Optimizing HVOF Spray Parameters to Maximize Bonding Strength of WC-CrC-Ni Coatings on AISI 304L Stainless Steel

High velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF)-sprayed cermet coatings are extensively used to combat erosion-corrosion in naval applications and in slurry environments. HVOF spray parameters such as oxygen flow rate, fuel flow rate, powder feed rate, carrier gas flow rate, and spray distance have significant influence on coating characteristics like adhesion bond strength and shear strength. This paper presents the use of statistical techniques in particular response surface methodology (RSM), analysis of variance, and regression analysis to develop empirical relationships to predict adhesion bond strength and lap shear bond strength of HVOF-sprayed WC-CrC-Ni coatings. The developed empirical relationships can be effectively used to predict adhesion bond strength and lap shear bond strength of HVOF-sprayed WC-CrC-Ni coatings at 95% confidence level. Response graphs and contour plots were constructed to identify the optimum HVOF spray parameters to attain maximum bond strength in WC-CrC-Ni coatings.     

Role of substrate temperature on the structural,optoelectronic and morphological properties of (400) oriented indium tin oxide thin films deposited using RF sputtering technique

RF sputtering process has been used to deposit highly transparent and conducting films of tin-doped indium oxide onto quartz substrates keeping the RF power constant at 250 W. The electrical, optical and structural properties have been investigated as a function of substrate temperature. XRD has shown that deposited films are polycrystalline and have (400) preferred orientation. Indium tin oxide layers with low resistivity values and high transmittance in the visible region have been deposited. Detailed Analyses based on X-ray diffraction, optical and electrical results are attempted to gain more insight into the factors that are governed by the influence of varying substrate temperature in this investigation. AFM pictures showed uniform surface morphology with very low surface roughness values. It has been observed that ITO films deposited in this study, keeping the substrate temperature at 150 °C, can provide the required optimum electrical and optical properties rendering them useful for developing many optoelectronic devices at a moderate temperature.     

Processing and properties of copper-coated carbon fibre reinforced aluminium alloy composites

Aluminium alloy matrix composites with carbon fibre reinforcement were prepared by stir casting method. In order to avoid any interfacial reactions in the carbon fibre reinforced composites, the carbon fibres were coated with copper. The fibres were coated by electroless coating method and then characterized. Composites containing different amounts of carbon fibres were prepared by stir casting and then subjected to age-hardening treatment. Fibre distribution was fairly uniform in the composites containing up to 4 wt% carbon fibres. Tensile strength of the composites was found to be increasing up to 4 wt% carbon fibre.     

Metal ion stimulation of phospholipase D-like activity of isolated rat intestinal mitochondria

Presence of phospholipase D-like (PLD) activity in the intestinal mitochondria was identified using endogenous phospholipids as substrate. The enzyme had a pH optimum of 6.5, did not show trans-phosphatidylation activity in the presence of ethanol or butanol, and the product formed was phosphatidic acid (PA). This was confirmed by separation of reaction products by high-performance liquid chromatography and analysis of composition of the PA formed which gave phosphate/fatty acid ratio of 1∶2. PLD-like activity was further confirmed by the formation of ethanolamine and choline as products of enzyme action. This activity was stimulated by various metal ions; when stimulated by Mg²⁺ and Ba²⁺, it hydrolyzed both phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, and when stimulated by Ca²⁺, it preferentially hydrolyzed phosphatidylethanolamine. There was no requirement for sodium oleate for the PLD-like activity in mitochondria. These results suggest that intestinal mitochondria have an active PLD-like enzyme which differs in certain properties from phospholipase D from other tissues.     

Tradeoffs in the design of efficient algorithm-based errordetection schemes for hypercube multiprocessors

The authors provide an in-depth study of the various issues and tradeoffs available in algorithm-based error detection, as well as a general methodology for evaluating the schemes. They illustrate the approach on an extremely useful computation in the field of numerical linear algebra: QR factorization. They have implemented and investigated numerous ways of applying algorithm-based error detection using different system-level encoding strategies for QR factorization. Specifically, schemes based on the checksum and sum-of-squares (SOS) encoding techniques have been developed. The results of studies performed on a 16-processor Intel iPSC-2/D4/MX hypercube multiprocessor are reported. It is shown that, in general, the SOS approach gives much better coverage (85-100%) for QR factorization while maintaining low overheads (below 10%)     

Communication interface in a physical simulator for robotic palletization

This paper addresses the issues relating to the communication channels in a physical simulator for flexible automation of a palletization task. The simulator used in our work involves an IBM-7545 robot, a personal computer and an Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The communications relating to the Robot/PC interface and the PLC/PC interface are discussed.

The palletization station design requires that decisions on pallet pattern are made dynamically by a program running on the personal computer. The Robot/PC communication interface is necessary to transmit these decisions to the robot controller for execution. This communication is to be achieved using BASIC language and AML 4.1 as the software platforms.

The PLC has the task of controlling the transport of the boxes coming to the palletization station. The program for deciding the pallet pattern, running on the personal computer, needs real-time information on the counts of boxes of different sizes that are arriving for palletization. The PLC/PC interface serves to provide this information.     

Influence of oxygen pressure on structural,optical and magnetic properties of pure ZnO films

In this paper, we study the influence of oxygen pressure on structural, optical and magnetic properties of pure ZnO films. The chemical compositions and thickness of the film were estimated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry measurements. X-ray diffraction patterns show all the films are in single phase and preferred along (002) orientation. With an increase of oxygen pressure, grain growth and average root mean square roughness is found to be increased. It is found that the intensity of UV emission peak increases whereas visible emission peak decreases in intensity with an increase of oxygen pressure. From the magnetization measurements, it is observed that ZnO film grown without oxygen pressure shows an enhanced ferromagnetic behaviour than that of the films grown with oxygen pressure of 0.05 and 0.1 mbar.     

Fatigue crack growth resistance of gas tungsten arc,electron beam and friction stir welded joints of AA2219 aluminium alloy

AA2219 aluminium alloy square butt joints without filler metal addition were fabricated using gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), electron beam welding (EBW) and friction stir welding (FSW) processes. The effect of three welding processes on fatigue crack growth behaviour is reported in this paper. Transverse tensile properties of the welded joints were evaluated. Microstructure analysis was also carried out using optical and electron microscopes. It was found that the FSW joints are exhibiting superior fatigue crack growth resistance compared to EBW and GTAW joints. This was mainly due to the formation of very fine, dynamically recrystallised grains and uniform distribution of fine precipitates in the weld region.