can be extremely difficult to accurately quantify. Using scaling concepts relating polymer mesh size to water content reveals that shear stress decreases rapidly with increasing water content, and plots of shear stress as a function of swollen water content are suggested as a useful method to compare aqueous gels of unknown mesh size. As a lower bound, these data are compared against estimates of fluid shear stress for free and bound water flowing through a mesh size estimated by the water content of the gels. The results indicate that the strong dependence on lubricity is likely due to a synergistic combination of a low viscosity solvent (water) coupled to a system that has a decreasing friction coefficient, modulus, and the resulting contact pressure with increasing water content. Although the permeability, K, of aqueous gels increases dramatically with water content (and mesh size), K ? ξ²/η, the stronger decrease of the elastic modulus and subsequent decrease in contact pressure due to an increase in the contact length, predicts that the draining time under contact, t, actually increases strongly with increasing water content and mesh size, t ∝ ξ². Consistent with the finding of extremely high water content aqueous gels on the surfaces of biological tissues, these high water content gels are predicted to be optimal for lubrication as they are both highly lubricious and robust at resisting draining and sustaining hydration.     

Solution of inverse dynamics problems for contour error minimization in CNC machines

For CNC machines governed by typical feedback controllers, the problem of compensating for inertia and damping of the machine axes is solved by a priori modifications to the commanded path geometry. Standard second-order models of axis dynamics are expressed in terms of the path parameter ξ rather than the time t as independent variable, incurring ordinary differential equations with polynomial coefficients. For a commanded path specified as a Pythagorean-hodograph curve R(ξ) and a P controller, a modified path $\hat{\bf R}(\xi)$ can be determined as a rational Bézier curve, that precisely compensates for the axis inertia and damping, and thus (theoretically) achieves zero contour error. For PI, PID, or P–PI controllers, exact closed-form solutions for $\hat{\bf R}(\xi)$ are no longer possible, but polynomial approximations may be computed in the numerically stable Bernstein basis on ξ?∈?[ 0,1 ]. The inverse-dynamics path modification procedure is applicable to both constant feedrates and variable feedrates defined by polynomial functions V(ξ) of the curve parameter. The method is described in the general context of PID controllers, and its implementation is then demonstrated for both P and PI controllers, governing motion along paths with extreme variations of curvature and/or parametric speed.     

The effect of test variables on the platelet mechanism of erosion

The validity of the platelet mechanism of solid particle erosion was investigated over a wider range of test conditions than were originally used to develop it. Conditions were selected that were expected to be more favorable for the occurrence of the microcutting mechanism of erosion. It was determined that higher velocities to 130 m s⁻¹ and lower impact angles to α = 20° did not change the basic platelet loss mechanism. Erosion rate changes were determined to relate to the size of the platelets that were formed. An erosion rate peak was observed near the beginning of the erosion process that related to the platelet mechanism of erosion over a relatively large range of particle sizes, velocities and impact angles.     

Influence of the Erodent Shape on the Erosion Behavior of Ductile and Brittle Materials

Solid particle erosion is identified as a major wear process occurring in numerous industrial applications. A number of test parameters influence the behavior of the materials during this wear process. Particle shape is one of the key factors, which is often discussed for ductile or brittle materials in the literature, but a comparative study of ductile and brittle materials showing an effect of particle shape has not been addressed in detail until now. The present work discusses the influence of erodent shape on the wear behavior of a ductile (Ti-6Al-4 V alloy) and a brittle (TiN coating) material during the erosion process. Investigations are performed in an erosion test rig where the ductile and brittle materials are charged with spherical and angular SiO₂ particles at normal impact. Results show an inverse erosion behavior of ductile and brittle materials with the variation in particle shape. Ductile materials show low material removal with spherical particles, whereas brittle materials show low material removal rates with angular ones. This work also provides an analysis of the material removal phenomenon to understand the effect of particle shape on tested materials. Since materials removal phenomenon in ductile materials is often reported in the literature, this work addresses the material removal behavior especially in ceramic coatings.     

Wear of ceramic nozzles by dry sand blasting

Monolithic B₄C, Al₂O₃/(W,Ti)C and Al₂O₃/TiC/Mo/Ni ceramic composites, which provided a reasonably wide range of mechanical properties and microstructure, were produced to be used as nozzles materials. The erosion wear of the nozzle caused by abrasive particle impact was compared with dry sand blasting by determining the cumulative mass loss of the nozzles made from these materials. Results showed that the hardness of the nozzle material plays an important role with respect to its erosion wear. On the nozzle entry bore section, the B₄C nozzle appears to be entirely brittle in nature with the evidence of large scale-chipping, and exhibited a brittle fracture induced removal process. While the erosion mechanism of Al₂O₃/TiC/Mo/Ni nozzle appeared to be a preferential removal of the metal binder followed by pluck out of the undermined Al₂O₃ and TiC grains under the same test conditions. On the nozzle center bore zone, the B₄C nozzle fails in a highly brittle manner, and there are lots of obvious micro-cracks and small pits located on this area. While the primary wear mechanisms of Al₂O₃/TiC/Mo/Ni nozzle is plowing and micro-cutting by the abrasive particles. Both types of material removal model seem to be occurred for the Al₂O₃/(W,Ti)C nozzle.     

