Cast Iron Inoculation Enhanced by Supplementary Oxy-sulfides Forming Elements

Inoculation is one of the most important metallurgical treatments applied to the molten cast iron immediately prior to casting, to promote solidification without excessive eutectic undercooling, which favors carbides formation usually with undesirable graphite morphologies. The paper focused on the separate addition of an inoculant enhancer alloy [S, O, oxy-sulfides forming elements] with a conventional Ca-FeSi alloy, in the production of gray and ductile cast irons. Carbides formation tendency decreased with improved graphite characteristics as an effect of the [Ca-FeSi + Enhancer] inoculation combination, when compared to other Ca/Ca, Ba/Ca, RE-FeSi alloy treatments. Adding an inoculant enhancer greatly enhances inoculation, lowers inoculant consumption up to 50% or more and avoids the need to use more costly inoculants, such as a rare earth bearing alloy. The Inoculation Specific Factor [ISF] was developed as a means to more realistically measure inoculant treatment efficiency. It compares the ratio between the improved characteristic level and total inoculant consumption for this effect. Addition of any of the commercial inoculants plus the inoculant enhancer offered outstanding inoculation power [increased ISF] even at higher solidification cooling rates, even though the total enhancer addition was at a small fraction of the amount of commercial inoculant used.     

Identifying the dominant failure mode in the hot extrusion tooling used to forge nickel based superalloy

The dies used in the extrusion of nickel based super alloys are subject to severe mechanical and thermal stresses, resulting in shortened life and high manufacturing costs. It is necessary to understand the dominant damage mode in order to guide improvements for increased tool life. The operation under examination consists of the hot extrusion of a nickel based superalloy using nitrided hot work tool steel, glassed workpieces and graphite lubrication. The investigation was conducted through a combination of metallurgical analysis, metrology and finite element analysis. Out of the damage modes observed under these conditions, the plastic deformation of the substrate was found to be the cause for tool failure. This paper discusses the relationship between plastic deformation of the substrate and the formation of scoring marks, which fail the die.     

Interaction of positronium atoms, with paramagnetic molecules, measured by perturbed angular distribution in 3γ annihilation decay

Positronium in the triplet spin state (S = 1) decays by 3γ annihilation having a life time of about 140 ns in vacuum. Positronium annihilation is affected by magnetic fields which mix the M = 0 state of ortho-positronium with the M = 0 state of para-positronium. The mixing fraction depends on the magnetic field intensity and causes quantum beats in the time distribution of γ annihilation decay. This effect was predicted by Barishevsky et al. [V.G. Barishevsky, O.N. Metelitsa, V.V. Tikhomirov, J. Phys. B Atom. Mol. Opt. Phys. 22 (1989) 2835]. The time differential perturbed angular correlation method (TDPAC), combined with long-lived positron life time spectroscopy (PLTS), has been used to observe these quantum beats. It is found that the characteristics of the annihilation time distribution are not influenced by the presence of diamagnetic species such as Ar, N₂ and H₂ but are affected by the presence of the paramagnetic O₂ molecule. Our results are encouraging in developing a new method for investigating magnetic fields on an atomic scale.     

Spectroscopic and photoelectric investigations of resonance effects in selected sulfonated phthalocyanines

Zinc phthalocyanine dyes, which had been symmetrically and asymmetrically substituted with sulfonate groups were investigated using absorption, fluorescence and photoacoustic spectroscopic methods, supported by light-induced optoacoustic spectroscopy and photoelectric measurements; unsubstituted zinc phthalocyanine was employed as reference. Fluorescence quantum yields were determined on the basis of absorption and fluorescence spectra, whereas thermal parameters as well as the yield of triplet state population and the kinetics of thermal relaxation at microsecond intervals were determined using with photoacoustic methods. The effect of the sulfonate groups on photocurrent generation was discussed in terms of the dye's molecular structure and resonance (mesomeric, inductive, steric) effects. Sulfonation of zinc phthalocyanine changed markedly its absorption and fluorescence properties owing to redistribution of the electron density within the molecule as a result of both mesomeric and inductive effects, although other effects cannot be excluded. The enhanced light-generated photocurrent observed for phthalocyanine with two sulfonate groups is explained in terms of mesomeric effects, whereas in phthalocyanine with three and four sulfonate groups, inductive effects are essential and lead to photocurrent decline.     

