Mechanical properties of Al-Zn-Mg alloys investigated by microhardness measurements

One of the most simple and economic methods of testing the mechanical properties of alloys is the microhardness measurement. In the present paper we report on the results and the interpretation of experiments carried out on a series of AI-Zn-Mg alloys prepared from high purity base materials. The following results were obtained: (a) the incremental microhardness,HV, was related to the microhardness,HV, of high purity Al and can be given asHV=264(C_mg–0.25C_zn) wherec _mg andC _zn are the concentrations of Mg and Zn respectively, in the as-quenched state after solution heattreatment, (b) the ultimate tensile strength and the microhardness were correlated by the approximation:HV3_u.HV was investigated in the light of the average radius and the volume fraction of zones forming at room temperature. On the basis of the micromechanism of plastic deformation further evidence was found to show that the shearing mechanism is responsible for strengthening by GP zones in AI-Zn-Mg alloys.     

Succinct Representation of Labeled Graphs

In many applications, the properties of an object being modeled are stored as labels on vertices or edges of a graph. In this paper, we consider succinct representation of labeled graphs. Our main results are the succinct representations of labeled and multi-labeled graphs (we consider planar triangulations, planar graphs and k-page graphs) to support various label queries efficiently. The additional space cost to store the labels is essentially the information-theoretic minimum. As far as we know, our representations are the first succinct representations of labeled graphs. We also have two preliminary results to achieve the main contribution. First, we design a succinct representation of unlabeled planar triangulations to support the rank/select of edges in ccw (counter clockwise) order in addition to the other operations supported in previous work. Second, we design a succinct representation for a k-page graph when k is large to support various navigational operations more efficiently. In particular, we can test the adjacency of two vertices in O(lg?k) time, while previous work uses O(k) time.     

On Camera Calibration with Linear Programming and Loop Constraint Linearization

A technique for calibrating a network of perspective cameras based on their graph of trifocal tensors is presented. After estimating a set of reliable epipolar geometries, a parameterization of the graph of trifocal tensors is proposed in which each trifocal tensor is linearly encoded by a 4-vector. The strength of this parameterization is that the homographies relating two adjacent trifocal tensors, as well as the projection matrices depend linearly on the parameters. Two methods for estimating these parameters in a global way taking into account loops in the graph are developed. Both methods are based on sequential linear programming: the first relies on a locally linear approximation of the polynomials involved in the loop constraints whereas the second uses alternating minimization. Both methods have the advantage of being non-incremental and of uniformly distributing the error across all the cameras. Experiments carried out on several real data sets demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed approach and its efficiency in distributing errors over the whole set of cameras.     

Interesting Interest Points

Not all interest points are equally interesting. The most valuable interest points lead to optimal performance of the computer vision method in which they are employed. But a measure of this kind will be dependent on the chosen vision application. We propose a more general performance measure based on spatial invariance of interest points under changing acquisition parameters by measuring the spatial recall rate. The scope of this paper is to investigate the performance of a number of existing well-established interest point detection methods. Automatic performance evaluation of interest points is hard because the true correspondence is generally unknown. We overcome this by providing an extensive data set with known spatial correspondence. The data is acquired with a camera mounted on a 6-axis industrial robot providing very accurate camera positioning. Furthermore the scene is scanned with a structured light scanner resulting in precise 3D surface information. In total 60 scenes are depicted ranging from model houses, building material, fruit and vegetables, fabric, printed media and more. Each scene is depicted from 119 camera positions and 19 individual LED illuminations are used for each position. The LED illumination provides the option for artificially relighting the scene from a range of light directions. This data set has given us the ability to systematically evaluate the performance of a number of interest point detectors. The highlights of the conclusions are that the fixed scale Harris corner detector performs overall best followed by the Hessian based detectors and the difference of Gaussian (DoG). The methods based on scale space features have an overall better performance than other methods especially when varying the distance to the scene, where especially FAST corner detector, Edge Based Regions (EBR) and Intensity Based Regions (IBR) have a poor performance. The performance of Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER) is moderate. We observe a relatively large decline in performance with both changes in viewpoint and light direction. Some of our observations support previous findings while others contradict these findings.     

