Surface Modification of Thermal Barrier Coatings by Single-Shot Defocused Laser Treatments

Thermal barrier coatings (TBC) consisting of atmospheric plasma-sprayed ZrO₂-8 wt.% Y₂O₃ and a high velocity oxygen fuel-sprayed metallic bond coat were subjected to CO₂ continuous wave laser treatments. The effects of laser power on TBCs were investigated as was the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer development of all as-sprayed and laser-treated coatings after thermal oxidation tests in air environment for 50, 100, and 200 h at 1100 °C. The effects of laser power on TBCs were investigated. TGO layer development was examined on all as-sprayed and laser-treated coatings after thermal oxidation tests in air environment for 50, 100, and 200 h at 1100 °C. Melted and heat-affected zone regions were observed in all the laser-treated samples. Oxidation tests showed a stable alumina layer and mixed spinel oxides in the TGO layers of the as-sprayed and laser-treated TBCs.     

The effect of casting shape and size on solidification time: a new approach

The limitations of Chvorinov's Rule for predicting the solidification time of a casting are discussed and previous studies intended to modify Chvorinov's Rule in order to express the effect of the size and shape of castings on solidification time are reviewed. A new model that introduces a shape factor is presented that predicts the solidification times of castings as well as or better than Chvorinov's Rule, particularly for more complex shapes. The validity of the new model is compared with the conventional Chvorinov's Rule by a statistical analysis of twelve sets of data obtained from the literature.     

A mass spectrometry method for quantitative and kinetic analysis of gas release from nuclear materials and its application to helium desorption from UO2 and fission gas release from irradiated fuel

A new system has been developed to determine absolute quantities of gas (mainly noble gases) released during thermal desorption in the range from 10^?12 to 10^?5 mol with a precision of few percent. The system is actually designed for simultaneous measurement of gaseous elements like He, Xe, Kr, thermally released from nuclear fuel samples and also allows the determination of the release kinetics as a function of time. This system, called Quantitative GAs MEasurement System (Q-GAMES), is based on the principle of collecting, purifying and spiking the sample gas in a “high-pressure” chamber, and continuous sampling of the gas for mass spectrometric analysis without sample depletion during the experiment. It is equipped with its own spike generator and with different gas purification systems. It is shown that this system fulfills the requirement to work with two existing very high-temperature gas desorption facilities for nuclear materials. This paper describes the Q-GAMES principle, the spiking system, its calibration, its operative mode, the different quantification techniques, as well as its technical data, in combination with some examples of typical application.     

Advanced Power Conversion Efficiency in Inventive Plasma for Hybrid Toroidal Reactor

Apex hybrid reactor has a good potential to utilize uranium and thorium fuels in the future. This toroidal reactor is a type of system that facilitates the occurrence of the nuclear fusion and fission events together. The most important feature of hybrid reactor is that the first wall surrounding the plasma is liquid. The advantages of utilizing a liquid wall are high power density capacity good power transformation productivity, the magnitude of the reactor’s operational duration, low failure percentage, short maintenance time and the inclusion of the system’s simple technology and material. The analysis has been made using the MCNP Monte Carlo code and ENDF/B–V–VI nuclear data. Around the fusion chamber, molten salts Flibe (LI₂BeF₄), lead–lithium (PbLi), Li–Sn, thin-lityum (Li₂₀Sn₈₀) have used as cooling materials. APEX reactor has modeled in the torus form by adding nuclear materials of low significance in the specified percentages between 0 and 12 % to the molten salts. In this study, the neutronic performance of the APEX fusion reactor using various molten salts has been investigated. The nuclear parameters of Apex reactor has been searched for Flibe (LI₂BeF₄) and Li–Sn, for blanket layers. In case of usage of the Flibe (LI₂BeF₄), PbLi, and thin-lityum (Li₂₀Sn₈₀) salt solutions at APEX toroidal reactors, fissile material production per source neutron, tritium production speed, total fission rate, energy reproduction factor has been calculated, the results obtained for both salt solutions are compared.     

