Direct length comparison between regular crystalline lattice and SEM standard grating using dual tunneling unit STM

This paper presents a potential image processing method for calibrating the in-plane geometrical distortion of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) image using a regular crystalline lattice, describes the assessment evaluation of comparative length measurement in the range of about 1 micrometer using a regular crystalline lattice as a reference scale and a dual tunneling unit-STM (DTU-STM) as a detector, and shows the results of direct length comparison between a scanning tunneling microscope (SEM) standard grating, whose pitch is 240 nm, and a regular crystalline lattice using a DTU-STM. The method is based on two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis. The DTU- STM with one X-Y stage and two tunneling units independently controlled in the Z-axis direction has been utilized for comparative length measurement. To improve the measurement accuracy, the present method is used to process the raw images obtained from the DTU-STM. The results of assessment experiments, in which the cleaved surface of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) is used as a reference scale for measurement of lengths on the order of 1 micrometer, demonstrate the feasibility of the present image processing method and the comparative length measurement with sub-nanometer resolution using the DTU- STM. The value of the SEM standard grating pitch, which obtained from the direct length comparison with HOPG lattice spacing using the DTU-STM, was coincided with the value obtained from the conventional diffraction method within a error of 2 %.     

Emf Measurements in the Liquid Au-Cu-Sn Lead-free Solder Alloys

An emf method was employed to determine tin activities in the liquid Au-Cu-Sn alloys using solid electrolyte galvanic cells. The whole concentration range of the Gibbs triangle was covered, and emf readings were taken for both heating and cooling mode within temperature interval: 900-1360 K. Emf versus T relations were approximated by line equations, and its coefficients were listed in tables. Tin activity versus composition curves were constructed, displaying negative deviation from ideal behavior. Activity data were compared to the respective values calculated from COST 531 database using binary formalism, and relatively good agreement was observed.     

Angular measurement of acoustic reflection coefficient for substrate materials and layered structures by V(z) technique

An experimental method to evaluate the acoustic reflection coefficient as a function of the incident angle R(θ) for substrate materials or layered structures is presented. By measuring the acoustic material signature V(z) using a highly focused acoustic lens or transducer at normal incidence, the reflection coefficient R(θ) can be reconstructed from the FFT of the complex V(z) signal (amplitude and phase of the echo). This technique has a great simplicity for the experimental procedure of R(θ) measurement. It overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional method where the finite-aperture plane beam reduces the angular precision and causes the unexpected non-specular reflection at critical incident angles. Results are given for different substrate materials, single plates and a three-layered bonded joint, and are compared to theoretical predictions.     

Statistical analysis of EPMA results for numerical modelling of micro-segregation in steel

Abstract

Measurement of concentration by electron beam probe micro analysis (EPMA) gives data about the distribution of alloyed chemical elements of the solidified steel. Those experimental data are essential for mathematical prediction of the structure. Particularly, distribution coefficients which give the concentration ratio at the solid-liquid-interface are parameters for micro-segregation simulations. Depending on the structure like columnar or equiaxed dendritic the local extent of element concentrations causes a characteristic pattern. Statistical methods are used to find out characteristic values because an EPMA gives back the concentration scans of a measured line or of an area (mapping) which can consist of e.g. 6·5 × 10⁴ values for each analysed element at about 0·25 mm². The length scale ratios of sample size and measurement grid have to be optimized according to the structure in the area of interest. A comparison of statistical concentration distributions was carried out from both aspects, measurement of real steel samples and mathematical approach based on micro-segregation formula. Columnar and equiaxed dendritic structures have been investigated in terms of statistical element distribution, and the resulting data are applied to modelling of solidification. Determined distribution coefficients k of [Mn] depend on the as-cast structure, the chemical steel composition, and the kind of definition of the min- and max-values of EPMA-readings.     

