崛起的印度钢铁业

一、印度钢铁工业发展历史和现状从远古时代开始,铁在人类的生活中就非常重要。无论是战争还是和平年代,钢铁对现代文明的发展是必不可少的。为了了解印度的钢铁工业,首先有必要简要地回顾一下印度的钢铁制造史。印度是一个古老的国度,文化遗产丰富。印度是一片不同地域间存在惊人差异的土地,而两百多年的殖民统治更造就了多样化的印度。除了几家糖厂和纺     

Processing of alumina and zirconia nano-powders and compacts

Magnesia–doped alumina and yttria–doped zirconia nano-powders were synthesized using sucrose as a chelating agent and template material from the aqueous solutions of aluminium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, ytrrium nitrate and zirconyl nitrate, respectively. Synthesis parameters were optimized with varying sucrose to metal ion ratio, calcinations time, and temperature to produce these nano-powders. As-synthesized powders were characterized by room temperature X-ray diffraction, BET surface area analyzer and transmission electron microscopy. Y₂O₃–ZrO₂ nano-powders had particle size in the range of 80–200 nm with specific average surface area of 119 m²/g and for MgO–Al₂O₃ powders, particle sizes were 30–200 nm with the specific average surface area of 250 m²/g. Our results indicate that this synthesis method is a versatile one and can be applied to a variety of oxide-based materials to form nano-powders. Nano-powders were compacted uniaxially and densified in a muffle furnace. Sintered discs were used for hardness testing and density measurements, as well as for microstructural characterization.     

Rate dependent compressive response of 2D triaxially braided carbon fiber composites and the effects of resin on the interfacial shear strength

2D triaxially braided carbon fiber composites were subjected to off-axis compression under static and low velocity impact loading. Three types of specimens with axial fiber tows at angles of 30°, 60°, and 75° to the direction of loading were studied under uniaxial compression loading using a modified compression loading fixture that has anti-buckling guides. Static tests were carried out using a hydraulically activated MTS loading frame, while, low velocity impact tests were conducted using a drop tower facility. A three parameter homogenized orthotropic plasticity model was used to characterize the inelastic response and the constants associated with this characterization were determined uniquely. Results from this characterization were subsequently used to analyze the rate dependent interfacial effects in these materials. Two types of composites made from two different resins, but with the same textile architecture were used for this study. The effect of the resin properties on the unusual rate effects exhibited by the composite is seen to be captured well with the three parameter orthotropic plasticity model adopted.     

Tweaking the diameter and concentration of carbon nanotubes and sintering duration in Copper based composites for heat transfer applications

Copper (Cu) gained its importance in several applications due to its attractive thermal characteristics. However, its applications are limited, wherever high strength and high thermal conductivity are desirable. Thus, an attempt was made to develop Cu/CNT composites having the improved mechanical and thermal properties. Initially, Cu/CNT composite powder was synthesized through molecular level mixing technique, where the functionalized 20–40?nm and 40–60?nm diameter CNT with varying concentrations from 0.25 to 1.0?wt.% with an increment of 0.25?wt.% were used. The powder was uniaxially compacted at 800?MPa and sintered in the range of 2–8?hr at 900?°C. The best characteristics of Cu/CNT composites obtained from the present study are as follows: Relative density (RD) – 89.1%, Hardness – 61.2?±?0.58 VHN, Thermal conductivity – 343?W/mK and these characteristics obtained their maximum value at 0.25?wt.% CNT concentration and started to decrease irrespective of CNT diameter.     

Adaptive Multiuser Channel Estimation using Reduced Kalman/LMS Algorithm

This paper presents an adaptive multiuser channel estimator using the reduced-Kalman least-mean-square (RK-LMS) algorithm. The frequency-selective fading channel is modeled as a tapped-delay-line filter with smoothly time-varying Rayleigh distributed tap coefficients. The multiuser channel estimator based on minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) criterion is used to predict the filter coefficients. We also present its convergence characteristics and tracking performance using the RK-LMS algorithm. Unlike the previously available Kalman filtering algorithm based approach (Chen, Chen IEEE Trans Signal Process 49(7): 1523–1532, 2001) the incorporation of RK-LMS algorithm reduces the computational complexity of multiuser channel estimator used in the code division multiple access wireless systems. The computer simulation results are presented to demonstrate the substantial improvement in its tracking performance under the smoothly time-varying environment.

Design and development of a machine vision system using artificial neural network-based algorithm for automated coal characterization

Coal is heterogeneous in nature,and thus the characterization of coal is essential before its use for a specific purpose.Thus,the current study aims to develop ...     

Robust ego-motion estimation and 3-D model refinement using surface parallax.

