Sliding wear behavior of salt bath nitrocarburized medium carbon steel

Salt bath nitrocarburizing is a well-known thermochemical diffusion process for enhancing the tribological and corrosion properties of ferrous components. The current work describes the role of a compound layer developed during nitrocarburizing, both in the ferritic and austenitic regimes of Fe-N-C system, on the sliding wear behavior of a medium carbon steel. The wear behavior of the nitrocarburized steel discs was assessed by the pin-on-disc tests (ASTM G 99-99) under different normal loads running against a hardened SAE52100 pin. It was observed that the compound layer on the surface not only controlled the wear rate but also resisted the adhesive wear/transfer of material from pin to disc, aside from providing low-friction coefficients.     

基于金刚石薄膜的微间隙室制备

采用金刚石薄膜作为阴-阳极间绝缘介质层是一种新型的微间隙室(MGC)结构。该文详细介绍和讨论了采用常规的微细加工工艺制备基于金刚石薄膜介质层的MGC的制备技术,其典型结构为阳极微条宽20μm,微条间隔180μm,器件探测区面积为38 mm×34 mm。采用热丝CVD法制备的金刚石薄膜作为阴-阳极间绝缘介质层,厚7~8μm,具有(100)晶面结构。金刚石的刻蚀采用反应离子刻蚀,Cr作掩膜,O2和SF6为刻蚀气体,刻蚀速率为79 nm/min,与Cr的刻蚀比约为20:1。实验结果表明,采用的微加工结合自套准工艺可很好地解决金刚石薄膜的制备、图形化及金属阳极电极与金刚石薄膜的相互套准等金刚石薄膜的可加工性及兼容性问题,并制备出采用金刚石薄膜作为电极间绝缘介质层的新型MGC结构。     

Variable-gain up-converter with current reuse for 5-GHz WLAN applications

A variable-gain up-conversion mixer for 5-GHz WLAN applications is presented, whose input stage is based on a novel variable gain transconductor. The proposed topology features reduced power consumption by exploiting dc current reuse for mixer biasing. Moreover, a new low-consumption control circuit is introduced, which achieves a temperature-stable and linear-in-dB characteristic, providing a 40-dB dynamic range within ±1 dB gain error.     

Dynamic Effects in Hopkinson Bar Four-Point Bend Fracture

Hopkinson bar techniques have played an important role in the study of high-rate deformation and fracture behavior of materials. In the current work, a split Hopkinson pressure bar was developed for dynamic four-point bend fracture testing, referred to as a “two-bar (incident and transmitted bars)/four-point” (2-bar/4-pt) bend test. To further understand some fundamental issues regarding stress wave propagation in this 2-bar/4-pt bend testing system, dynamic fracture tests were performed in pulse-shaped and unshaped pulse testing conditions. The effect of the pulse shaper on the incident pulse characteristics (rise time and duration), specimen’s dynamic response (load and loading point displacement), crack initiation time and stress-state equilibrium were investigated experimentally in the current work. The present results show that stress state equilibrium can be achieved prior to fracture initiation in notched and precracked specimens. In the pulse-shaped bending test, the specimen is more likely to attain stress-state equilibrium than in an unshaped incident pulse test. The crack initiation time was extended and the time required for attaining stress equilibrium was reduced by pulse shaping due to the tailored incident pulse having a longer rise time, which ensures that stress equilibrium is achieved prior to crack initiation. This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium entitled “Dynamic Behavior of Materials,” which occurred during the TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition, February 25–March 1, 2007 in Orlando, Florida, under the auspices of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, TMS Structural Materials Division, and TMS/ASM Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee.     

Modeling of Bolt Joint Behavior of Cast Aluminum Alloy (A380-T5) by Coupling Creep and Plasticity in Finite Element Analysis

Aluminum casting alloys exhibit creep behavior when the materials are exposed to high temperature and load. In this article, the stress- and temperature-dependent creep behavior of a die casting A380-T5 aluminum alloy was simulated using a classical constitutive model. The bolt-load retention behavior of the material was analyzed in a head bolt joint in an aluminum engine under thermal cycle condition using the finite element method. In this simulation, transient thermal analysis was performed first to calculate the metal temperature at the head bolt joint as a function of time during engine thermal cycling. This temperature was then input as the thermal loading in the subsequent structural analysis to calculate its effect on the bolt-load retention. The finite element analysis (FEA) model for the bolt-load retention simulation includes not only the plasticity in all metal components but also the creep properties of head bolt threads in the cast aluminum engine block. The FEA model was validated by good correlation between the predicted head bolt-load loss and the experimental measurement during engine thermal cycling. The simulation results also indicated that creep in the head bolt threads of cast aluminum engine block was mainly responsible for the load loss in the head bolt joint. This article is based on a presentation given in the symposium entitled “Simulation of Aluminum Shape Casting Processing: From Design to Mechanical Properties” which occurred March 12–16, 2006 during the TMS Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas under the auspices of the Computational Materials Science and Engineering Committee, the Process Modeling, Analysis and Control Committee, the Solidification Committee, the Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee, and the Light Metal Division/Aluminum Committee.     

Synthesis of Iron-Based Laves Phase Containing Praseodymium Magnetostrictive Materials

The synthesis and magnetostriction of PrxTb1-x.Fe2, PrxTb1-x Fe2BO2 and PrxTb1-x（Fe0.6Co0.4）2 alloys were investigated in this study. The addition of boron or cobalt atom in PrxTb1-xFe2 could effectively prevent the formation of non-cubic phases, and Pr concentration limit was successfully increased from 0.2 to 0.4. X-ray step scanning for the PrxTb1-xFe2BO2 and PrxTb1-x（Fe0.6Co0.4）2 alloys showed that PrFe2 possessed a large spontaneous magnetostriction λ1111.     

废塑料改性沥青的性能研究

通过沥青基本性能测试、荧光显微镜观察研究了废塑料（PE）对改性沥青高温性能的影响及其机理,并通过对改性沥青混合料的马歇尔稳定度测试及对沥青混合料断口观察研究了混合料的强度及高温性能。结果表明：废PE达到一定剂量时,在沥青中形成网状结构,增强了改性沥青的高温性能；加入废PE后,沥青与矿料的结合强度提高,提高了沥青混合料的高温稳定性。