Basic trends in development of drilling equipment for ore mining with block caving method

The authors have determined the causes of drop in performance of induced block caving using fans of blastholes 105 mm in diameter and single blastholes 250 mm in diameter, as well as the sources of increased drilling cost and expansion of start-up time of production blocks in Abakan underground mine. Alternatives of improvement in drilling efficiency under current conditions are discussed.     

Effects of Undercooling and Transformation Time on Microstructure and Strength of Fe–C–Mn–Si Superbainitic Steel

Strength of Materials - A metallographic method, dilatometry, and X-ray diffraction were applied to investigate the effects of undercooling and holding time on bainitic transformation,...     

Sintering behaviour of fluorapatite–silicate composites produced from natural fluorapatite and quartz

In this work, the sintering behaviour of fluorapatite (FAp)–silicate composites prepared by mixing variable amounts of natural quartz (2.5 wt% to 20 wt%) and FAp was studied. The composites were pressureless sintered in air at temperatures from 1000 °C to 1350 °C. The effects of temperatures on the densification, phase formation, chemical bonding and Vickers hardness of the composites were evaluated. All the samples exhibited mixed phase, comprising FAp and francolite as the major constituents along with some minor phases of cristobalite, wollastonite, dicalcium silicate and/or whitlockite dependent on the quartz content and sintering temperature. The composite containing 2.5 wt% quartz exhibited the best sintering properties. The highest bulk density of 3 g/cm³ and a Vickers hardness of >4.2 GPa were obtained for the 2.5 wt% quartz–FAp composite when sintered at 1100 °C. The addition of quartz was found to alter the microstructure of the composites, where it exhibited a rod-like morphology when sintered at 1000 °C and a regular rounded grain structure when sintered at 1350 °C. A wetted grain surface was observed for composites containing high quartz content and was believed to be associated with a transient liquid phase sintering.     

Accelerated multi-contrast high isotropic resolution 3D intracranial vessel wall MRI using a tailored k-space undersampling and partially parallel reconstruction strategy

Objective

To develop a 3D multi-contrast IVW protocol with 0.5-mm isotropic resolution and a scan time of 5 min per sequence.

Materials and methods

Pre-contrast T1w VISTA, DANTE prepared PDw VISTA, SNAP, and post-contrast T1w VISTA were accelerated using cartesian undersampling with target ordering method (CUSTOM) and self-supporting tailored k-space estimation for parallel imaging reconstruction (STEP). CUSTOM + STEP IVW was compared to full-sample IVW, SENSE-accelerated IVW, and CUSTOM + zero-filled Fourier reconstruction in normal volunteers and subjects with intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD). Image quality, vessel delineation, CSF suppression, and blood suppression were compared.

Results

CUSTOM + STEP vessel wall delineation was comparable to full-sample IVW and better than SENSE IVW for vessel wall delineation on T1w VISTA and luminal contrast on SNAP. Average image quality and wall depiction were significantly improved using STEP reconstruction compared with zero-filled Fourier reconstruction, with no significant difference in CSF or blood suppression.

Conclusions

CUSTOM + STEP allowed multi-contrast 3D 0.5-mm isotropic IVW within 30 min. Although some quantitative and qualitative scores for CUSTOM − STEP were lower than fully sampled IVW, CUSTOM + STEP provided comparable vessel wall delineation as full-sample IVW and was superior to SENSE. CUSTOM + STEP IVW was well tolerated by patients and showed good delineation of ICAD plaque.

     

Hydrogenation process in multiphase alloys of Ti-Zr-Mn-V system on the example of Ti42.75Zr27Mn20.25V10 alloy

The influence of phase composition and microstructure of Ti_42.75Zr₂₇Mn_20.25V₁₀ alloy on its hydrogenation kinetic and phase composition of hydrogenated product was studied. It is established that the process of dissociation of hydrogen molecules begins on the surface of Laves phase crystallites. The dissolution of atomic hydrogen in the material volume leads to the formation of cracks in the intermetallic crystallites, which further appear as additional centers of dissociation of hydrogen molecules and noticeably accelerate the diffusion of hydrogen into the bulk material. It was shown that the Laves phase acts as a donor of atomic hydrogen for the BCC solid solution during hydrogenation of two-phase structure, initiating intensive hydrogenation of the BCC phase at room temperature.     

Carbon-based TiO2-x heterostructure nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye molecules

Application of brown titanium dioxide (TiO_2-x) and its modified composite forms in the photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in the environment is a promising way to provide solutions for environmental redemption. Herein, we report the synthesis of effective and stable TiO_2-x nanoparticles with g-C₃N₄, RGO, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using a simple hydrothermal method. Among all the as-synthesized samples, excellent photocatalytic degradation activity was observed for RGO-TiO_2-x nanocomposite with high rate constants of 0.075 min^?1_, 0.083 min^?1 and 0.093 min^?1 for methylene blue, rhodamine-B, and rosebengal dyes under UV–Visible light irradiation, respectively. The altered bandgap (1.8 eV) and the large surface area of RGO-TiO_2-x nanocomposite impacts on both absorption of visible light and efficiency of photogenerated charge electron (e^?)/hole (h⁺) pair separation. This resulted in enhanced photocatalytic property of carbon-based TiO_2-x nanocomposites. A systematic study on the influence of different carbon nanostructures on the photocatalytic activity of brown TiO_2-x is carried out.     

Fabrication of hierarchical PANI@W-type barium hexaferrite composites for highly efficient microwave absorption

Hexagonal barium ferries is a promising and efficient microwave (MW) absorbing material, but the low dielectric loss and poor conductivity have limited their extensive applications. In this work, a simple tactic of coating conductive polymer PANI on hexaferrite BaCo₂Fe₁₆O₂₇ is presented, wherein the dielectric properties are customized, and more significantly, the electromagnetic loss is greatly enhanced. As displayed from structural characterizations, PANI were coated equably on the surface of hexaferrite grains by an in-situ polymerization process. The outcomes exhibit the as-prepared PANI@hexaferrite composite has remarkable electromagnetic wave absorption capacity. When the thickness is 6.0 mm, the minimal RL of ?40.4 dB was achieved at 2.9 GHz. The effective absorption bandwidth (RL < ?20 dB) of 0.65 GHz, 0.53 GHz, 0.65 GHz, 0.52 GHz, 0.46 GHz and 0.39 GHz was achieved separately when the thickness ranges from 4 to 9 mm. The highly efficient MW absorbing performance of PANI@hexaferrite composite were the consequence of multiple loss mechanisms and perfect impedance matching. It is demonstrated that the PANI@hexaferrite composite with excellent MW absorption performance is expected to be potential MW absorbers for extensive applications.     

Evaluation of Intellectual Property Objects in the Nanoindustry Field

Russian Microelectronics - The recently developed nanomaterials and their production technologies as intellectual property objects (IPOs) are considered. The role of the informational-analytical...     

Tuning the Operating Band of an Artificial Magnetic Conductor

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - Approximate formulas for calculating the coefficient of reflection from an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) based on a capacitive lattice...