Annealing effect on the characteristics of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 polycrystalline thin films produced by the sol–gel dip-coating process

The effect of annealing temperature on selected characteristics of polycrystalline La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ films, which have been produced on quartz substrates, was investigated. X-Ray powder diffraction patterns showed that the phase formation started at 873 K and all the films had perovskite structure. By increasing the annealing temperature, the lattice parameters were decreased. Scanning electron microscope indicated that the film thicknesses were approximately 3 μm and the average grain size of the samples varied between 30–100, 50–110, 70–120, and 100–150 nm for films annealed at 873, 973, 1,073, and 1,173 K, respectively. All the films showed a paramagnetic–ferromagnetic (T_C) and metal–insulator (T_IM) phase transition. The T_C indicated a small variation [from 131 K (S4) to 124 K (S1)] as a function of annealing temperature, whereas the T_IM went down from 212 K (S4) to 110 K (S1), a strong decrease of 102 K. A colossal magneto resistance with magneto resistance ratios of 130, 139, 156, and 163% were observed near T_C and at 6 T magnetic field.     

Optimum design of cam-roller follower mechanism using a new evolutionary algorithm

Selection of tooling to perform specific operations like drilling and milling on ceramic materials using rotary ultrasonic machining process is an important aspect to meet stringent dimensions on workpiece as well as intended performance of tool. This phenomenon is more critical for micro rotary ultrasonic machining. In the present study, an effort was made to do micro drilling operation of Ø0.3 mm tool with varying geometry, having different wall thicknesses and abrasive grain sizes using design of experiments. The effect of tool-based parameters like grain size and wall thickness has been studied on axial cutting force, radial cutting force, tool wear, edge chipping area and taper. After examining axial and radial cutting forces, it has been concluded that lower wall thickness (80 μm) tool is good for drilling operation; and higher wall thickness (100 μm) tool is good for milling operation under same material removal rate conditions. It has been also investigated that lower wall thickness (80 μm) tool has less edge chipping area and less taper and can impart high drilling depth as compared to higher wall thickness (100 and 150 μm) tool. It is also concluded that lesser grain size (15 μm) tools are advantageous in terms of edge chipping area and cutting force for drilling and milling operations as compared to higher grain size (30, 35 and 45 μm) tool at constant material removal rate. Higher grain size tools have been broken at 1.13 mm³/h material removal rate conditions due to bad profile accuracy. But higher grain size tools have worked fairly well at less material removal rate condition. Higher grain size tools produced less wear. Tool wear was found minimum in higher wall thickness (100 μm) tool having higher abrasive grain size (30 μm). Using inferred results, Ø0.3 mm drilling experiments have been carried out on six aerospace ceramic materials. Also, groove of 0.5 mm size using Ø0.3 mm optimised tool has been successfully carried out in sintered SiC.     

Note: design and characterization of an optical light source based on mixture of white and near-ultraviolet light emitting diode spectra

An optical light source based on a solid-state lighting technology is designed. Main components of the light source are a phosphor-converted white and a near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs), the spectral power distributions (SPDs) of which are mixed using a fiber optic combiner. The near-UV LED is used for improving insufficient SPDs of the white LED at shorter wavelengths of the visible radiation. Stable direct current power supplies are also designed and used to operate each of the LED separately. Three steps of the driving current can be selected by means of serial resistors altered with a commutator at nominal current values of ～40%, ～50%, and ～69%. The light source can be used for many characteristic measurements within the scope of photometry and colorimetry.     

Hybrid dual-curable cyanate ester/boron phosphate composites via sequential thiol-ene photopolymerization and thermal polymerization

The aim of this study was to improve hybrid dual-curable cyanate ester/boron phosphate composites via sequential thiol-ene photopolymerization and thermal polymerization for high performance applications such as aerospace and electronic devices. A novel 2,2′-diallylbisphenol A dicyanate ester (DA-BADCy) which is the allyl group containing cyanate ester was synthesized and characterized. DA-BADCy, silicon containing monofunctional thiol compound, trifunctional thiol compound and boron phosphate were cured using both ultraviolet (UV) and thermal methods. Using thiol-ene system, cyanate ester formulations, which are normally prepared at high temperatures, were prepared at room temperature. This study maintains ease of application for cyanate esters. Thermal stability, flammability and thermal conductivity of the samples were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), limiting oxygen index (LOI) and laser flash method, respectively. The samples were characterized with the following analysis; gel content, water absorption capacity and stress–strain test. Hydrophobicity of the samples was determined by the contact angle measurements. Moreover, the surface morphology of the samples was investigated by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM–EDS). The obtained results prove that the composites have good thermal and mechanical properties and with the help of easier preparation techniques, they can be used in many applications such as aerospace, electronic devices, materials engineering.     

