Effect of Cooling Rates in Coiling Process on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties in Al-Bearing Hot-Rolled TRIP Steel

In this study, the effect of cooling rates on microstructures and mechanical properties in a Al-bearing hot-rolled transformation-induced plasticity steel was investigated. The experiments were carried out using hot simulation machine and hot rolling mill, where the samples were cooled at different cooling rates. The results showed that with the increase in cooling rates, film-like retained austenite gradually disappeared and only blocky retained austenite was retained at higher cooling rates. The volume fraction of retained austenite was 9–11% at cooling rates of 0.05–1°C/s and 4–6% at cooling rates of 5–10 °C/s. In addition, martensite/austenite island was observed because of the heterogeneous carbon distribution. The samples cooled at 0.05 °C/s and 0.5 °C/s exhibited excellent mechanical properties, with tensile strengths of 712 MPa and 726 MPa, total elongations of 42% and 36% and strength and ductility balances of 29.91 GPa% and 26.15 GPa%, respectively. During plastic deformation, the instantaneous work hardening exponent of the sample cooled at 0.05 °C/s increased continuously until it reached the maximum value, while the instantaneous work hardening exponent of the sample cooled at 0.5 °C/s remained stable.     

Effect of Ca on microstructure and high temperature creep properties of AM60-1Ce alloy

A series of AM60-1Ce-xCa(x=0, 0.5, 1.5, 2.5) magnesium alloys were prepared by gravity casting method and analyzed by means of XRD, DSC and SEM. The effects of Ca on normal temperature mechanical properties and high temperature creep behavior of alloys were characterized by tensile and constant creep test.Microstructure analysis indicated that Ca was preferentially combined with Al in the alloy to form the high melting point Al_2Ca phase at the grain boundary. The addition of Ca can refine the crystal grains and reduces the content of β-Mg_(17)Al_(12) phase. With the increase of Ca content in the alloy, Al_2Ca phases at the grain boundary gradually changed to the network of lamellar structure, and replaced the β-Mg_(17)Al_(12) phase as the main strengthening phase gradually. The creep resistance of the alloy continuously increases because the high-temperature stable phase Al_2Ca firmly nailed at grain boundaries impedes the sliding of grain boundaries. However, when the addition of Ca was more than 1.5%, mechanical properties of the alloy started to decrease, which was probably due to the large amount of irregularly shaped Al_2Ca phases at the grain boundary. Experimental results show that the optimal addition amount of Ca is 1.5 wt.%.     

Gas holdup in tapered bubble column using pseudoplastic non-Newtonian liquids

Experimental studies on the gas holdup in two tapered bubble columns using non-Newtonian pseudoplastic liquid have been reported. The effects of different variables such as gas flow rate, liquid viscosity, bed height, and orifice diameter of sieve plate on gas holdup have been investigated. An empirical correlation has been developed for the prediction of the gas holdup as a function of various measurable parameters of the system. The correlation is statistically acceptable.     

Influence of glass fiber content on the morphology and mechanical properties in injection molded polypropylene composites

Propropylene was reinforced with various concentrations of glass fiber (0, 10, 20, 28, and 35 percent by weight) and standard test samples were prepared by injection molding under identical conditions. The influence of fiber concentration on the morphology and mechanical properties was investigated using polarizing microscope, scanning electron microscope, Instron universal testing machine, etc. Tensile strength, tensile modulus, and flexural strength were found to increase with glass fiber content, while impact strength was reduced. These observed changes in mechanical properties were explained in terms of alterations in skin-core morphology, spherulite size, transcrystallinity, etc. The efficiency of reinforcement factor (K) was calculated for all the composites. It was found that K decreases with the increase of fiber concentration. This study attempts to correlate fiber concentration and polymer morphology with mechanical properties and the overall efficiency of reinforcement. This would help in optimizing the fiber content to prepare molded composites with desired mechanical properties.     

Modulatory Effects of Biosynthesized Gold Nanoparticles Conjugated with Curcumin and Paclitaxel on Tumorigenesis and Metastatic Pathways—In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women globally, and diagnosing it early and finding potential drug candidates against multi-drug resistant metastatic breast cancers provide the possibilities of better treatment and extending life. Methods: The current study aimed to evaluate the synergistic anti-metastatic activity of Curcumin (Cur) and Paclitaxel (Pacli) individually, the combination of Curcumin–Paclitaxel (CP), and also in conjugation with gold nanoparticles (AuNP–Curcumin (Au-C), AuNP–Paclitaxel (Au-P), and AuNP–Curcumin–Paclitaxel (Au-CP)) in various in vitro and in vivo models. Results: The results from combination treatments of CP and Au-CP demonstrated excellent synergistic cytotoxic effects in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines (MDA MB 231 and 4T1) in in vitro and in vivo mouse models. Detailed mechanistic studies were performed that reveal that the anti-cancer effects were associated with the downregulation of the expression of VEGF, CYCLIN-D1, and STAT-3 genes and upregulation of the apoptotic Caspase-9 gene. The group of mice that received CP combination therapy (with and without gold nanoparticles) showed a significant reduction in the size of tumor when compared to the Pacli alone treatment and control groups. Conclusions: Together, the results suggest that the delivery of gold conjugated Au-CP formulations may help in modulating the outcomes of chemotherapy. The present study is well supported with observations from cell-based assays, molecular and histopathological analyses.     