The erosion of reaction-bonded SiC

The impact erosion of commercial reaction-bonded SiC by angular Al₂O₃ particles was investigated at room temperature over a range of median particle sizes (23–270 μm), velocities (54–151 m s^?1) and impact angles (10–90°) by weight loss measurements and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The weight loss curves show a transient of increasing rate prior to achieving steady state. Current theories do not predict the result that the steady state erosion rate ΔW is given by ΔW = R^0.7–0.95v^2.0–2.5 where R is the impacting particle radius and v is the velocity. The steady state surface morphology changes from a mesa-like structure, where the mesas are protrusions of large SiC regions surrounded by valleys of a fine-grained intergranular mixed SiC-Si region, to a more uniform structure as the Al₂O₃ particle size increases. This is a geometrical effect reflecting the microstructural scale. The particle size dependence of ΔW does not show a break when the surface morphology undergoes this transition, which suggests that the net erosion rate may be a simple volume average of the component rates. The SEM micrographs and the angular dependence of ΔW suggest that plasticity occurs although the damage is predominantly brittle fracture. The steady state erosion rates for the smallest particles are anomalously low, which may be attributed to either threshold or microstructural effects.     

Cavitation damage prediction

New results from cavitating venturi water tests were used to reinforce the concept of cavitation erosion efficiency previously developed from tests in a vibratory facility with both water and sodium. The concept emerges from a technique which allows a priori prediction of eventual cavitation erosion rates in flow machines. Bubble collapse pulse height spectra obtained from submerged microprobes are correlated with measured erosion rates in given laboratory and/or field devices to allow this prediction. Preliminary results from such correlations are presented together with other measurements of the effects of gas content, velocity and cavitation condition upon the mechanical cavitation intensity as measured by the pulse height spectra.New results from vibratory facility tests in tap water and synthetic seawater upon three materials of variable corrodability (304 stainless steel, 1018 carbon steel and 1100-0 aluminum) are presented. The ratio between maximum erosion rates for the saltwater and freshwater tests were found to increase toward unity as the mechanical cavitation intensity is increased, i.e. increased mean depth to penetration (MDPR), as expected on theoretical grounds.The relation between the incubation period and MDPR_max was examined from the vibratory test results, and was found to depend upon the material properties as well as the fluid flow conditions.     

The mechanism of ductile chip formation in cutting of brittle materials

A theoretical analysis for the mechanism of ductile chip formation in the cutting of brittle materials is presented in this paper. The coexisting crack propagation and dislocation in the chip formation zone in the cutting of ductile materials are examined based on an analysis of the geometry and forces in the cutting region, both on Taylor’s dislocation hardening theory and the strain gradient plasticity theory. It was found that the ductile chip formation was a result of large compressive stress and shear stress in the chip formation zone, which shields the growth of pre-existing flaws by suppressing the stress intensity factor K _I . Additionally, ductile chip formation in the cutting of brittle materials can result from the enhancement of material yield strength in the chip formation zone. The large compressive stress can be generated in the chip formation zone with two conditions. The first condition is associated with a small, undeformed chip thickness, while the second is related to the undeformed chip thickness being smaller than the radius of the tool cutting edge. The analysis also shows that the thrust force F _t is much larger than the cutting force F _c . This indicates that large compressive stress is generated in the chip formation zone. This also confirms that the ductile chip formation is a result of large compressive stress in the chip formation zone, which shields the growth of pre-existing flaws in the material by suppressing the stress intensity factor K _I . The enhancement of material yield strength can be provided by dislocation hardening and strain gradient at the mesoscale, such that the workpiece material can undertake the large cutting stresses in the chip formation zone without fracture. Experiments for ductile cutting of tungsten carbide are conducted. The results show that ductile chip formation can be achieved as the undeformed chip thickness is small enough, as well as the undeformed chip thickness is smaller than the tool cutting edge radius.     

Chemical and morphological evaluation of enamel and dentin near cavities restored with conventional and zirconia modified glass ionomer subjected to erosion‐abrasion

Microenergy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (μ‐EDXRF) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to test the hypothesis that zirconia modified glass ionomer cement (GIC) could improve resistance to erosion‐abrasion to a greater extent than conventional cement. Bovine enamel (n = 40) and dentin (n = 40) samples were prepared with cavities, filled with one of the two restorative materials (GIC: glass‐ionomer cement or ZrGIC: zirconia‐modified GIC). Furthermore, the samples were treated with abrasion‐saliva (AS) or abrasion‐erosion cycles (AE). Erosive cycles (immersion in orange juice, three times/day for a duration of 1 min over a 5 day period) and/or abrasive challenges (electric toothbrush, three times/day for a duration of 1 min over a 5 day period) were performed. Positive mineral variation (MV%) on the enamel after erosion‐abrasion was observed for both materials (p < 0.05), whereas a negative MV% on the dentin was observed for both materials and treatments (p < 0.05). The SEM images showed clear enamel loss after erosion‐abrasion treatment and material degradation was greater in GIC_AE compared to those of the other groups. Toothbrush abrasion showed a synergistic effect with erosion on substance loss of bovine enamel, dentin, GIC, and ZrGIC restorations. Zirconia addition to the GIC powder improved the resistance to abrasive‐erosive processes. The ZrGIC materials may find application as a restorative material due to improved resistance as well as in temporary restorations and fissure sealants.