Residual bond strength between steel bars and concrete after elevated temperatures

The effects of elevated temperatures and cooling regimes on the residual (after cooling) bond strength between concrete and steel bars are investigated. For this study, ribbed steel bars of 8 mm diameter are embedded in to C20 and C35 concrete blocks with embedment lengths of 6, 10 and 12 cm. Unsealed specimens are heated to 12 different temperatures ranging between 50 and 700 °C and then cooled in water or in air. Pull-out tests are carried out on the specimens, and the effects of elevated temperatures on the residual bond strength are investigated by comparing the results against unheated specimens.     

Quality assessment of surface and groundwater in Solaklı Basin (Trabzon, Turkey)

The paper reports a study of the surface and ground water in Solakl? Basin, Trabzon, from an assessment of 33 sampling points. Many of the parameters analysed are only marginally acceptable as potable water, even though the samples were collected during the wet season. The highest concentrations of contaminants were found downstream of the centres of population. The results indicate regular monitoring is required and some measures should be taken to protect the limited resources.     

Production and characterization of carbon-based adsorbents from waste lignocellulosic biomass: their effectiveness in heavy metal removal

Abstract

In this study, hazelnut shell and walnut shell which are the agricultural wastes existent abundantly in many countries were pyrolyzed at different temperatures in the temperature range of 400–700?°C in order to optimize the physicochemical properties of biochars. The biochars with large surface area were used to removal of lead (Pb²⁺) ions, one of the most important heavy metal pollutant, from aqueous solutions. The characterization of raw biomass and also biochars produced by pyrolysis were performed using FT-IR, BET, SEM, partial and elemental analysis techniques. In order to determine the adsorption characteristics of both biochars, batch adsorption experiments were carried out under different experimental conditions. The optimum conditions were determined by investigating the effect of adsorption parameters (initial heavy metal concentration, temperature, adsorbent amount, pH, contact time and mixing speed) for efficient removal of Pb²⁺ ions from aqueous solution. The experimental results were investigated in terms of Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models. Together with the calculated thermodynamic parameters, the adsorption mechanism was tried to be explained. In order to determine the kinetic model of the adsorption process, the experimental data were applied to pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order and intra-particle diffusion model, and the model constants were investigated.     

Some Tauberian theorems for regularly generated sequences

In this paper, we establish some Tauberian theorems for the Abel summability method in terms of regularly generated sequences which generalizes some results obtained in Çanak and Totur [?. Çanak, Ü. Totur, A note on Tauberian theorems for regularly generated sequences, Tamkang J. Math. 39 (2) (2008) 187-191].     

Incremental discovery of new defects: application to screwing process monitoring

Defect detection by in-process monitoring plays a key role in the traceability and optimization of production. Many fault detection algorithms are trained on known faults. However, industrial data is generally unlabeled and certain faults are unknown or missing in the training dataset. This paper presents an original approach for the incremental discovery of new manufacturing defects, by Bayes rule and distance rejection. Rejects are analyzed periodically to determine the possible appearance of new defect cluster among them. Visualization then supports the cluster interpretation by a manufacturing expert. The approach was successfully applied to a screwing database from automotive industry.     

Mechanical characterization of highly porous β-Si3N4 ceramics fabricated via partial sintering & starch addition

In this study, porous β-Si₃N₄ ceramics containing limited amount of Sm₂O₃ and CaO as sintering aids were produced by addition of potato starch (10 and 20 vol.%) and partial sintering. Two different Si₃N₄ powders, α- and β-, were used as starting materials. Scanning electron microscopy investigations revealed that development of elongated β-Si₃N₄ grains were much more pronounced when α-Si₃N₄ starting powder was used. Even though porosity values of the compositions prepared by using α-Si₃N₄ (～57.0–58.4%) is significantly higher than the samples produced by β-Si₃N₄ (42.6%), no significant change was observed for the bending strength, fracture toughness and Weibull modulus. This indicates that microstructural features have a significant contribution to the mechanical properties of the porous materials in terms of bending strength and fracture toughness.