Effect of Zr-deoxidation on microstructure and mechanical behavior of microalloyed heavy plates with low impurity content

The significance of different deoxidation practises on the ductility and impact toughness of next generation of microalloyed heavy plates was elucidated to explore the best deoxidation practice in obtaining required mechanical properties,which was judged by the combined effects of composition,size and number density of inclusions on the ductility of the experimental high-strength low alloy steel.The impurity contents,i.e.,total O+N+S contents,of 82×10^-6(Al-killed)and 118×10^-6(Zr-killed)have been induced to characterize both the steels.Ductility was characterized using tensile and Charpy V-notch testing.The number,size and composition of the inclusions were characterized using a field emission scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer.In the Al-killed steel,the inclusion structure consisted of titanium nitrides,stringer calcium aluminates and elongated manganese sulfides,whereas in the Zr-killed steel,the inclusion structure consisted of mainly fine spherical oxide inclusions with sulphide shells.The impurity content did not have a significant effect on the number density of inclusions,as with higher and lower impurity content,the number of inclusions was 83.7 and 78.8 mm^-2,respectively.However,the size distribution of the inclusions,especially the coarse inclusions with their longest length greater than 8μm,differsmuch from each other.The number density of coarse inclusions differs from 0.8 to 1.1 mm^-2 with processing,and in Al-killed steel,55.5% of the coarse inclusions were titanium nitrides or manganese sulfides,whereas in Zr-killed steel,only 22.5% of the coarse inclusions were titanium nitrides and manganese sulfides.Coarse titanium nitrides were especially detrimental to the impact toughness.The number density of them should be below 0.33 mm-2 in order to guarantee the best possible toughness in the steel in question.The average crystallographic grain size detected by electron backscattered diffraction of Zr-killed steel(4.28±2.70μm)was smaller than that of Al-killed steel(6.00±4.80μm).As a result from the grain refinement and sulphide shape control,Zr-killed steel exhibited superior impact toughness(223±70 J)at -80℃ as compared with Al-killed steel(153±68 J).Thus,Zr-killed steel was observed to provide good performance in terms of mechanical properties as compared with Al-killed steel.     

Statistical design of sustainable composites from poly(lactic acid) and grape pomace

Biocomposites from poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and grape pomace (GP) were created via injection molding to examine the effects of GP in a PLA matrix. To optimize the mechanical performance the biocomposites were compatibilized with maleic anhydride grafted PLA (MA-g-PLA). The objective of this work was to create a model that could accurately predict the mechanical properties of GP/PLA biocomposites. A region of feasibility for the biocomposites was determined using a statistical design of experiments. Linear regression was used to model the mechanical performance and predicted results with an error of 10% for both tensile and flexural strength and 16% for impact strength. The model was verified with a biocomposite of PLA/GP/MA-g-PLA with a ratio of 62/36/2. This biocomposite had a tensile strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength of 25.8 MPa, 40.0 MPa, and 18.4 J/m, respectively. It was found that a linear model can accurately predict the mechanical properties of PLA/GP/MA-g-PLA biocomposites.     

A New Approach to Supertough Poly(lactic acid): A High Temperature Reactive Blending

A novel approach to PLA toughening is proposed in this study. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is toughened using poly(ethylene‐n‐butylene‐acrylate‐co‐glycydyl methacrylate) (EBA‐GMA) as a reactive compatibilizer with the aid of an epoxy‐based chain extender. It is found that the toughening effect of EBA‐GMA in the binary blend investigated is strongly influenced by blending temperature. Blending at high temperatures which are non‐typical for PLA processing (over 250 °C) allows toughness to be increased by an order of magnitude when compared to the toughness of blends prepared at low temperatures (below 200 °C). This effect is attributed to a combination of factors, namely an increasing rate of reactive bonding between PLA and EBA‐GMA at elevated temperatures and enhanced interfacial adhesion between PLA and EBA‐GMA phases. DSC studies show that PLA/EBA‐GMA bonding on the interface acts as an efficient nucleator for PLA. The nucleation ability of the PLA/EBA‐GMA interface strongly depends on blend processing temperature and gradually increases with increasing blending temperature. The PLA/EBA‐GMA interface shows its highest nucleation ability at 250 °C.