Auto-detection of strip area in 3D measurement

3D measurement is an important task for modern manufacturing, because 2D measurement cannot meet the increasing requirements for quality control in engineering. Among all, 3D recovery methods, by using structural lighting system are the most popular methods because of its non-destructive character. The acquiring of lighting strips, which have to be projected on the object is the most important work to ensure later matching work. In the former research, the position of the stripes in the image was very difficult to locate and must be drawn manually. Therefore, the aim of our research is to find a method to auto-detect the strip area. FFT (fast Fourier transform algorithm) are used to analyze the image character by row and by column. From the FFT result, in the power spectrum the strip area and non-strip area can be distinguished clearly. So the strip area can be marked exactly on the image, and image process algorithm can be used to pick up the strips only on this area. After the matching and 3D recovery algorithm, the 3D shape of the object can be plotted. The auto-detection strip algorithm can save a lot of time for the 3D measurement, automatically complete the 3D recovery procedure, and bring convenience to operators.     

High-precision determination of residual stress of polycrystalline coatings using optimised XRD-sinψ technique

The aim of the research is to optimise the XRD-sin²ψ technique in order to perform high precision measurement of surface residual stress. Residual stresses existing in most hard coatings have significant influence on the adhesion, mechanical properties and tribological performance. In the XRD-sin²ψ stress measurement, the residual stress value is determined through a linear regression between two parameters derived from experimentally measured diffraction angle (2θ). Thus, the precision coefficient (R²) of the linear regression reflects the accuracy of the stress measurement, which depends strongly on how precise the 2θ values are measured out of a group of very broad diffraction peaks. In this research, XRD experiments were conducted on a number of samples, including an electron beam evaporated ZrO₂ based thermal barrier coating, several magnetron sputtered transition metal nitride coatings, and shot-peened superalloy components. In each case, the diffraction peak position was determined using different methods, namely, the maximum intensity (I_max) method, the middle point of half maximum (MPHM) intensity method, the gravity centre method, and the parabolic approaching method. The results reveal that the R² values varied between 0.25 and 0.99, depending on both the tested materials and the method of the 2θ value determination. The parabolic approaching method showed the best linear regression with R² = 0.93 ± 0.07, leading to high precision of the determined residual stress value in all cases; both the MPHM (R² = 0.86 ± 0.16) and gravity centre (R² = 0.91 ± 0.11) methods also gave good results in most cases; and the I_max method (R² = 0.71 ± 0.27) exhibited substantial uncertainty depending on the nature of individual XRD scans.     

Measurements of local elastic moduli by amplitude and phase acoustic microscope

A new method is suggested for the nondestructive measurement of elastic moduli in a localized area, 100–400 μm in diameter, by the complex V(z) curve using an amplitude and phase acoustic microscope. The inverse Fourier transform of the complex V(z) curve contains the reflectance function of a liquid-specimen interface. Therefore, the longitudinal, transverse and Rayleigh wave velocities for the specimen are simultaneously obtained by the inversion of the complex V(z) curve. The elastic moduli for glass obtained from wave velocities by acoustic microscope agree fairly well with those by other methods. The present method is applied to aluminium alloy, and it is shown that this method is useful in measuring the microscopic characteristics in inhomogeneous materials.     

Tool wear condition monitoring in drilling operations using hidden Markov models (HMMs)

Monitoring of tool wear condition for drilling is a very important economical consideration in automated manufacturing. Two techniques are proposed in this paper for the on-line identification of tool wear based on the measurement of cutting forces and power signals. These techniques use hidden Markov models (HMMs), commonly used in speech recognition. In the first method, bargraph monitoring of the HMM probabilities is used to track the progress of tool wear during the drilling operation. In the second method, sensor signals that correspond to various types of wear status, e.g., sharp, workable and dull, are classified using a multiple modeling method. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. Although this work focuses on on-line tool wear condition monitoring for drilling operations, the HMM monitoring techniques introduced in this paper can be applied to other cutting processes.     

快速付里叶变换在板形检测中的应用

本文简述了付里叶变换原理及其快速算法在板形检测信号处理中的应用.通过在自行研制的动态板形检测模拟试验装置上测量板带的振动信息,采用快速付里叶变换对其进行频谱分析,获得板形缺陷信息,并将分析所得结果与剖条试验中实测的板带实际板形状况对比,两者对比结果是一致的、吻合的,从而为板形检测提供了一种新方法.     