An investigation on the influence of depth of cut and blasting on shovel digging performance

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the results of performance monitoring of electrical shovels in terms of depth of cut and blast performance on diggability. A field research programme has been undertaken at four different rock units of surface coal mines, namely Yata?an fresh and weathered marl, Tinaz marl and conglomerate. A performance monitoring system has been developed and utilized for different type and size of power shovels. Three different depth of classes (< 0·4, 04–0·6, 0·6–0·8 meters for unblasted cases) are established and indicated on dipper of the shovel before excavation. Those depth of classes were tried with and/or without blasting. The digging difficulty of rock units in terms of power consumption has been determined before and after blasting. As it is expected, the power consumption and specific digging energy increase, as the rock unit becoming harder and stronger and depth of cut increases.     

Numerical Thermal Analysis of Fuse Mounted on Fuse Holder

This paper presents a three-dimensional thermal model of an electric fuse mounted on its fuse holder. The proposed model can be used in steady-state conditions but also during transient operating conditions. A comparison at the same ambient temperature and load current, between the thermal model of the fuse with and without its fuse holder, has been performed. In the case of load current and ambient temperature variation, a thermal analysis at different voltage drop values on the fuse contacts has been done. For different thermal load on fuse contacts and current variation, the temperature distribution along the fuse link, has been investigated. The experimental tests led to the validation of the proposed three-dimensional thermal model of the fuse mounted on its fuse holder.     

Liquefaction/Solubilization of Low-Rank Turkish Coals by White-Rot Fungus (Phanerochaete chrysosporium)

Microbial coal liquefaction/solubilization of three low-rank Turkish coals (Bursa-Kestelek, Kütahya-Seyitömer and Mu?la-Yata?an lignite) was attempted by using a white-rot fungus (Phanerochaete chrysosporium DSM No. 6909); chemical compositions of the products were investigated. The lignite samples were oxidized by nitric acid under moderate conditions and then oxidized samples were placed on the agar medium of Phanerochaete chrysosporium. FTIR spectra of raw lignites, oxidized lignites and liquid products were recorded, and the acetone-soluble fractions of these samples were identified by GC-MS technique. Results show that the fungus affects the nitro and carboxyl/carbonyl groups in oxidized lignite sample, the liquid products obtained by microbial effects are the mixture of water-soluble compounds, and show limited organic solubility.     

Quantifying machine flexibility

There are several studies aiming to quantify several aspects of flexibility in manufacturing systems like routing flexibility, product mix flexibility, volume flexibility, etc. However, there is still a need to develop more generic measures that can be used to quantify flexibility of systems in order to enable decision-makers to reach better decisions in selecting between different system configurations. In this study, a new approach which is based on digraph theory and matrix algebra is proposed to quantify flexibility. Several examples are also provided to illustrate the proposed approach and its practicality and usefulness. The proposed approach is a novel one and can be used to model and quantify several types of flexibilities. In this research, the proposed modelling approach is explained through machine flexibility mainly due to the fact that most of the other flexibility types in manufacturing systems rely on this flexibility type.     

Coupling of non‐conforming meshes in a component mode synthesis method

A common mesh refinement‐based coupling technique is embedded into a component mode synthesis method, Craig–Bampton. More specifically, a common mesh is generated between the non‐conforming interfaces of the coupled structures, and the compatibility constraints are enforced on that mesh via L2‐minimization. This new integrated method is suitable for structural dynamic analysis problems where the substructures may have non‐conforming curvilinear and/or surface interface meshes. That is, coupled substructures may have different element types such as shell, solid, and/or beam elements. The proposed method is implemented into a commercial finite element software, B2000++, and its demonstration is carried out using an academic and industry oriented test problems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of cooling rate on structure and mechanical properties of monotectoid zinc-aluminium alloys

The cooling curves of a number of monotectoid zinc-aluminium allows have been obtained during casting at different pouring and mould temperatures using thermocouples and an analogue-digital converter in a computer. The average cooling rate for each ingot of the allows was determined by taking the derivative of the cooling curves. The effect of cooling rate on the structure and properties of the alloys was investigated. It was observed that as the cooling rate increased the secondary dendrite arm spacing of the alloys decreased but their hardness, tensile strength and percentage elongation increased. Correlation of the experimental results showed that the cooling rate of the alloys could be related to their secondary dendrite arm spacing, hardness, tensile strength and percentage elongation using first and second degree mathematical equations. In addition, the Skenazi equation was found to be applicable to these alloys. As a result of this work, the optimum range of cooling rate for the alloys was found to be between 4·40?4·56 K s^-1.