Wear resistance of a Cr3C2-NiCr detonation spray coating

Coatings can be applied to surfaces to improve the surface characteristics over those of the bulk properties and are widely used in tribological applications either to reduce wear and/or to modify friction during contact. One of the foremost coating methods for combating wear is thermal spraying. To prolong the life of steel slab continuous casting rolls, Cr₃C₂-NiCr detonation spray coating was processed on the roll surface in a steelmaking plant in China. This article studies the mechanical properties and wear resistance of this coating. The abrasive and dry frictional wear testing were performed using a pin-on-disk tester. Experimental results show that the wear resistance of the coated samples, i.e., coating reduces the risk of seizure compared to uncoated samples, is much better than those of the uncoated steel at room and elevated temperatures with any load and sliding velocity. The coating wear mechanisms under different test conditions are discussed.     

Atomically resolved imaging by low-temperature frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy using a quartz length-extension resonator

Low-temperature ultrahigh vacuum frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy (AFM) was performed using a 1 MHz length-extension type of quartz resonator as a force sensor. Taking advantage of the high stiffness of the resonator, the AFM was operated with an oscillation amplitude smaller than 100 pm, which is favorable for high spatial resolution, without snapping an AFM tip onto a sample surface. Atomically resolved imaging of the adatom structure on the Si(111)-(7x7) surface was successfully obtained.     

A 5-GByte/s data-transfer scheme with bit-to-bit skew control forsynchronous DRAM

This paper describes a 5-GByte/s data-transfer scheme suitable for synchronous DRAM memory. To achieve a higher data-transfer frequency, the properties were improved based on the frequency analysis of the memory system. Then, a bit-to-bit skew compensation technique that eliminates incongruent skew between the signals is described with a new, multioutput controlled delay circuit to accomplish bit-to-bit skew compensation by controlling transmission timing of every data bit. Simulated maximum data-transfer rate of the proposed memory system resulted in 5.1/5.8 GByte/s (321/365 MHz, ×64 bit, double data rate) for data write/read operation, respectively     

Compact modeling approach using genetic algorithms for accurate thermal simulation

In this paper, we propose a technique that uses thermal measurement results for improved accuracy in thermal simulation of electronic apparatus. Because the modeling of the electronic components in such apparatus has hitherto been very poor, the thermal simulation results cannot achieve the required accuracy. To solve this problem, we first represent a component as a set of cubic blocks with equivalent thermal conductivity and contact thermal resistance values, and then identify these values by using the thermal measurement results for the component. We regard the identification of parameters as an optimization problem that involves minimizing the difference between the predicted and measured results. To solve the problem, we combine genetic algorithms and a thermal simulation tool. Our technique was successfully applied to the construction of an accurate thermal model, which we validated by using thermal measurement results. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 30(1): 28–39, 2001     

Study on enhancement of condensation heat transfer using an electric field

Enhancement of condensation heat transfer using a nonuniform electric field was experimentally investigated for horizontal smooth and low‐finned tubes. In the experiments, a wire electrode parallel to the tube was placed beneath the tube. The experimental parameters were the distance and voltage between the wire electrode and the tube, and the condensation heat flux. Results of the present experiment for the low‐finned tube indicate that, as the applied voltage increases, the enhancement ratio increases steeply at a certain voltage and it reaches 2.4. It was observed that the condensate flow pattern falling down from the bottom of the tube changed from a flat film to circular columns at a critical voltage. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 29(4): 269–279, 2000     

Effect of SiC on Interfacial Reaction and Sintering Mechanism of TiB2

Compacts of TiB₂ with densities approaching 100% are difficult to obtain using pressureless sintering. The addition of SiC was very effective in improving the sinterability of TiB₂. The oxygen content of the raw TiB₂ powder used in this research was 1.5 wt%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the powder surface consisted mainly of TiO₂ and B₂O₃. Using vacuum sintering at 1700°C under 13–0.013 Pa, TiB₂ samples containing 2.5 wt% SiC achieved 96% of their theoretical density, and a density of 99% was achieved by HIPing. TEM observations revealed that SiC reacts to form an amorphous phase. TEM-EELS analysis indicated that the amorphous phase includes Si, O, and Ti, and X-ray diffraction showed the reaction to be TiO₂+ SiC → SiO₂+ TiC. Therefore, the improved sinterability of TiB₂ resulted from the SiO₂ liquid phase that was formed during sintering when the raw TiB₂ powder had 1.5 wt% oxygen.     

Updated data dissemination methods for updating old replicas in ad hoc networks

In this paper, we propose two updated data dissemination methods to not only reduce the number of accesses to old replicas, but also to improve the data accessibility in ad hoc networks where data items are updated regularly. In the first method, when a mobile host updates a data item, it disseminates the updated data item after the flooding of with invalidation reports. In the second method, two newly connected mobile hosts disseminate updated data items with each other after the flooding with invalidation reports.     

EFFECT OF STEPWISE CHANGE OF DRYING RATE ON MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION IN POLYMER FILMS

The effect of the drying rate of the solvent on microstructure evolution in thin films of immiscible polystyrene/polycarbonate blends was investigated by applying a stepwise change in air velocity. The polymer blend was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran and cast on a glass substrate to form a thin liquid film. The drying rate of the solvent was measured by a gravimetric technique, and the phase-separated structure in the film was observed by optical microscopy. The results indicated that cellular structures of droplet arrays were formed in the phases evolved primarily during the early stage of drying, and the droplets then coalesced in the intermediate stage to form bigger droplets. The size of the first evolved phase decreased with increasing time at a high drying rate, whereas larger droplets were obtained with longer high drying rate regimes. These results suggested that the droplets were induced by secondary phase separation which was strongly affected by the drying rate of the solvent.