Semantic segmentation of high-resolution remote sensing images using fully convolutional network with adaptive threshold

ABSTRACT

Semantic segmentation is an important method to implement fine-grained semantically understand for high-resolution remote sensing images by dividing images into pixel groupings which can then be labelled and classified. In the field of computer vision (CV), the methods based on fully convolutional network (FCN) are the hotspot and have achieved state-of-the-art results. Compared with popular datasets in CV such as PASCAL and COCO, class imbalance is a problem for multiclass semantic segmentation in remote sensing datasets. In this paper, an FCN-based model is proposed to implement pixel-wise classifications for remote sensing image in an end-to-end way, and an adaptive threshold algorithm is proposed to adjust the threshold of Jaccard index in each class. Experiments on DSTL dataset show that the proposed method produces accurate classifications in an end-to-end way. Results show that the adaptive threshold algorithm can increase the score of average Jaccard index from 0.614 to 0.636 and achieve better segmentation results.     

指示表图像特征的视觉检测方法

在对指示表进行智能读数时,需首先检测出指示表的两个图像特征,即指示表轮廓与指针位置,由此可以确定指示表的有效区域以及指针与刻度的位置关系。基于指示表图像的几何结构特征,提出一种指示表图像特征的视觉检测方法。通过对图像预处理提取出轮廓区域,基于对称性圆检测算法与Hough变换思路得到圆轮廓参数。然后在轮廓内部,以轮廓圆心作为指针回转中心,运用Radon变换得到指针中心线。最后利用二值图像椭圆特征识别出指针朝向。该方法能够准确、快速检测出指示表图像特征,为后续基于视觉的指示表智能读数提供必要的技术基础。     

Effects of latent heat of fusion on thermal processes in laser welding of aluminium alloys

Abstract

Based on the Green's function method, a mathematical model allowing for the latent heat of fusion and solidification is developed to describe the steady state, two-dimensional heat flow during welding of thin plates. It is demonstrated that the latent heat has a pronounced effect on shape and size of the weld pool and mushy zone. The thermal efficiency of base metal fusion by a line heat source η _t can exceed 0·4839 considerably if the latent heat is taken into account. It is shown that the known simplified approaches for considering the latent heat can introduce large errors into the estimation of η _t. The calculated and experimental weld pool shapes are compared.     

Microstructures of the scales formed on zircaloy-4 in steam at elevated temperatures

The ZrO ₂ scales formed on Zircaloy-4 PWR tubes during corrosion in steam in the temperature range of 1000–1300°C have been found to contain a metallic phase that is relatively rich in Sn. The precise composition of the metallic phase has not been determined. Most of the metallic phase is located in a line of metallic particles, which is oriented parallel to the alloy-scale interface and located near the center of the scale. The exact morphology of the scale on either side of the particle line has not been identified. The oxide between the metallic particles and the scale-steam interface contains very little Sn, except for a narrow zone adjacent to the scale-steam interface, which was formed in the beginning of the reaction. It appears that the scale between the metallic particles and the alloy-scale interface consists of thin columnar grains of ZrO ₂ with a very fine metallic phase probably located at the ZrO ₂ grain boundaries. The experimental evidence presently available indicates that the metallic phase exists in the scales at the reaction temperature. If the metallic particles were rich enough in Sn, then a liquid metallic phase would exist in the oxide during the reaction. Kinetic studies demonstrate that these particles move with respect to the scale-steam interface toward the center of the alloy during the course of the oxidation reaction. It appears that the presence of the line of metallic particles could, under certain conditions, markedly influence the mechanical properties of the oxide scales formed on Zircaloy-4.This research was sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under an interagency agreement with Union Carbide Corporation.     

Image processing of ESPI based on measurement the welding dynamic displacement fields

A dual-beam electronic speckle pattern inteorerometry (ESPI) system was adopted to get speckle patterns for the measurement of welding dynamic displacement fields. The mathematical model of this system was described, based on which methods of the ESPI pattern image processing were discussed. Gray transformation and histogram equalization were used to enhance the contrast of speckle patterns. A discrete cosine image processing method was carried out and an exponent low-pass filter was chosen to reduce multiplicative noise in speckle patterns. Speckle grain noise can be eliminated effectively after these processes.     