Impact strength elastomer composites based on polystyrene components separated from waste electrical and electronic equipment

The reuse of plastic components of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is an important concern both for environmental issues and to preserve the material resources, with minimum energy consumption. Considering that polystyrene fraction was reported as approximate 80% of the total amount of WEEE plastic, this article aims to evaluate the recycling of this fraction, without separation by components, by melt compounding with styrene-butadiene block-copolymer (SBS) and hydrogenated and maleinized SBS, the blend of the two elastomers acting both as an impact modifier and compatibilizer. The composites are characterized by mechanical analysis, impact tests, dynamic mechanical analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, and X-ray diffraction. The recycling conditions of the polystyrene fraction as composites without eliminating the WEEE additives for improved UV and flame resistance, with physical mechanical properties comparable to those of high-impact polystyrene resulted from the study. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48329.     

Cross Current Dual Aerodynamically Shaped Atomizer Electrostatic Spray Nozzle

Experimental results of a novel method and apparatus for achieving selective deposition on the inside surfaces of an enclosure are presented. An apparatus consisting of two aerodynamically shaped air shear nozzlesa generated a charged dual cloud comprising an insecticide aerosol cloud above and a water aerosol cloud below. Through self-expansion of the cloud by mutual repulsion of the charged particles and image attraction to the wall surfaces, a significantly selective deposition was achieved on the inside surfaces in the upper and lower halves of the enclosure.     

Synthesis and thermal,mechanical and gas permeation properties of aromatic polyimides containing different linkage groups

Two series of aromatic polyimides containing various linkage groups based on 2,7‐bis(4‐aminophenoxy)naphthalene or 3,3′‐dimethyl‐4,4′‐diaminodiphenylmethane and different aromatic dianhydrides, namely 4,4′‐(4,4′‐isopropylidenediphenoxy)bis(phthalic anhydride), 4,4′‐(hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(phthalic anhydride), 3,3′,4,4′ benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride, 9,9‐bis[4‐(3,4‐dicarboxyphenoxy)phenyl]fluorene dianhydride and 4,4′‐(4,4′‐hexafluoroisopropylidenediphenoxy)bis(phthalic anhydride), were synthesized and compared with regard to their thermal, mechanical and gas permeation properties. All these polymers showed high thermal stability with initial decomposition temperature in the range 475–525 °C and glass transition temperature between 208 and 286 °C. Also, the polymer films presented good mechanical characteristics with tensile strength in the range 60–91 MPa and storage modulus in the range 1700–2375 MPa. The macromolecular chain packing induced by dianhydride and diamine segments was investigated by examining gas permeation through the polymer films. The relationships between chain mobility and interchain distance and the obtained values for gas permeability are discussed. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Study of thermal behavior of polyimides containing pendent-substituted azobenzene units

Thermal stability and degradation kinetic of the polyimides containing pendent-substituted azobenzene units were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis in nitrogen at different heating rates. Freeman–Carroll, Coats–Redfern and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa methods were utilized to obtain the kinetic parameters (activation energy E _a, pre-exponential factor A and order of reaction n) or variation of activation energy with conversion degree from thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric curves. The thermogravimetric analysis revealed that the decomposition of azopolyimides proceeds in three or four stages, regardless of heating rate.     

Improved Approximation Algorithms for the Quality of Service Multicast Tree Problem

The Quality of Service Multicast Tree Problem is a generalization of the Steiner tree problem which appears in the context of multimedia multicast and network design. In this generalization, each node possesses a rate and the cost of an edge with length l in a Steiner tree T connecting the source to non-zero rate nodes is l · r_e, where r_e is the maximum node rate in the component of T-{e} that does not contain the source. The best previously known approximation ratios for this problem (based on the best known approximation factor of 1.549 for the Steiner tree problem in networks) are 2.066 for the case of two non-zero rates and 4.212 for the case of an unbounded number of rates. In this paper we give improved approximation algorithms with ratios of 1.960 and 3.802, respectively. When the minimum spanning tree heuristic is used for finding approximate Steiner trees, then the previously best known approximation ratios of 2.667 for two non-zero rates and 5.542 for an unbounded number of rates are reduced to 2.414 and 4.311, respectively.