Production of Al–Ti–B master alloys from Ti sponge and KBF4

It is of great interest to replace the K₂TiF₆ salt so as to reduce the volume of fluoride-bearing particulate material to be added to the aluminium melt in the popular “halide salt” process. Ti sponge was used in the present work as the source of Ti in the production of an Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner. Addition of Ti granules into molten aluminium, either premixed with or before KBF₄ salt, has produced Al–5Ti–1B alloys where the boride particles were relatively few and predominantly of the AlB₂ type. The grain refining efficiency of these alloys were far from satisfactory. TiB₂ was the dominant boride phase with sufficient number of blocky aluminide particles when Ti, in excess of the TiB₂ stoichiometry was supplied before hand and the balance was reserved for co-addition with KBF₄. Al₃Ti particles were generated soon after the Ti solubility limit was exceeded in the first step while the boride particles were subsequently produced by the reaction between molten aluminium, KBF₄ and K₂TiF₆. The Al–5Ti–1B master alloy thus produced provided an adequate grain refining performance while the amount of particulate material to be added to the aluminium melt was reduced by nearly 30%.     

Investigation of the cyanide leaching optimization for ultrafine grinding gold–silver ore

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the ultrafine grinding (UFG) process has become increasingly important for the recovery of precious metals (especially for Au and Ag) from raw ores. It is well known that cyanide leaching of gold–silver ore has been an accepted process in the world. In the current study, UFG was proposed as a pretreatment method prior to cyanide leaching of a gold–silver ore. First, the ore was crushed and ground by jaw, cone crusher, and ring mill, respectively. Particle size of ground product was 75 µm based d₈₀. Second, the fine product was subjected to the grinding process by vertical wet stirred ball mill, and the final ultrafine product was used as leach feed material. The leach feed material had about d₈₀ = 20 µm and d₅₀ = 6.02 µm particle size. Some important leaching parameters were optimized by using the ultrafine powder in the study. The final leach experiments demonstrated that the recoveries of Au and Ag were 91.92% and 82.15% under optimum leaching conditions such as 150 kg/t quicklime dosage, 25% pulp density, 85°C leach temperature, 500 g/t cyanide concentration, and 90 h leaching time.     

Age hardening of EN AW 2014 alloy extruded in the semi-solid state

Response to T6 heat treatment of thixoextruded EN AW 2014 aluminium alloy was investigated in the present work. Extrusion of a 2014 slug heated to a liquid fraction of 15%, takes place in the semi-solid state until the liquid fraction in the final part of the slug is reduced via segregation to a level where semi-solid forming is no longer possible. Hence, the final part of the slug is extruded in the solid-state with a concurrent recrystallization process. This process has produced two distinctly different structures at the front and rear ends and an unexpected hardness profile in T6 temper along the length of the thixoextruded rod. The response to T6 heat treatment of the globular front has been age hardening as usual. The inferior age hardening potential with respect to the hot extruded counterpart is attributed to the grain boundary Al₂Cu phase which has grown too coarse via liquid segregation to be readily solutionized at typical solutionizing temperatures. The rear end of the extrudate on the other hand, has softened upon T6 heat treatment owing to Cu depletion and a fully recrystallized structure.     

Quinoidal Molecules as a New Class of Ambipolar Semiconductor Originating from Amphoteric Redox Behavior

The two small molecules, quinoidal bithiophene (QBT) and quinoidal biselenophene (QBS), are designed based on a quinoid structure, and synthesized via a facile synthetic route. These quinoidal molecules have a reduced band gap and an amphoteric redox behavior, which is caused by an extended delocalization. Due to such properties, organic field‐effect transistors based on QBT and QBS have shown balanced ambipolar characteristics. After thermal annealing, the performances of the devices are enhanced by an increase in crystallinity. The field‐effect hole and electron mobilities are measured to be 0.031 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and 0.005 cm² V^?1 s^?1 for QBT, and 0.055 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and 0.021 cm² V^?1 s^?1 for QBS, respectively. In addition, we investigate the effect of chalcogen atoms (S and Se) on the molecular properties. The optical, electrochemical properties and electronic structures are mainly dominated by the quinoidal structure, whereas molecular properties are scarcely affected by either type of chalcogen atom. The main effect of the chalcogen atoms is ascribed to the difference of crystallinity. Due to a strong intermolecular interaction of the selenophene, QBS exhibits a higher degree of crystallinity, which leads to an enhancement of both hole and electron mobilities. Consequently, these types of quinoidal molecules are found to be promising for use as ambipolar semiconductors.     