Non-destructive testing of high strength concrete using spectral analysis of surface waves

Non-destructive testing is essential in the inspection of alteration, repair and new construction in construction industry. Researchers are exploring the performance of non-destructive testing method using spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) in concrete structures. The method consists of the generation, measurement and processing of dispersive surface waves. In SASW test, the surface of the media under consideration is subject to an impact using, for example, a 12-mm steel ball, to generate surface wave energy at various frequencies. Two vertical accelerometer receivers detect the energy transmitted through the testing media. By recording signals in digitized form using a data acquisition system and processing them, surface wave velocity can be obtained using a dispersion curve. This study is to focus on understanding of the applicability and limitations of the SASW method in a high strength concrete. This study is also to characterize the material property of early age high strength concrete emphasizing compressive strength using non-destructive testing methods. Three high strength concrete slabs of 600, 850 and 1100 kg/cm² compressive strengths were prepared together with cylinders from same batches. Cylinder tests were performed at the ages of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after pouring concrete. Using the impact-echo method, the compression wave velocities were obtained based on different high strength concrete ages and compressive strengths. The equation to obtain the compressive strengths of high strength concrete has been developed using the obtained compression wave velocities (f′_c=1.083V_p−3816.1143). Using the method, the equation has also been developed to obtain the compressive strengths of high strength concrete based on the surface wave velocities (f′_c=0.253V_p+16.271). This study can be utilized in examining structural elements of high strength concrete structures and be applied in the integrity analysis of high strength concrete structures with a finite thickness.     

Defect identification in GRID-LOCK joints

Damage detection in aircraft structures is conducted using a variety of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques, including visual inspection, ultrasonic inspection, eddy current inspection, radiography and optical methods. These techniques are well established and have distinct advantages and limitations. Optical NDE methods show significant promise for variety of aerospace structural components, including inspection of bonded metallic GRID-LOCK^® structures. In this paper, a full-field surface slope measurement technique (shearography) is utilized to confirm the effectiveness of optical NDE. Two bond defects (one disbond and one weak bond) are incorporated into a GRID-LOCK^® test structure and internal pressurization results in qualitative indications of damage on the shearograms. Because accurate characterization of structural defects is critical for flight safety, a quantitative nondestructive evaluation (QNDE) method using a scanning optical probe is also explored. This QNDE method involves use of radial basis function networks (RBFNs) trained and validated using finite element analysis nodal displacements.     

Calculation of Uniform Corrosion Current Density of Iron in Hydrochloric Acid Solutions based on the Principle of Maximum Entropy Production Rate Applied to Literature Data

In this paper a new procedure for the calculation of uniform corrosion current density is presented. The procedure is based on the following criterion: corrosion current and extent of anodic and cathodic areas are such that the entropy production rate is maximum. Experimental data for the reaction Fe(s) + HCl(aq) = FeCl₂(aq) + H₂(g), taken from literature, are used to test the new model. A comparison between corrosion current density calculated from weight loss measurements and current density calculated from polarization curves by means of the proposed model is carried out. The proposed model provides a better agreement, between Tafel line extrapolation and gravimetric measurement, in comparison to the mixed potential theory usually adopted.     

The effect of test temperature on SCC behavior of austenitic stainless steels in boiling saturated magnesium chloride solution

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of the austenitic stainless steels of types 304, 310 and 316 was investigated as a function of test temperature in boiling saturated magnesium chloride solution (MgCl₂) using a constant load method. Both of types 304 and 316 exhibited similar corrosion elongation curves, while the corrosion elongation curve of type 310 was different from those of types 304 and 316, in terms of the three parameters such as time to failure (t_f), steady-state elongation rate (l_ss) and transition time to time to failure ratio (t_ss/t_f) obtained from the corrosion elongation curves for these stainless steels. The relationship between the time to failure and a reciprocal of test temperature fell in two straight lines on a semi-logarithmic scale as well as the relationship between the steady-state elongation rate and a reciprocal of test temperature. These regions were considered to correspond to a SCC-dominated region and a hydrogen embrittlement (HE)-dominated region from the value of (t_ss/t_f) and the fracture appearance. The relationship between the steady state elongation rates versus time to failure on a logarithmic scale became a straight line, whereas the slopes of the line for the stainless steels were different with the different fracture mechanism such as SCC and HE. It was found that the linearity of the relationship can be used to predict the time to failure for the stainless steels in the corrosive environment. In addition, type 310 did not suffer from HE, which means that type 310 showed only SCC. This would be explained by whether or not a formation of α′-martensite takes place.