Simultaneous external and internal stabilization of linear systems with input saturation and non-input-additive sustained disturbances

In this paper, we study simultaneous external and internal stabilization of the linear system under input saturation and non-input additive sustained disturbances. For systems that are asymptotic null controllable with bounded control, it is shown that a nonlinear dynamic feedback controller can be designed so that the closed-loop states remain bounded for any initial condition and for two classes of sustained disturbances, and that the equilibrium in the absence of disturbances is globally asymptotically stable.     

Minimum variance prediction and control for adaptive optics

Adaptive Optics (AO) systems enable to compensate the adverse effects of atmospheric turbulence on ground-based telescopes’ images in real time, using a deformable mirror (DM) inserted in the telescope’s optical path, and measurements provided by a wavefront sensor (WFS). This paper revisits minimum-variance (MV) control design for astronomical AO systems in a state-space framework. It presents a survey of the modeling and control issues arising in this multi-variable disturbance rejection problem. In a linear time-invariant framework, and under some mild assumptions, the optimal solution to MV control for AO systems is shown to be a discrete-time LQG controller. This result holds for a DM with instantaneous response, and for a fairly general class of DM’s dynamics. The state-space approach is extended to Wide-field Adaptive Optics (WfAO) configurations involving several DMs and/or WFSs. Integral-action control used in existing AO systems is compared with the LQG controller. Experimental WfAO results obtained on a laboratory test bench are presented, showing significant improvement in performance. Finally, open issues and perspectives of applicative and/or theoretical interests are discussed.     

Characteristics of Metal Droplets in Slag Tapped from the Blast Furnace

Slag samples, hot‐metal samples and hot‐metal temperatures were obtained during tapping of two blast furnaces. Sampling was carried out at different time points during tapping of three separate heats. The size distribution and composition of metal droplets found in the slag were determined using scanning electron microscopy. Only metal droplets above 0.75 μm could be counted and analysed. All droplets were below 8 μm in diameter and the great majority of these droplets were found to be between 0.75 and 2 μm. The size distribution did not differ significantly for different slag samples. Iron was the main droplet component. Electron probe microanalysis showed that the droplets contained small amounts of carbon. The percentage of the area in a studied cross‐section that was covered with metal droplets varied between 0.01 and 0.07%. Calculations based on Stoke's law showed that the distance droplets travel in the slag is in the micron range. Slag samples taken in the beginning of slag tapping contained more droplets than those taken in the middle of slag tapping, an indication that most droplets can be found in the area near the furnace wall. Some droplets were determined to have magnesium enrichment at the external surface.     

Determination of Inclusion Characteristics in the Asea‐SKF Process using the Modified Spark‐Induced OES Technique as a Complement in Studying the Influence of Top Slag Composition

The spark‐induced modified optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique developed by Ovako Steel makes it possible to rapidly determine inclusion characteristics in steel samples. In earlier investigations using the modified spark‐induced OES technique for steel samples taken from billets, predicted oxygen contents agreed well with results from conventional melt extraction analyses. In this investigation, samples taken during ladle treatment in an ASEA‐SKF ladle furnace were analysed using the modified OES technique. When comparing the results with inclusion characteristics determined by conventional analysis, similar trends were found. Plant trials were also carried out where three different top slag compositions were used. The purpose was to evaluate if the modified OES technique can be used to study the effect of changes in the refining operation on inclusion characteristics. Results indicated that the modified OES technique could be used to determine the effect of a changed slag composition on the inclusion characteristics in the steel. Since the modified OES method provides rapid feedback of inclusion characteristics, it has the potential of being used for faster optimisation of ladle refining operations.