Microstructural characterization of a rapidly-solidified Al-12 wt% Si alloy

Optical, electron metallography and X-ray diffraction techniques were employed to characterize the microstructure of a rapidly solidified Al-12 wt% Si alloy. Ribbons produced with the planar flow casting process at a cooling rate of 10⁶ Ks^–1, had a very fine cellular structure of Al and nanosize Si particles which are distributed inside and at the boundaries of these cells. Thinner sections (t<30 m) have apparently experienced higher cooling rates and show, in addition to a cellular structure, a distinct zone which is featureless at optical microscope magnifications.     

Investigation of photocatalytic properties of TiO2 nanoparticle coating on fly ash and red mud based porous ceramic substrate

Titanium dioxide is one of the best semiconducting photocatalysts available for photocatalytic cleaning applications. Especially nano-sized TiO₂ particles deposited on porous substrates can be utilized as a filter for solid and liquid media. On the other hand, red mud and thermal plant fly ash are hazardous wastes that are produced in large quantities. Recycling/reuse of these waste material in a porous ceramic production would be beneficial both for environmental and economical issues. In the present study, a porous substrate was produced from red mud and fly ash with varying ratios and additives of H₃BO₃, CaCO₃, and MgCO₃ for lowering the melting temperature and porosity formation. Sintered ceramics were then coated with nano-sized TiO₂ particles by the sol-gel method. Ultrasonic dispersion of nano-sized TiO₂ nanoparticles was also utilized as an alternative method for impregnation of nanoparticles into the porous structure of the ceramic substrate. Finally, photocatalytic activities and degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV radiation of substrates were investigated. According to the SEM investigations, the sol-gel method was observed to be a better way of nanoparticle deposition because deposited particles are homogenous throughout the ceramic body. Also, this method provides lower particle sizes than the ones that were deposited by the ultrasonic dispersion method. This results in higher surface area and better photocatalytic activities.     

A 14‐Gb/s dual‐mode receiver with MIPI D‐PHY and C‐PHY interfaces for mobile display drivers

This paper presents a 14‐Gb/s dual‐mode receiver with MIPI D‐PHY and C‐PHY interfaces for mobile display drivers. To reduce size overhead from the dual‐mode interfaces, we propose the termination circuit that shares 50‐Ω terminations and common‐mode capacitors while maintaining a perfectly matched load balance. The proposed dual‐mode receiver can support 14‐Gb/s total bandwidth in each interface mode, resulting in broad compatibility with application processors. A mobile display driver using the proposed dual‐mode receiver is fabricated in a 28‐nm high‐voltage CMOS process and verified up to 3.5 Gb/s per lane in the D‐PHY mode and 2.2 Gs/s per trio in the C‐PHY.     

ABySS-Explorer: Visualizing Genome Sequence Assemblies

One bottleneck in large-scale genome sequencing projects is reconstructing the full genome sequence from the short subsequences produced by current technologies. The final stages of the genome assembly process inevitably require manual inspection of data inconsistencies and could be greatly aided by visualization. This paper presents our design decisions in translating key data features identified through discussions with analysts into a concise visual encoding. Current visualization tools in this domain focus on local sequence errors making high-level inspection of the assembly difficult if not impossible. We present a novel interactive graph display, ABySS-Explorer, that emphasizes the global assembly structure while also integrating salient data features such as sequence length. Our tool replaces manual and in some cases pen-and-paper based analysis tasks, and we discuss how user feedback was incorporated into iterative design refinements. Finally, we touch on applications of this representation not initially considered in our design phase, suggesting the generality of this encoding for DNA sequence data.     

Understanding the potential for adoption of high-iron varieties of pearl millet in Maharashtra,India: what explains their popularity?

Pearl millet is one of the most important food staples of poorer populations in the drylands of India. To better understand the potential market for high-iron, pearl millet hybrids, we explored factors associated with growing pearl millet, and those that influence whether farmers grow major (popular) hybrids, as compared with minor cultivars in the State of Maharashtra. We tested the relationships among cultivar choice, seed source, and information sources. The data confirm that pearl millet is more likely to be grown by poorer households in drier, drought-prone areas. Scheduled castes are more likely to grow popular hybrids, and less likely to grow minor cultivars, but are no less likely to acquire seed from commercial vendors than less privileged people. Farmers who ascribe more importance to consumption attributes are more likely to grow minor than popular hybrids. De facto, popular pearl millet varieties are likely to reach less privileged farmers. To attain adoption potential, popular hybrids could be targeted for iron enrichment, and commercial marketing strategies should be pursued with diversified public and private sector partnerships.