We present an iterative algorithm for robustly estimating the ego-motion and refining and updating a coarse depth map using parametric surface parallax models and brightness derivatives extracted from an image pair. Given a coarse depth map acquired by a range-finder or extracted from a digital elevation map (DEM), ego-motion is estimated by combining a global ego-motion constraint and a local brightness constancy constraint. Using the estimated camera motion and the available depth estimate, motion of the three-dimensional (3-D) points is compensated. We utilize the fact that the resulting surface parallax field is an epipolar field, and knowing its direction from the previous motion estimates, estimate its magnitude and use it to refine the depth map estimate. The parallax magnitude is estimated using a constant parallax model (CPM) which assumes a smooth parallax field and a depth based parallax model (DBPM), which models the parallax magnitude using the given depth map. We obtain confidence measures for determining the accuracy of the estimated depth values which are used to remove regions with potentially incorrect depth estimates for robustly estimating ego-motion in subsequent iterations. Experimental results using both synthetic and real data (both indoor and outdoor sequences) illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

An efficient and intelligent routing strategy for vehicular delay tolerant networks

The vehicular delay-tolerant network is the real-life application based area of Delay tolerant network where communication takes place using vehicular nodes and roadside units. The topology used in vehicular networks is highly dynamic by architecture due to the use of moving vehicular nodes. It operates in such a scenario where a direct path between source and destination remains absent on the most piece of the time. In case of non-existence of connected path vehicular delay-tolerant network works opportunistically and uses the same store, carry, and forward paradigm as Delay Tolerant Network. However, the routing protocols designed for vehicular delay-tolerant network faces crucial challenges like inadequate relay node, incomplete data transfer, a large number of packet drop, and uncertain delivery time. In this research paper, we propose a novel routing strategy for the vehicular delay-tolerant network. The proposed routing strategy selects efficient vehicular relay node for complete packet transfer and intelligently reduces the packet drop for timely packet delivery. We implement the proposed routing strategy in the ONE simulator; the ONE simulator provides an opportunistic environment for nodes. We analyze the performance of the proposed strategy under various simulations results using different parameters. The results show that the proposed strategy outperforms standard routing protocols in terms of considered parameters and provide an efficient solution for the problem of disconnection.

     

Failure Investigation of Boiler Water Wall Tubes of a Thermal Power Station

Failure investigation was carried out on boiler water wall tubes of a thermal power plant through visual inspection, chemical analysis, and metallurgical analysis. Failure was in the form of thin/micro cracks along the length of the tubes which were located at the girth welding joint of tubes. Experimental results revealed that the cracking was from inward to outward of the tube thickness. Discontinuities/cavities were observed in the welded region which might have occurred due to lack of fusion of base metal and the weld metal. Cracks were initiated from the sharp corner/crack tip of the cavities/discontinuities present at the welded region under the action of hoop/thermal stress existed during the operation. Nature of the crack propagation indicates the case of typical hydrogen-induced cracking. Moreover, the presence of the cavities/discontinuities reduced the cross-sectional area of tubes resulting increased stress intensity. Increased stress beyond the flow stress of the material assisted by hydrogen-induced effect resulted the cracking of the tubes. In order to mitigate the problem, proper welding of tubes joints should be carried out followed by proper inspection after weld. Secondly, hydrogen dissolution during welding should be prevented and treatment for its removal after welding should be carried out.     

Morphology,Mineralogy and Mixing of Individual Atmospheric Particles Over Kanpur (IGP): Relevance of Homogeneous Equivalent Sphere Approximation in Radiative Models

Estimation of the direct radiative forcing (DRF) by atmospheric particles is uncertain to a large extent owing to uncertainties in their morphology (shape and size), mixing states, and chemical composition. A region-specific database of the aforementioned physico-chemical properties (at individual particle level) is necessary to improve numerically-estimated optical and radiative properties. Till date, there is no detailed observation of the above mentioned properties over Kanpur in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). To fill this gap, an experiment was carried out at Kanpur (IITK; 26.52°N, 80.23°E, 142 m msl), India from April to July, 2011. Particle types broadly classified as (a) Cu-rich particles mixed with carbon and sulphur (b) dust and clays mixed with carbonaceous species (c) Fe-rich particles mixed with carbon and sulfur and (d) calcite (CaCO₃) particles aged with nitrate, were observed. The frequency distributions of aspect ratio (AR; indicator of extent of particle non-sphericity) of total 708 particles from April to June reveal that particles with aspect ratio range >1.2 to ≤1.4 were abundant throughout the experiment except during June when it was found to shift to high AR range, >1.4 to ≤1.6 (followed with another peak of AR i.e. >2 to ≤2.4) due to dust storm conditions enhancing the occurrence of more non-spherical particles over the sampling site. The spherical particles (and close to spherical shape; AR range, 1.0 to ≤1.2) were found to be <20% throughout the experiment with a minimum (11.5%) during June. Consideration of Homogeneous Equivalent Sphere Approximation (HESA) in the optical/radiative model over the study region is found to be irrelevant during the campaign.